The 1977 model year was traumatic for BMW enthusiasts
The 1977 model year was traumatic for BMW enthusiasts. Remember how you felt when you saw your first “Bangle-ized” Bimmer, the E65 7 Series suspension components, when you realized that iDrive really would be in every BMW, that electronics would eventually supplant all mechanicals, and that, probably, the days of the manual gearbox were numbered? Well, it was an even bigger drag back then, because, you know, most people were stoned. Not me, of course, but let me try to paint the picture for you.
I was 13 years old in 1977, and I was beside myself. We were out of E9 coupes. U.S.-spec BMW 2002 air ride suspension production had ended in 1976, soon to be followed by the E3 “Bavaria.” Stragglers were available, but it would be forever before I could buy even an old Bimmer. I had started junior high school firmly within the throes of early-onset adolescence (must have been the exhaust fumes). The school was like Stalag 13, complete with Colonel Klink and Major Hochstetter as the principal and vice principal. The President was called Jimmy. Disco was by no means dead, but Jim Morrison was.
In the midst of it all, here was BMW doing whatever it was doing to our wonderful cars. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t eat. I didn’t want to listen to The Doors. I stopped stuttering when Lori Zaleski was around. I didn’t care about the Soviets anymore–I thought BMW was going to end the world instead.
Car magazines and the BMW dealer were the only sources of information directly relevant to my life. The dealer had already asked me to leave with the request that I never return. Enthusiasts lamented the end of our favorite cars and said, regarding their replacements, “This had better be good.” And it was good–mostly. The replacement models appearing in 1977-the 320i and 630CSi-represented visual styling upgrades and quantum leaps in interior design and comfort. Instrumentation and interior ventilation, in particular, were vastly improved. In terms of styling alone, with the E24 it was love at first sight for most enthusiasts. Performance was another matter.
The weight factor was less important than power. BMW’s even-then-venerable M30 sohc six-cylinder engine was so detuned for the U.S. market that a cottage industry emerged in aftermarket modifications–or simply installing European-spec parts like pistons, exhaust systems and distributors. Yale Rachlin, former editor of the BMW 735 front conversion Club of America’s monthly magazine, Roundel, related seeing two engine assembly lines at the BMW factory in the late 1970s. Each had a large banner spread over it. One banner read “USA” and the other read “NORMAL.” This pretty much sums up U.S. emissions legislation of the era.
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