In the mid-1990s, BMW commissioned Henrik Fisker to design a revolutionary sports car as a tribute to their famous Model 507 which was sold between 1956-1959 and established BMW’s entry into and reputation for luxury performance vehicles.

The Fisker design became known as the “Z8” and sold in the late 1990s through 2003 in limited production at a cost of $128,000. The total production run was 5,708 cars about two-thirds being sold in the US and most of the rest in Europe.  Of that total, only 135 were delivered in Topaz Blue with Crema Nappa leather interior, making my car one of the rarest.

The car was designed with an all-aluminum body and space frame and featured the 4.9 litre BMW V8 with the Vanos injection system,  producing 395 horsepower.

To assure purchasers of long-term support for such a limited production vehicle, BMW committed to stockpile 50 years of all necessary parts, undoubtedly the first commitment of its kind by any manufacturer.

While I had long coveted owning such a car, the final nudge occurred this past summer (2023) when I visited the BMW Museum in Munich where they had a silver and black example featured.

One of the many unique features of the Z8 is the way Fisker integrated numerous controls into a few multi-control levers and brought the exterior color into the dash and door panels. Doing so gave the interior a unique “retro” appearance reminiscent of the great sports cars of the 1950s.