BMW Mille Miglia Concept, Matte Black

Beneath its carbon-fibre body, BMW's Mille Miglia Concept used the drivetrain and suspension of the Z4 M Coupé, then the most powerful version of the Z4. That meant a straight-six, just as in the 328 Touring Coupé that won the 1940 Mille Miglia: the 328's 1,971 cc six had been developed from 80 PS to as much as 136 PS for racing, while the Z4 M unit displaced 3,246 cc. BMW reworked the concept's intake and exhaust for a sound tuned to that racing tradition, a muffled rumble at idle that hardens into a full-throated note by 4,900 rpm, where the engine reaches its peak torque of 365 Nm. It was built in 2006 as a one-off, a tribute rather than a racer.

This example is finished in matte black, a deep satin that swallows reflections and turns the body into a silhouette, so the brightwork does the talking: the chrome-edged kidney grille, the frosted round headlamps, the polished wheels and the riveted window frames. Inside, a red cabin with a silver dashboard and console shows through the split windscreen, and red is echoed outside in the gill inserts, the tow eye and the lamp strip across the tail. The model is built at 1:18 and mounted on a grey stitched base; its black plaque bears the BMW roundel and reads 'Limited', one of 7.