Sliding Doors: The 1989 BMW Z1...

...hey..? Hey..?
No. Okay, I'll stop. Two terrible movie references (..that's the movies, not the references, yeah?) in a row is just too much. I'll ease up. I'll focus...

..so first things first: apologies to those who live in the few markets these were sold new... where one of these in the bluey-green above is about as exciting as a silver Z3. For me though..? This is genuinely the first one of these I have ever seen up close.

So what is it?

1989 BMW Z1.
A small plastic-bodied FR roadster, powered by an E30 325's 2.5litre straight six. The start of BMW's Z-number sports-car lineage, that's still around today.
"So it's like a BMW Miata..?"... "What has this got to do with my favourite film, 1998's Sliding Doors..?" Aha. WELL. You know how some cars have a 'thing'? One memorable detail that hammers itself into peoples minds, despite any amount of other less interesting yet equally significant innovations? Like (for the sake of choosing a similar product) the SLK's folding hardtop when they were new? Well this car's 'thing' is it's retractable doors. Its sliding doors.

Yep, it's a small plastic-bodied, straight-six powered, FR roadster... with sliding doors.

The doors. The large panel gaps... the high sills... the unique seal that is then required...

...and the debris that it then must catch.

Inside, all is very obviously-BMW. It's a tight fit for the console between those winged, custard-coloured seats; and it's interesting to see how simple the interior trim on the doors can be. Thanks to the high sills, you were legally able to drive these with the doors down.. so I suppose you wouldn't see that door trim most of the time anyway!

LHD-only; yet despite 8000 Z1s being produced between 1989 and 1991, none officially made their way to the USA - what I would've thought a HUGELY important market.
Fortunately having the wheel on the wrong side wasn't too much of a deterrent for BMW Australia - who bought this car out to out Right-Hand-Driving country when new. Testing/evaluation purposes, or for display...? I don't know. Sure am glad it's out here regardless...

Back outside.. the basic seven-spoke alloy wheel...

..those painful as-a-result-of-the-design panel gaps again; and a simple formed handle to pull the door up. Curious as to how that locking system works...

..but I suppose I'll have to wait until I see this thing again! Motorclassica 2020, yeah? I'll mark my calendar...

THE HUNT FOR LITTLE RED OCTOBER.

...What the hell could this post possibly have to do with Sean Connery and a Soviet submarine? Ab-so-lutely nothing. It's a movie with 'Red' and 'October' in the title.. I'm going to make this work.

So highlighted with a little D-grade humour and suspect Photoshop handiwork; here's some updated photos of Little Red, the 1987 AW11 Toyota MR2.. taken Saturday Afternoon, the 15th of October, 2016.

It's Little Red, in October...
..Red.. October, yeah?

Argh, forget it...

..and that's it for today's lot.

SO; news.. news...
..what's been happening with this lately?
Not a whole lot really. Slowly-slowly clocking up the kays these days, but have managed to cross over the 422,000km (262,000mi) mark. Since it's ~384,000km to the Moon from here (give or take, I haven't measured personally), that means it's only 346,800km until I can say "it's been to the Moon and back". You can see why that would be useful, I'm sure...

One small hiccup for those grand-plans this arvo (which turned that photo-session above into a whole joy-filled evening of waiting, staring at trees impatiently, and eventual tow-truckery...), it seems I'll need to chase down a replacement alternator. It had been playing up for a while, but finally brought the car to a I've-turned-every-damn-electrical-thing-off-what-else-do-you-want-from-me halt on the way home. Boo.
While I'm at it - and AW11 arse-in-the-air - I may as well sort out a new/refurbished starter. It's sticking pretty bad for quite some time.. and this combination of electrical fun, means starting when hot hasn't been.. uhh.. much of a 'thing' lately.

But hey; these are just things you deal with as a member of the one-way trip to the Moon club!

December 1989, and the Japanese enthusiast car market...

A little look at Japanese automotive-enthusiast used vehicle market, for the very last month of the one-nine-eights; via two of the more popular tuning magazines of the era.

CARBOY, and OPTION - the EXCITING CAR MAGAZINE: December 1989.

Kicking off with the Carboy first. Alphabetical order? No.. It's just it was on top of the Option in the photo above. Lazy.. efficient.. pah! Call it what you will..
Around 2/3rds of the way into both magazines - well into the black&white section - we hit the classifieds and dealer adverts. They're interesting (and the point of today's post) in that they're a fun representation of what people would've/could've been buying at the time: plenty of mid-to-late 70's Datsuns/Toyotas/Mazdas, along with some much newer machinery.. from both dealer and private sellers. The page above - JAPAN AUTO PART ("JAP - Since '86") - is particularly heavy on the Nissan Z cars... and as it turns out, they're not alone...

Some private seller ads. HR31, Z31, and a warmed-over AW11 Toyota MR2 G Limited. 1.7 stroker, T04B, a little aero.. and all in 'Italian Red'... ooh...

C10, S30, and a now-rarely-seen S12 2000RS-X Silvia/Gazelle...

...Musashino... seemingly a Fairlady Z and Skyline specialist.

Meanwhile on the opposite page...

...a wicked 1985 FC3S Mazda Savanna RX-7 GT-R. T04E, Re-Amemiya aero, and all dressed in red again. All yours for 1.95million yen.

The RX-7 options just get better: 1980 SA22C, in red/silver over FRP-everything. 890,000yen.

Spot something you like here? Early AE86 Sprinter Trueno? An A60 Celica XX? Isuzu 117 coupe?

More Z's, and heavy on the RS Watanabes...

A decade of AW11 ownership has my eyes going straight to that tidy, two-tone, t-top, G Limited, Supercharger here. Ohh, those accessory power-fold foglamps...

ARITA SPEED, and the AMERICAN DREAM! Please inquire for a price on their tremendous three-litre, G-nose, S30 Fairlady Z...

Middle, right; the rarely-seen 910 Bluebird SSS-X; a 1980 2dr hardtop, with a 2litre and high-mount TD05. Bottom left, an '83 Celica XX (Supra) with a supposed 380ps...

...or there's the '86 Z31 Fairlady Z 2000ZR-II; three years old, and 2.26million yen...

Now for the Option magazine, and its pun-tastic "Car buy bye" section..

'84 AE86 Corolla Levin GT-V...

.....and some more Z31's: a two-tone '83 300ZX, and an '84 on what look to be (..please..) Tomei Turbo's...

Tough '75 C110 Skyline hardtop. Lip, flares, and a F8.5J/R10J stagger...

A personal favourite: the CA72 Suzuki Alto Works RS-X, in superleggera FWD form. This one a cmon-it's-still-new 1988 model...

Finishing up here with Shonan Suncruise Co. Ltd.; and yet another page of classic Skylines and Z-cars. Interesting to note that the C10 Skyline GT-R...? Yep, still solid money in 1989. A classic's a classic...





Done. A bit of fun. Just pretend it's December 1989 Japan, and you've got.. say.. a million yen. What would you be buying...?