BMW E31 8 Series 850i 5.0 V12 Coupe UK Dealership Training Video (1989)

Internal training video sent from BMW GmbH to BMW UK Dealerships in 1989 prior to BMW 850i production commencing in early 1990. The video features two members of the BMW GmbH board of directors (Director of Research & Development, Dr. Wolfgang Reitzle & Director of Sales, Dr. Robert Buchelhofer).

I'm the proud owner of a 'pre-production' right hand drive 850i, manufactured in November 1989 and registered to BMW UK Head Office (Bracknell) in October 1992. It comes in metallic Glacier Blue (light silver-blue) with Ultramarine (dark blue) leather interior, a rare but stunning colour combination for it's time! It is currently the oldest known surviving example world wide that has seen active use and the only pre-production model known to have been released to the public. It has been suggested that the car was used in Germany as a 'test mule' and/or press car as per other known pre-production 8 Series, all of which (apart from mine) are thought to have been scrapped/recycled by BMW GmbH. I suspect this is more than likely as BMW UK in Bracknell took delivery of the car in July 1992, over two and a half years after the manufacture date, registering it three months later in October 1992, just a month short of it being three years old! I was very pleased to have acquired this video to add to the original sales literature that came with my car.

Although this video was a few years too early to mention the 840Ci V8, many of the features remained the same, so whichever 8 Series you're an owner or enthusiast of, I hope you find this rare video of interest!

Tim ([email protected])