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Third Reich….?
Yes, even the world’s most notorious mass murders need a hobby and what better way to blow off some steam than to race around the 103-mile-long Italian countryside consisting of dirt rows narrow twisties, and long straights in a BMW 328.
Italy and Germany were thick thieves back in the day and the latter was infamous for its industrial prowess. The Nazi party tasked BMW to make some racecars that could withstand the thousand grueling hours of Mille Miglia or thousand miles in Italian.
The BMW 328 back in the day was one of the most aero-efficient cars on the road and came with a 2 liter 120 hp engine.
This might sound a bit less on paper but considering it weighed like 780 kg, it’s a recipe for a proper rocket. BMW’s first and only win came in 1940 from its drivers Fritz Huschke von Hanstein and co-driver Walter Bäume. The duo clocked a time of 8 hr 54:46 beating their rivals Alfa Romeo.
Fast Forward to 2006…
BMW decided to let its design team Anders Warming run wild with the budget. Warming, the man behind the stunning Z4 was a hot commodity back then and took a pretty wild approach to the Mille Miglia Concept Coupe by removing its doors and instead using a movable canopy for ingress and egress much like, the Lamborghini Egoista and Lancia Stratos Zero.
While the rest of the world was reeling with Aluminum body parts, BMW decided to use the futuristic CFRP derived from its F1 program to keep the weight in check.
Bespoke and frankly cheeky-looking LEDs were put both front and back just like its race-winning predecessor.
The most recognizable link between the 2006 Mille Miglia concept Coupe and the bygone 328 is easily the front fascia and split windshield design that look stunning from every angle. Badass shark gills on Fender not only look cool but weirdly invoke the memory of the BMW 507 roadster.
The Mille Miglia concept coupe had to be aerodynamic first and foremost. It was achieved by giving it a stunning teardrop-shaped body covering the otherwise drag-inducing rear wheels and an elongating tail delaying wake separation.
No Doors No Problem
Drivers had to go in through a movable canopy as torsion stiffness is more important than a paltry set of doors. Overall the BMW Mille Miglia Concept was 40mm lower and 230mm longer than its road-going sibling and looked nothing like it sans the engine it borrowed.
A bespoke body is doable manufacturers do it every year or so but the powertrain is a whole other ball game. Wisely so, BMW gave it an 8000 rpm six-pot unit from the M3 that made about 340 hp/ 269 lb-ft from a 3.2 L of displacement and could theoretically achieve 155 mph, tho nobody tried it as only 1 was ever built easily costing more than a million dollars and wasn’t exactly street-legal, duh!
The Interior was graced with strictly business appointments like duo-tone untreated hide, lycra, and a roll cage. It looks something out of an Art Deco movie like Metropolis and blends in nicely with the voluptuous yet minimalistic profile of the whole car in general, unlike the hideous XM which after writing this article is now almost out of my mind.
