We’re in the middle of summer, the time of year when convertibles and sports cars that have slept through the winter have now been polished such as to make them ready for the warm season. A ride with the roof down under a sky full of stars in July is an experience most treasure, probably irrespective of the age or typ of convertible they do it in. That said, dropping the roof of a car with a bit more under the bonnet is usually even more enjoyable. With very few exceptions though, no convertible allows you to drop the doors as well. The main exception to that rule is one of the most innovative cars of the 80’s – the BMW Z1.

The story of the Z1 starts in 1987, when Whitney Houston wanted to dance with somebody and Glenn Close was cooking rabbits in Fatal Attraction. Those lucky enough to visit the BMW boot at the Frankfurt car salon that year saw a strange convertible looking like a prototype. It no doubt got a lot of attention, putting other cars that year like the Ferrari F40 and the 911 Speedster a bit in the shade, but no one really thought it would be put into production a couple of years later. Well, they were wrong. Sales of the Z1 started in 1989, and to everyone’s surprise, it looked pretty much like the prototype seen in Frankfurt.

The Z1 was a product of a new daughter company BMW had founded a couple of years earlier under the name BMW Technik. Its role was to develop innovative technologies for future BMW’s, and the Z1 was the first car the team worked on. Lead engineer at BMW Technik was by the way a certain Ulrich Bez, who would later work for Porsche and after that also run Aston Martin between 2000 and 2013, a period that many would describe as the golden era for Aston in modern times.

BMW Technik’s definition of new technologies also included new materials. of which extensive use was made in the Z1. The chassis was however made out of steel and was fire galvanised in one piece. This technology was new for the time and meant the chassis lived longer, but also that it was far more rigid than non-galvanised, or otherwise galvanised chassis. That meant that other body parts didn’t need to contribute to the car’s rigidity and could therefore be made in thermoplastic materials. This included the doors, making the party trick possible by which they disappear into the lower chassis at the press of a button.

On those sweet summer nights, you could thus drive the car with both the top and doors down, and before the summer rain started falling, you would just raise the doors and close the soft top. The doors also saved space when parking of course, although you had to live without door pockets. Next to the doors, the Z1 was a car of its time with headlights under protective glass and some other 90’s design features. The inside was far less innovative, which was not a bad thing as BMW interiors in general, and especially at this time, were the best in the business.

Under the bonnet the two-seater had the 2.5 litre, six cylinder engine also featured in the 325i with a power of 170 hp. At a weight of around 1200 kg, the Z1 was quick enough, and being rear-wheel drive with the engine placed behind the front axle, the weight distribution was close to perfect. As always though, new technologies have their price, and the only thing not perfect with the Z1 was exactly that.

At 85.000 D-Marks, roughly EUR 100.000 / USD 115.000 in today’s money, the Z1 was rather expensive, and only three years and 8.000 cars later, production was halted. On one hand, that’s of course made the Z1 a sought-after roadster today, with prices for good cars starting around EUR 50.000. On the other, the Z1 was critical for the development of both the roadster segment in general, that would grow in popularity over the coming years (notably with the Mazda MX-5 launched in parallel to the Z1), but more specifically for BMW’s future roadsters, first and foremost the Z3 and Z8, but later also the Z4.

Any of those will be an excellent companion on those warm summer nights, but none will provide the same feeling of liberty as the Z1. it’s a car from an era where cars were simpler, and where small series thinking was still possible. Most things were not better before, but the simple, rear-wheel driven roadster arguably was, especiall without doors!