BMW Mille Miglia Concept, Midnight Blue Metallic

The 328 Touring Coupé owed its existence to a rule change. When the Le Mans 24 Hours opened its doors to closed cars, BMW commissioned Touring of Milan to build a light, aerodynamic coupé body on a 328 chassis for the 1939 race. On its debut that June, Prince Max zu Schaumburg-Lippe and Hans Wencher drove it to victory in the 2-litre class and fifth place overall, against far larger-engined opposition. The following spring it won the Mille Miglia outright. BMW's 2006 Mille Miglia Concept takes that coupé's proportions and rebuilds them around the Z4 M Coupé, itself the closed derivative of an established roadster, just as the Touring car had been.

This piece wears a deep midnight blue metallic, nearly black in shade, the flake surfacing as navy across the bonnet and the rear spats. Inside, the cabin is light grey, with ribbed seats and black harness straps, a pale steering wheel and a silver-finished dashboard and console, and the gills behind the front wheels carry pale inserts that stand out sharply against the dark paint. The frosted round headlamps and the bright grille surround do the same at the front, and a red lamp strip crosses the tail on the diagonal. It is built at 1:18 and sits on a grey stitched base; the black plaque bears the BMW roundel and reads 'Limited', one of 7.