1984 BMW 635 Group A, £200-250,000
Start the new year right with your own Marlboro BMW Group A touring car! No, this is not an original but a rebuild finished in 2016 that turned an ’84 BMW 6-Series coupe (sourced in Italy) into a Group A weapon, complete with period livery.
The job was entrusted to Geoff Steel Racing and involved stripping everything back to a bare shell, dipping it and adding all the good bits including rollcage, Group A gearbox and 100-litre tank, all to correct FIA spec. The 3,453cc, 24-valve, six-cylinder engine – originally used in the BMW M1 – was rebuilt and now puts out 310bhp, usefully up on the 286bhp of the standard unit in the road car.
As a road car the M635CSi could get to 62mph from zero in around six seconds and hit 155mph, but with a weight around 1,200kg this track version will be able to beat that. It’s already had a number of high-placed finishes in the European Group A season, including a second at Spa in 2016 and second at the Algarve classic in 2017. As Coys says, it’s a contender – in the right hands.
Photography courtesy of Coys