One Of Only 54 BMW M1 Procars Now Up For Auction
For obvious reasons, the auction house RM Sotheby’s has moved much of its sales online, and that will include its ‘Online Shift / Monterey’ auction, set for August 13-15. And an early entry for this sale is a rare Bavarian supercar that was designed by an Italian and raced by Americans: a 1980 M1 Procar.
Procar was a one-make series developed by BMW around its new M1, a Giorgetto Giugiaro-penned supercar with a 3.453-litre inline six cylinder built by BMW Motorsport, and of which, 453 road-going versions were produced between 1978 and 1981.
The series involved drivers from Formula 1 and other top-tier motorsport disciplines: Niki Lauda was its first champion in 1979, while Nelson Piquet took the final championship the following year. But the M1 was also eligible for other series, including Group 4 World Championship for Makes, Le Mans and even rallying.
The model pictured above and below is number 36 of 54 Procars ever built and has the upgraded race engine with more than 470hp. It was first bought by American Joe Crevier, who raced it with Al Unser Jr. at the 1981 Riverside Six Hours. Chassis number 1195 was also used in the IMSA GT Championship for two seasons and took numerous podiums.
The M1 on offer is fully restored from the ground up and has been used extensively in historic races around the world, including the 2010 Le Mans Classic. The expectation at auction for this rare and beautiful racer is between $600,000 and $800,00, with no reserve.
And if you have any doubts about its performance, follow British racing driver Sam Hancock as he takes the M1 Prodrive around Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on route to a GT2 Class Pole.
*Images courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
