We’ve known that BMW would be bringing some sort of special coupe to the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este for a few weeks now. Of all the cars we could have guessed it would be, we never in a million years thought it would be a Clown Shoe revival. But here we are, as the BMW Touring Concept Coupe is just a fancy way of saying Z4 M40i Coupe.
Shooting Brake Design
Just like with the original Clown Shoe—which was just a Z3 roadster fitted with a funky roof—the new BMW Touring Concept Coupe started out life as a normal, roadster-only BMW Z4. The fixed roof gives it a shooting brake-style, two-box look but the rest of it is pretty much the same as the standard Z4. So don’t expect a radically different looking car from the A-pillar forward. The only thing that’s changed up front is the addition of new vertical grille slats that are and a slightly different front bumper.
Sparkling Lario Color
The color is called Sparkling Lario and it’s a gray-ish brown with flakes of blue glass and silver-bronze accents. The grilles are also painted in body color, which adds an interesting continuity, with the silver-bronze grille trim in between. As for the wheels, they’re 21 inches at the rear, 20 inches at the front, and feature an almost ALPINA-like 20-spoke design. They’re finished in a subtle gold, consistent with its exterior color theme.
Analog and Retro Cabin
Inside, this Clown Shoe revival’s cabin is mostly the same as the Z4 M40i’s. The only real differences are the leather, which is light saddle brown and made by Italian leather workshop Poltrona Frau, and the added luggage compartment behind the seats. Most of the leather in the cabin also gets thick, baseball glove-style stitching, similar to the original Audi TT’s optional leather seats.
The BMW Z4 is only offered as a two-seat roadster with a fabric folding roof and a traditional trunk. So BMW obviously had an opportunity to create an entirely new hatchback trunk. It features a beautifully sculpted cargo area with gorgeous leather, hold-down straps, backlighting, and even custom luggage made by the Italian leather workshop Schedoni, in Modena. It comes with two large and one small weekender bags, and one garment bag. The very same leather shop makes the bags for Rolls-Royce.
At the moment, this BMW Touring Concept Coupe is only a one-off model, with no current plans for production. So don’t get overly excited, expecting to see a modernized Clown Shoe on the road.. However, never say never and never doubt BMW’s desire to make boatloads of cash by building 100 of these and charging $500,000 for each.
