There are vehicles with scissor, butterfly and gullwing doorways, after which there’s the BMW Z1. Approach forward of its time in some regards, a bit behind the instances in others, how will we really feel about it 30 years after it was discontinued?

Properly, as High Gear’s Jack Rix factors out, the second-hand market feels fairly good about these oddities. Since BMW solely ever made 8,000 items, it’s exhausting to get your fingers on one and good examples promote for round £40,000 to £50,000 ($56,216-$70,000 USD), or second-hand Porsche 911 cash.

So is it price it? Properly, its 2.5-liter straight-six produces round 170 hp and 168 lb-ft of torque. That’s not an unlimited quantity, however the engine and 5-speed handbook transmission do come from an E30 325i, so it’s great things.

Learn Additionally: This 2,377 Mile BMW Z1 Looks Brand New And Is Up For Auction

Weighing in at 1,250 kg (2,755 lbs), although, it’s on the heavy aspect for a two-seat roadster from the late ’80s. Between the burden, the lengthy gearing, and the engine that solely revs to six,500 RPM, its efficiency isn’t precisely mind-blowing. As Rix places it, “it might do with rather less pork, and a bit extra poke.”

Alternatively, the doors serve their function. BMW’s official line on their uncommon development, the place the slided vertically into the (excessive) sills, was that they wished drivers to really feel extra at one with the street. You didn’t simply really feel the sky above, however the world round you, too.

And it type of labored. Rix reviews that with the doorways down “50 mph feels extra like 80 with all of the street speeding previous.”

The doorways aren’t the automobile’s solely bizarre function. The physique is made from Xenoy thermoplastic that may bend and deform and pop again into place. And all of the physique panels are detachable.

Ignore the truth that the Pontiac Fiero might do this, too, and you’ve got an thrilling prospect for second-hand patrons. Plastic physique panels imply no rust restore for the bodywork, and even when a panel is damaged, you may simply swap it out.

The design was intelligent, too. The raked windshield and the sharp physique gave the automobile a 0.36 drag coefficient, which was fairly good for the ’80s.

All of it got here at a worth, although. In 1988, it value the equal of £77,000 ($108,185 USD) in right now’s cash. That meant that gross sales have been gradual and by 1991, the automobile was discontinued. Nonetheless, as a concept automobile put into manufacturing, the Z1 is an oddity that may ship some thrills because of its distinctive doorways, some dialog because of its design, and perhaps even some revenue because of its rarity. Not a nasty mixture.