All Entries Tagged With: "E23"
BMW Milestones 7-Series Film
- Paul Street’s Milestones Film for BMW China
- From upper left: 502 (1952-1964) |E23 (1977-1986) | E32 (1987-1994) | E38 (1995-2001) | E66 (2002-2008) | F01 (2009 – )
- Streetlight Films known for car adverts and special film segments for Top Gear
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG via Street Films
YOU have to admire Paul Street’s craft.
The British film maker is best known for more commercial works through his production company, Streetlight Films. His company produced Top Gear’s best segment – you know, the one that featured Jeremy Clarkson at the helm of a Ford first chased by a Vette through a mall and then in a completely disconnected scene – taking part in a mock invasion by landing on a beach with British marines.
You can see why BMW would’ve wanted to enlist such talent to present the new 7-Series to the burgeoning Chinese market. What follows is one fluid sequence of circular motion. We see BMW design theory change through the years; a reflection of each decade.
Tell me, were the late 90s really that boring? And the 80s that loud?
Our point of view is looking at the passage of time from streetside; like watching the action of a clock’s arms pass swiftly along its face from the slim view granted from a profile perspective. This promotional film, for Chinese eyes only, apparently, is whirrling magic.
Perhaps with time, we’ll be able to point to the flaws in such overt use of computer animation. But for now, Milestones work rather nicely.
Knight Rider Themed BMW 7er Spot
By Gunnar Heinrich | YouTube
OKAY, I’ll admit it.
In the beginning, this video post had me fooled. I actually considered – for a moment (!) – that back in the day (1982 to be more or less on target) BMW actually negotiated the rights to use the Knight Rider Theme song and open narration to synch with this TV spot.
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The signature duh-denahnahnah-duh-denahnahnah - seemed to perfectly suit our technologically equipped (E23) 7er driving through some mysterious, post-doomsday automotive landscape (they must’ve filmed this last year) somewhere in the desert.
The eclipsing sun, the misty (desert) fog, the clearly 80s purple blues and yellow reds. It’s so perfectly plausible. The haunting narrators VO’s perfectly match that self-righteous pitch that we’ve come to expect from B.M.W. advertising.
And then, about 0:23, we see the driver adjust his seat and the audio for the seat control is a telephone being dialed. Pop! Goes the illusion… and a little bit of pride along with it.
Very clever. And nicely done. The musical synchronization is poetry in motion at the flip of the wheel during a the high speed maneuver at 0:43.
Sharks among whales, my friends. Sharks among whales.
L’originale:
German Luxury’s New Yet Familiar Face: ‘09 S-Class
The facelifted Sonderklasse
By Gunnar Heinrich
LOOKING forward to this freshened, nip ‘n tucked 2009 S-Class, we anticipate the first true refit of the flagship Mercedes-Benz that’s been with us since 2005. And while we analyze its various alterations we can draw on the marque’s history to note that what we’re looking at is – in point of fact – just more of the same.
Cryptic? Follow me…
As avantgarde as any one of the German three – for our purposes Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz – may seem in any one of their product’s given lifecycles, the marques a) copy eachother relentlessly while manage to be b) retain their own character.
A large part of this is inbreeding is doubtless due to the fact that all three car makers are going to the same parts suppliers – Bosch, Beru, Bilstein, and so on…
But ever distantly follow an early 80s Mercedes-Benz (W126) S-Class only to discover what you’re tailing is actually a (E28) BMW 7-Series? The two three-box sedans share very similar architecture.
The baddies drive a Benz 500SEL and a BMW 733i in Beverly Hills Cop
Or how about mistaking an early 90s Audi Quattro for a Mercedes-Benz (W124) E-Class? And perhaps going cross eyed at the ungainly similarity between the current S-Class and the previous (E65/66) 7er bulbous booties?
There is such a thing as a common Teutonic element. Or it may just be systemic lethargy.
Mercedes designers clearly liked what’s been going on at Ingolstadt and Munich. And for the purposes of time management we’ll just consider the common elements found in the ‘09 S-Class’ redone headlamps.
Mercedes clearly liked the eyebrow effect that BMW’s been rockin’ in the 5er and 7er’s headlight assemblies – thin plastic covers over two projector beams – silver eyebrows, essentially.
And then there’s Audi’s LED accent lights. Audi has used these diodes to stunning, singular effect first on the R8 and then letting it all branch out to the rest of the lineup.
Well, Mercedes thought that appealing, too.
You’ll note, just beneath the two ovoid lights are a string of LEDs just for a dash of a li’l som’in else – echoed by LED foglamps in the front bumper (just like Audi, again).
Yet, looking at the S-Class’ new headlights as a whole, could they belong to anything but a Mercedes-Benz? Funny how the same elements can and do still add up to uniquely identifiable characteristics that define each marque’s distinct, but nonetheless Teutonic image.
BMW E23 7-Series Video
By Gunnar Heinrich
THREE boxed and all Teuton, the BMW 733i segment is back online and by popular demand.
This story (TRT: 8:41) is about how a small, niche car company (BMW in the 70s/early 80s) produced a luxury performance sedan in an economic climate bereft of both profit and cheap fuel.
In the 80s, luxury meant wallowy rides on straight roads and performance meant bone jarring ride and deafening cabin noise. The first generation of the flagship 7-series line was a blend of the benefits of both automotive genres sans their respective detractions.
As an aside, film buffs will be keen to note that this the same model Bimmer that starred in the Dan Aykroyd flick Nothing But Trouble.
A shark among whales. Enjoy.
Most Popular W126 Benz
By Gunnar Heinrich
280SE is not a model we typically associate with an 80’s S-Class – Stateside.
Europe being even more gas starved than America in the late 70s had a more urgent need to run on less dino-juice for longer stretches of kilometers. While interior space and luxury mattered, acceleration wasn’t a top priority.
Hence the strong desire in the first production years (1979 -1985) for the 2.8 liter, 12 valve, straight-six that powered the 280SE – a model that was sold worldwide save for these United States.
Manufacturing two versions, one using a carburetor and another featuring fuel injection, the 280’s engine made 154 and 185 1980s horsepower, respectively, and would haul the big Benz to 60 mph in a casual 11 and 10 seconds.
Amazingly, given enough time and tarmac the engines were good for pushing on to 124 and 130 mph, out running BMW’s 177 hp 733i.
In total Mercedes-Benz built 133,955 units of the 280SE. That’s more than 20,000 units over the next most popular W126 model which we in America did receive – the 300SE (105,422 units). By contrast, Stuttgart manufactured just 78,725 300SD turbodiesels
[Source: Oswald, Werner (2001). Deutsche Autos 1945-1990, vol.4. Stuttgart: Motorbuch Verlag, 112-113 via Wikipedia | IMG via Ian Dunross' S-Class Page]
