History

Much speculation surrounded the BMW Motorsport Division in 1976 on the development of a GT race car for homologation in Group 4 and Group 5 racing. To qualify, BMW had to build at least 400 identical cars in 24 months. The car became known as the "Mid-Engined BMW M1 Project" (E26) and was started in 1976 and completed in 1980.

The Giugiaro-designed M1 was to be assembled by Lamborghini, but Lamborghini's poor financial situation and assembly delays caused BMW to move assembly to Baur, the German convertible builders. By the time production resumed, the homologation rules for international Group 5 racing had been changed. Since BMW had not met the required sales figures, the M1 went to the new Procar series instead. By the time BMW had sold enough cars, the M1 was no longer competitive for Group 5 racing. In 1981, David Cowart and Kenper Miller won the IMSA GTO category. The M1 Procars became largely  featured as a support series for most Formula 1 races throughout Europe until the car was discontinued in 1981.

Production Notes: (Provided by the M1 Register) First car completed on July 10th, 1978 Last car completed on Feb.13th, 1981 All VINs have the same 14-digit prefix (WBS59910004301XXX) with individual 3-digit suffices.  The entire production range used numbers 001 to 460, with seven numbers never used (045 to 049, 428, 431) and two Group 5 race cars built without VINs. Production Breakdown: 1979 - 79 cars (41 road, 38 race) 1980 - 188 cars (178 road, 10 race) 1981 - 188 cars (180 road, 8 race) Total: 455 cars (399 road, 56 race)