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BMW V16: The 1987 Marvel That Was ‘Too Much for the Streets’. Learn More About This Exclusive Engine That Almost Changed the Industry
Exciting and absurd at the same time. As impressive as it is unnecessary. This was the project that BMW embarked on in the late 1980s to start the V16 project.
An adventure in which, surprisingly, in today’s times when electric vehicles dominate, Bugatti has also just embarked.
The BMW V16 That Almost Nobody Knows
It would be on Christmas Eve of 1987, almost 37 years ago, that Adolf Fischer first started this sixteen-cylinder engine on a test bench. Fischer was an engineer and driver at BMW. At that time, he became the leader, and only member, of a makeshift department to which the brand delegated some of its craziest projects.
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Fischer thus fulfilled his promise. When his boss, Dr. Karlheinz Lange, asked him in July of that same year to carry out this project, he promised he would find “the engine under his Christmas tree.” And so it was, the engine would be ready in less than six months. What we can reveal today is that this spruce had to be really large to accommodate this engine under its branches, which required very radical transformations for the E32 that mounted it to be minimally functional.
BMW Proposed a Very Radical Idea, Creating a V16 Engine and Installing It in Its Luxury Sedan, Which Required Significant Transformations to Make Space for This Engine Under the E32’s Hood.
The Secret Seven, an E32 with 16 Cylinders
For a long time, it was believed to be a myth, or a simple occurrence that never materialized, but the Secret Seven existed and, due to its characteristic exterior paint finish, became known as Goldfisch, literally “goldfish” in German, which is how they also refer to goldfish in other languages, including English. The Secret Seven still exists. It is a second-generation Series 7 with a long wheelbase that is not only distinguished by its exterior finish but also by large gills protruding from its rear fins.
BMW would create one of the most spectacular sports sedans ever seen, whose heart would be a V16 engine. That’s right. A sixteen-cylinder V engine that could not even be accommodated, of course, in the BMW Series 7 E32 for which it was designed, to create a “767 iL” series that we have mentioned on some occasions.
When Fischer, who was responsible for the engine, and Hanns-Peter Weisbarth, who was responsible for the design, installed the sixteen-cylinder engine in the E32, they found, as they had already imagined, that the block they had designed occupied all the available space under the hood. Moreover, there would not even be room to install a conventional radiator. Thus, they decided to transfer it to the trunk.
The Huge V16 Engine Occupied All Available Space in the Engine Compartment, Which Required Transferring the Radiator to the Trunk.
Two V12 Engines to Make a V16
But let’s go back to the story of this engine. How would you design a sixteen-cylinder engine from scratch? By joining two inline eight-cylinder engines forming an angle? Two V eight-cylinder engines, one after the other? Fischer chose to use two M70 V12 engines, like those already used in this BMW Series 7.
It is said that BMW decided, towards the end of the E32 development, to widen this luxury sedan a little more to improve its stability, but mainly to make room for a twelve-cylinder engine with which they hoped to outperform Mercedes-Benz. And so they did. What they had not imagined at that time was that someday a Series 7 with a V16 engine would roll through BMW’s workshops.
Fischer would join a cut V12 with four cylinders to a V12 to create this new V16, which was 30 centimeters longer than the original V12. This already gives us an idea of why it could not be naturally accommodated in the compartment.
The V16 Engine Created by BMW Was Based on Two V12 Engines.
A Powerful and Very Noisy Engine
From 4,988 cubic centimeters of the V12 it would go to 6,651 cubic centimeters. The power would increase from 300 hp at 5,200 rpm to 408 hp at 5,200 rpm. And the maximum torque would rise from 450 Nm at 4,100 rpm to 625 Nm at 3,900 rpm. Its weight would also increase by 60 kilograms. This BMW Series 7 had to carry an engine weighing 310 kilograms.
As for transmission, BMW chose a six-speed manual gearbox instead of a four-speed ZF automatic transmission. There were no special reasons to combine this engine with a manual gearbox, other than it was the gearbox they had available at the time, which sped up the entire process and would allow Fischer to better explore the characteristics of this engine.
Fischer would later confess, as published by BMW Car in 2009, that he had the opportunity to test this Series 7 V16 at the Austrian Norisring circuit, where what impressed him the most was its sound starting at 4,500 rpm. Especially in an early iteration of its development in which it still did not have a complete exhaust system.
As There Was No Space for the Radiator Under the Hood, They Opted to Transfer It to the Trunk and Installed Two Characteristic Gills on the Rear Fenders.
By Its Gills You Will Recognize It
As impressive as the sixteen-cylinder engine, the work that had to be done on the E32 to accommodate it under the hood and make it functional was extraordinary. We had previously mentioned how BMW had no choice but to relocate the radiator from the front, where there was no space due to its 30 extra centimeters in length over the V12, to the trunk, using two smaller radiators that took in fresh air through two huge fiberglass gills protruding from the rear fenders.
This modification meant saying goodbye to the trunk. They also used smaller rear lights that did not even have fog lights or reverse lights. A grille would also be installed, side to side, through which the electric fans would expel the hot air.
To Install the V16 Engine in This Car, It Was Necessary to Give Up the Trunk.
Its Consumption as High as Its Performance
The figures for this BMW Series 7, as you may have imagined, were spectacular for the time. It accelerated from 0 to 100 km/h in 6.0 seconds and reached a top speed of 281 km/h, much more than the 250 km/h it would have been limited to had it reached production.
But its fuel consumption was said to be hellish. In the city, it could consume 16.8 liters/100 kilometers, and moderate consumption at cruising speeds on the Autobahn at 190 km/h could climb to 20 liters/100 kilometers.
At more reasonable cruisings, at 120 km/h, it could consume around 11.8 liters/100 kilometers. Fischer and Weisbarth would later acknowledge that the V16 was ready for production and marketing. And that at some point BMW considered doing so. Some sources (Auto Motor Und Sport) point to a theory, which I don’t fully agree with, that BMW had abandoned production to avoid a power escalation with Mercedes-Benz. The only thing we know is that, unfortunately, the final decision to produce it was never made. And the BMW Series 7 E32 V16 remains as a prototype that BMW still keeps, indeed, in its classic car collection.
Almost four decades later, Bugatti embarked on a project to bring a monstrous V16 to the streets, but for a hypercar that will only be attainable for very few wallets.
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