THE TAX DODGER
To circumvent the tax laws in Italy and Portugal, BMW created the 320is, a very special E30 with the heart of an M3 behind its unassuming sheet metal.
By Alexander Palevsky
Photography by Klaus Schnitzer
Legend has it that renowned BMW engine guru Paul Rosche conceived the S14 powerplant in a matter of days by mating the four-cylinder M10 engine block with the four-valve M88 cylinder head. The result was a compact, powerful and robust motor ideally suited for its intended purpose: to power the E30 M3 to an unprecedented number of victories in the World Touring Car Championship.
Of course, racers haven’t been the only ones lucky enough to experience the high-revving charms of the S14: A detuned version (in one of several iterations) can also be found under the hood of each and every roadgoing E30 M3, a car that has irrefutable cult status among BMW aficionados throughout the world.
At the E30 M3’s introduction in 1986, however, BMW was far from convinced that such an expensive machine—it cost the equivalent of roughly €30,000 in totally basic form—with such thinly veiled competition origins and a four-cylinder engine could entice even the minimum 5,000 customers required by FISA for Group A homologation certification.
The M3’s high price was particularly prohibitive in Italy and Portugal, countries where an additional 20% tax was levied upon all automobiles with an engine capacity of more than 2.0 liters. While most manufacturers would have simply ignored those markets and concentrated on sales elsewhere, BMW took a different approach: By decreasing the S14’s stroke from 84 to 72.6mm and then installing longer connecting rods, overall displacement could be reduced from 2,302 to 1,990cc, thereby circumventing the heavy tariff altogether.
Topic: <--- E30 The 80's Hits ---> (Read 1436091 times)
