BMW Garmisch Concept

Marcello Gandini is well known to car fans. His design masterpieces for brands like Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Lancia, Lamborghini or Maserati have made history. From 1965 to 1980 he was the head of the design department at Bertone, then he opened his own design studio. In addition to the various production vehicles, he also styled interesting concept cars such as the Alfa Romeo Carabo or the Lancia Stratos Zero. However, there are also lesser-known designs that are probably not known to the vast majority of our readers. These include the BMW Garmisch, which debuted at the Geneva Motor Show 1970 at the Bertone stand. After the fair, this one-off disappeared. The influence of this concept car seems to have been large enough at BMW, as they entrusted Gandini with the design of their new middle-class model, which debuted in 1972 as the very first 5-Series.

Before and after, there had been various Italian designs for BMW models. Touring manufactured a few racing cars based on the 328 for the Mille Miglia, Giorgetti Giugiaro was responsible for the styling of the wedge-shaped Turbo Concept and M1 and Bertone designed the 3200 CS in the 1960s. Nuccio Bertone himself wanted to strengthen the connection between his house and BMW by surprising the Munich-based company at the Geneva Motor Show 1970 with the Garmisch Concept. It was an independent design proposal without official order, with which they wanted to show their creative potential. “We wanted to create a modern mid-sized Coupé that was faithful to BMW’s design language, but that was also more dynamic and even a bit provocative”, recalls Gandini. Many smooth surfaces are complemented by interesting details such as the unique grille, the glazed headlights, the air intakes in the C-pillars or the honeycomb sun visor on the rear window. Also inside the Garmisch got a unique look with vertically installed radio and a large folding mirror on the passenger side. The name for this concept car was chosen because of the then high popularity of skiing.

By the disappearance of this concept car this unique chapter of the brand history was actually finished. However, there was someone who didn’t want to put up with it: Adrian van Hooydonk, Senior Vice President of the BMW Design Department. A few years ago, he discovered a faded photograph of the Garmisch and began to investigate. In the factory archive, however, he found only a few more pictures. Since Bertone no longer exists as a coachbuilder and design studio and their archive has been sold to collectors all over the world, there is no access to any drawings or images from the construction period. Nevertheless, van Hooydonk decided to replicate the concept car, for which he traveled to Turin specifically in the summer of 2018 to meet Marcello Gandini and ask for his approval. He says: “When I first heard that BMW wanted to recreate the BMW Garmisch, I was a bit surprised. Now I am very pleased that I was able to be part of this project and happy that BMW chose to recall this enjoyable past. Having seen the final car, it is hard for me to even distinguish it from the original.”

As it was the case 50 years ago, the recreation was coach-build by skilled craftsmen in Turin, based on a running chassis of a BMW 2002. Since, as described, hardly any original templates were available, an interdisciplinary team of employees from BMW Classic and BMW Group Design had to work hard to derive all the exterior and interior details from the few existing images and to prepare them in such a way that a replica was possible. They were supported by Marcello Gandini, who contributed with his memories to refabricate the exterior paint color and the materials in the interior. Now the finished new old concept car was presented to the public during the Concorso d’Eleganza at Villa d’Este in Italy. In the future, it will be on display at various classic car events and every now and then also in the BMW Museum in Munich.

Images: BMW