BMW offered us a glimpse into the crazy projects that the engineers have created behind closed doors earlier last year, showcasing cars like the E46 M3 Touring or the E92 M3 Pickup, models that were never mass-made but rather built just to see what they’d be like in real life. The first such Frankenstein-like model made by the Motorsport division was the BMW E30 pickup, a car that was initially put together just to haul parts around the Munich HQ.
Well, it looks like the people from the marketing division found yet another use for it, turning it into the star of their latest commercial. The M3 was the culprit guilty of a little girl having probably one of the worst Christmases in her life. The father, understandably so, probably had one of the best of all time.
As for the BMW E30 M3 Pickup, the car was built back in 1986 off the chassis of a Convertible. As Jakob Polschak, head of vehicle prototype building and workshops at BMW M Division and an employee at the company for more than 40 years recalls, “The convertible bodyshell was chosen as the basis for two reasons. Firstly, we happened to have such a model at our disposal and in perfect condition. And secondly, the convertible’s built-in bracing made it the ideal choice for a pickup conversion.”
Therefore, this wasn’t just a spur of the moment thing, but a well-thought process that led to the actual making of the M3 Pickup. The first BMW M3 Pickup did not sport the original’s boldly flared wings, as it was equipped with the narrower body of its regular, volume-produced sibling. At first it was powered by the engine fitted in the so-called “Italian M3”, which had a reduced 2-liter displacement due to tax regulations there and an output of 192 hp. Furthermore, the damn thing was used for over 26 years, being retired in 2012.
