Alpina today is a name so intimately associated with high-performance editions of BMW cars that few people realize it was originally associated with typewriters. The company run by the Bovensiepen family in Bavaria made its mark and its money by keeping the wheels of business turning in a thousand German offices. However, Burkard Bovensiepen was not keen to follow in the footsteps of his forebears. He much preferred tinkering with cars and in 1963 he started working on the latest BMW the 1500 saloon. The twin-carburettor conversion he developed quickly earned him more orders than he could handle in a corner of the family's typewriter factory, so in 1965 he set up on his own, trading under the same Alpina name. Alpina tuning parts soon followed BMW products overseas, and as the BMW name earned more and more attention, so Alpina tuning parts were not far behind. During the 1960s and 1970s, the company grew alongside BMW, and was soon acknowledged as the leading performance conversion specialist for the marque. New regulations in several markets led to a new approach, however. The only way that Alpina could keep its conversions within the emissions control and drive-by noise regulations was to build them itself. So the sale of bolt on conversions stopped, and during the 1980s Alpina started building completely re-engineered cars at its own works in Buchloe. The cars represented the real beginning of the Alpina we know today. By their very nature, these bespoke cars are rare. They represent a pinnacle for BMW enthusiasts, as they take the factory's own excellent machinery to the very limits of its high-performance development. The owner of an Alpina BMW, as the articles reproduced in this book demonstrate, is a very lucky individual indeed. Models covered: 1600/2000, 2002, 3.0 CSL, 320i, 320, 528 Sports, 630CSi, 333i, B6, 630, B7 Turbo, 2.5CSi, B9 3.5, C1, B10, C2, C2 convertible. 140 pages, 250 illus. SB.

 

Publisher: Brooklands Books

Status: Out of Print (No Stock)

Number of pages: 140

Black & white images: 250

Binding: SBD

Language: English

Origin: HKG