BMW Mille Miglia Concept, Silver Metallic

BMW built the Concept Coupé Mille Miglia 2006 as a single running car and brought it to the start and finish of the Mille Miglia in Brescia in May 2006, a tribute to the 328 Mille Miglia Touring Coupé that had won the race outright in 1940. Where Touring of Milan had stretched an aluminium skin over a tubular frame, the new car's entire body was carbon-fibre reinforced plastic, set over the drivetrain of the Z4 M Coupé and its 3.2-litre straight-six. BMW painted it fine silver, a full-gloss colour with extremely fine pigments. The company was clear that it was neither a replica of the racer nor a preview of a production model.

Silver, then, is the colour in which the concept was shown, and this example wears a silver metallic over a cognac tan cabin, close in tone to the natural cowhide BMW used inside the real car. It belongs to a different run from the coloured pieces: its plaque is brushed silver rather than black, carrying the BMW roundel and giving the edition as 120 pieces. The detail holds up close: riveted window frames, carbon-patterned mirrors, bonnet pins, a bronze-toned insert in the gills and the slim red lamp across the tail. Through the glass sit a silver dashboard, a roll cage and ribbed tan seats. Built at 1:18, on a grey stitched base.