BMW E32 with V16 engine 1927
THE BMW E32 which has a V16 engine year 1927 is a 35 year old classic car. Check below what Giro dos Motores has prepared for you!
For most of us vintage car enthusiasts, there's nothing more exciting than a V-shaped engine. Eight cylinders are cool, ten is even better, while twelve is near perfection. But what about sixteen?
Throughout history, several automakers have developed a V16 engine, but this configuration never reached the popularity of its smaller brothers.
The first mass-produced V16s intended for automobiles were born in the USA. The defunct Marmon Motor Car Company was the first to begin development in 1927. But Cadillac was the first to bring one to market three years later.
In modern times, the Cizeta-Moroder V16T was the only production car to use this engine.
Of course, Bugatti also builds a famous sixteen-cylinder engine, but it uses the VW Group's proprietary W configuration instead of a conventional V.
During the latter half of the 1980s, BMW also flirted with the idea of mass-producing a V16, going as far as developing one and testing it inside its flagship sedan.
Over its 107-year history, the German manufacturer has created many great engines that have come in various configurations. But if we had to choose one that is synonymous with BMW, it would undoubtedly be the six-cylinder in-line.
Dubbed the Secret Seven, the V16-powered E32 was introduced to management in the spring of 1988 and was extensively tested over the next few months.
It showed a lot of promise, accelerating from 0 to 62 mph (100 km/h) in just over 6 seconds and reaching a top speed of 175 mph (282 km/h).
However, with reduced trunk space and those huge side vents, it was far too impractical and looked too goofy for mass production.
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Engineers and designers tried to solve these problems. But there simply wasn't enough room for the V16 in the E32's chassis.
Studies have shown that the cooling system could only fit inside the engine compartment if the entire front fascia had been redesigned.
This would have exponentially increased production costs, and consequently a mass-produced E32 with a V16 engine would have been very expensive.
Even though it has not entered production, the E32 with a sixteen-cylinder engine remains one of the prototypes BMW most scandalous of the 1980s. You can learn more about it in the YouTube video below from HSG Automotive.
