This Ultra-Rare Alpina Roadster Limited Edition Is Heading to Auction

A one-of-66 Alpina Roadster Limited Edition is being auctioned in Italy later this month in what will likely be one of the pound-for-pound coolest cars at Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este.

The Alpina Roadster Limited Edition is based on the BMW Z1, the first of BMW‘s Z roadsters that made its debut in 1986 before production began in 1989. In total, 8,000 Z1s were made, and, from July 1990 to September 1991, 66 of them were converted to Alpina Roadster Limited Editions.

Alpina operated for decades as a tuner of BMW cars, while it was recognized as an automaker in its own right by the German government, before BMW announced it was acquiring Alpina in 2022. Alpina cars take BMWs to the next level stylistically and with performance, but not too much, in that most of them are still recognizably BMW but with an Alpina twist. This combination has meant that Alpinas have attracted quite a lot of money on the secondary market and quite a lot of amateur admirers as well.

The Alpina Roadster Limited Edition is, in this sense, pretty standard for the brand, taking an already interesting car and upping the ante. Broad Arrow Auctions, which is selling this example, says Alpina added 20-spoke wheels and side stripes on the outside. Under the hood is a 2.7-liter inline six-cylinder making 200 horsepower, which has upgraded pistons, camshafts, and a cylinder head. Alpina also made it slightly bigger, adding 200 cubic centimeters of displacement and, in total, 30 horsepower.

Alpina also added various signature touches and decals inside and out. The car was originally sold by a dealer for import to Japan, later making its way to the Netherlands in 2017. The car has fewer than 30,000 kilometers on the odometer, or under 18,641 miles. Alpina orginally sold this car for 116,000 Deutsche Marks in 1990, or around $125,000 in today’s money with inflation taken into account. According to Broad Arrow, this was some 40 percent more than a Z1 and even more than a BMW M5 back then.

Broad Arrow’s high estimate for the auction is €150,000, or around $166,000. It will go up for bid on May 24 in Italy.

Click here for more photos of the Alpina Roadster Limited Edition.

Credit: robbreport.com