Alejandro Rubio
Video: KukFilms / Interview and text: Javier Romagosa
BMW he had a hard time after World War II. The Allies prohibited him from resuming car production until 1952, at which point he tried to follow in the wake of Mercedes with the stately 501 and 502 models. These sedans equipped with V8 engines were far from the tradition of the Bavarian brand, based as you know on the airplane engines, motorcycles, small and medium-sized passenger cars and the wonderful 327 and 328 sports cars.
That is BMW He tried to get back on track with a production that had little to do with what he had done before, at least as far as cars are concerned. In 1956 they tried to reengage in a market they knew well, that of large coupes and roadsters, albeit on a larger scale and at a time when there was still no demand to absorb cars of this caliber. For more INRI, Mercedes was always ahead.
It was then that BMW made the 503 models a reality and, above all, 507, whose aesthetics and value have been inevitably linked to the history of motorsport but which constituted a resounding commercial failure. The next stop on the Bavarian brand's path, on the verge of bankruptcy, were the ISO-licensed Isettas and, in 1959, the BMW 700, the company's savior. (goodness!).
Thus, the BMW The postwar era ran from the largest to the smallest, from the massive 502 to the tiny 700, in search of commercial success. Fortunately, he succeeded, although in a way that few would have imagined and without a doubt far from the greatness of a brand that at the end of the 30s had astonished the world ...
The new class or, little by little, the BMW that we all know
So things, Why not find a middle ground, a new class?
After all, in the middle is virtue. The successful two-cylinder motorcycle engine of the BMW 700 went to 1.500 and later to 2.000, both four-cylinder and which gave name to a family of larger models. It was precisely what Europe needed in the early 60s, the Bavarian brand had finally caught the pulse of the market. Now he only needed to regain the halo of past prestige ...
And this is where our guest for today comes in, a 2000CS, which is neither more nor less than the first of the renowned passenger cars - especially coupes - for which BMW stands out today. The formula is still on point: A premium car with sharp lines and German quality, with advanced engines and up to the task but not necessarily for an elite. At first the essential thing was comfort, although little by little sportsmanship has become more important to the point of giving rise to the well-known advertising slogan: You like driving?
As is often said, the rest of the story is well known: Essentially, and although we leave the details in the inkwell, the 2-liter and 4-cylinder engines were switched to the 3 and 6-cylinder 3.0 models, to the fearsome batmobile, to the birth of series 3 and series 6, to the Americanized models of the nineties and the successful but sometimes ugly ones of the 2000s and, finally, to the explosion of the brand's catalog from 2010.
Without further ado, we leave you WITH THE HEADBOARD VIDEO, with Toni Ruiz Casanova and his precious BMW 2000 CS. (Do not lose sight of the M3 E30, which we are simmering for you, it will be ready very soon!;) !.
