I like Powerslide

[Flunder]

Not much, but some small bits of Alpina 1600 nostalgia.

 

Old time parts and packaging showing a couple of the best but now out-of-use logos and brands, interesting coatings, and color coded inspection markings. 

 

The black and red 1968 style BMW ALPINA logo shown on a zip lock plastic bag holding NOS heim joints for F and R adjustable stabilizer bars.

 

 

ALPINA inspected rocker arms Individually daubed by hand with green-tinted machinist dye by the inspector.

 

Black leather fob shows the second version of the Alpina red and blue shield now with a depiction of a counter weighted crankshaft  (in place of the sport camshaft in V1) in the blue field.

 

 

The rest of the smalls are for context: folding ignition key, BMWCCA badge (no space), Vasek Polak mailer and a blue tint Swan.

 

 

Edited October 18 by Flunder

[Flunder]

Amping up the Pressure for consumer mind-share and drive brand loyalty to ALPINA

The creation of the Alpina brand image was carefully nurtured. Quality and attention to detail were its hallmarks backed up by intense promotion.  An aggressive, professional and, most of all, unrelenting, promotional campaign from the brand’s earliest days built solid foundations for its future success.

 

The Alpina program had first been created with the introduction of the NK platform in 1963 with the first model in the NK range, the BMW 1500 sedan. Alpina developed a brisk trade for its beautiful twin sidedraft Weber carburetter conversions for  the new model.

 

But as good as it was, the NK platform simply lacked the kind of broad market appeal necessary to fire the imaginations of a large base of auto enthusiasts for a start-up company like Alpina to build scale and create a sustainable brand image. But in 1966 an opportunity to achieve exactly that arrived on Burkhard Bovensiepen’s doorstep.

 

The opportunity came in the form of a two door, de-contented version of the NK sedan. While its creators had been tasked with the design of a new, lower price-point market entry, a model that could be built to a price and compete with Volkswagen in the broad market for the budget minded consumer, as things turned out they actually achieved a good deal more. The design and engineering teams delivered on those objectives. But they also delivered much, much more. The BMW 1600-2 was born.

 

Alpina moved aggressively to seize the opportunity presented by the new 1600-2. Perhaps they recognized the appeal of the new model to a broad spectrum of performance enthusiasts with its smaller, lighter package, clean lines and approachable price point.

 

Perhaps it was clear to Burkard Bovensiepen that the 1600-2 was an ideal platform on which to build his business recognizing that the 1600-2 was simply made to order for performance tuning enhancements of every kind.

 

A symbiotic relationship had already been established between BMW and Alpina. BMW brought to the relationship its core capabilities of engineering excellence and quality manufacturing. Burkard Bovensiepen had all that, albeit on a small scale, but what he brought to the relationship did not exist within the confines of corporate culture anywhere, let alone a closely held insular one like BMW of that era. Burkard Bovensiepen was gifted with larger-than-life entrepreneurial drive and a competitive spirit without boundaries. 

 

The path of automotive enthusiast car modification had already been defined and well established for the NK platform so the roadmap for 1600-2 product introductions was already a familiar route to follow for Alpina. A willing market awaited, but successful market penetration was not a given.

 

While modification plans and product engineering were well established disciplines at Alpina, getting the word out to enthusiastic owners of the new 1600-2 was a different proposition altogether.

And finding a solution was the key to achieving a successful product launch.

 

Allocating funding to marketing and brand building budgets are challenging issues to confront for entrepreneurs. Achieving cash flow projections and making payroll are the realities of a start-up. They are daunting and often mortal realities. The luxury of expenditures for brand building  exercises and successful new product launches are  mere fantasies for most. But Burkard Bovensiepen figured out how to do it without money.

 

There are dramatic moments in the lives of small businesses. Like the living, they can be presented with monumental opportunities during their period of existence. Recognizing opportunities and taking the initiative to capitalize on them are hallmarks of entrepreneurs just about everywhere around the world. There was such a person out in the countryside, some 45 miles north of BMW corporate headquarters, looking for his big chance; Burkard Bovensiepen.

 

He backed his vision and placed his bet on the new 1600-2.

 

Now for the dramatic moment. Enter stage-right the automotive press.

 

 

In its May 17, 1967 issue, hobby Das Magazin Der Technik, a prominent auto enthusiast periodical serving the German speaking communities across Europe,  published what has turned to be a Rosetta Stone for the enthusiast of the the early BMW 1600-2 ALPINA.

 

This fantastic cover shot created front-of-mind awareness for the Alpina brand. Like all successful brand building exercises, the image conveys context and meaning well beyond the  impressive array of Alpina product offerings on display at the model’s feet.

 

It sinks deep into the sub-conscious of the consumer with its intoxicating associations of the color red, high horsepower and a beautiful woman.

 

The unattainable young beauty, be-helmeted and Dunlop driver-suit clad is pure fulfillment of male fantasy.  A kindred spirit for the male auto enthusiast, she is literally draped in an alluring pose across the fender of the hot new 1600-2 Alpina, the fingers of her right hand pointing directly at the Alpina brand logo on the leading edge of the front lid. 

 

Who made that photograph? It is an unforgettable image.
 

A promo shot like none seen before, the editors of hobby ran hard with it and shamelessly put it on the cover.  It was a perfect image to sell magazines to its enthusiast readers and splashed that image on every news stand in Germany, Austria and German speaking regions of Switzerland and Italy.

 

And to this day the issue ranks as the most avidly sought-after by 1600-2 Alpina hobbyists around the world.

 

This was the genius of Burkard Bovensiepen. The creation of the enduring mystique and powerful brand image indelibly imprinted front of mind with the consumer for the Alpina brand was largely accomplished for the cost of promo photo shoots that were successfully placed on the covers and within the pages of the leading automotive press.

 

Here it is again. Sheer genius.

 

Magic.

 

 

Edited October 20 by Flunder

[Flunder]

The Naming of Parts

 

 

The hobby cover photo was essentially an illustrated wish list for the performance minded owner of the BMW 1600-2!

 

Let’s review the list:

 

 

1. Alpina special cylinder head with fully-machined, polished and cc’d hemispherical combustion chambers shown with port matched OEM  intake and exhaust manifolds (intake manis appear to be OEM, maybe TiSA for 45s or 1600ti 118 for 40s

2. Alpina 10.5 CR pistons, manufactured for them by Kolben Schmidt, of “millions drive KS pistons” fame, with high-domed crowns shaped to suit Alpina’s modifications of the OEM 118 head to true hemi specs

3. Larger diameter polished valves with tulip shaped stems to enhance flow

4. OEM connecting rods are end-balanced, lightened and fully mirror polished (not the beams only)

5. Alpina sport cam with large center journal and either 300* or 324* duration

6. Weber model 45 DCOE 18 and 19 with long angled velocity stacks are set up for center pull cable throttle

7. Bendix electric fuel pump, typically mounted on the driver side fire wall on LHD cars and sometimes used in conjunction with (street) or without (race) the mechanical pump

8. Alpina branded black perforated three spoke 390mm steering wheel manufactured by Personal and mounted on a solid adaptor hub and finished with a bright polished trim ring and a black horn button showing the BMW blue and white roundel. Note: I am no expert on these early wheels but have been told this one is a unicorn and is impossible to find

9. Gossen electronic tachometer

10.  Chrome bezel gauges with black faces from VDO to monitor Oel  pressure and Amperes (no voltmeters for cars such as the 1600-2 equipped with generators) mounted on a two hole chrome bracket from the same maker

11. Smiths Chronometric tachometer driven off the snout of the camshaft via a drive box mounted on the upper timing cover

12. OEM TiSA five speed gearbox with an NK shifter

13. fast ratio steering box manufactured by ZF and painted tinner red

14. just visible at the margin of the image, one half of the two piece drive shaft shortened for use with the longer TiSA gearbox. Other than @uai and another contributor to the thread who else has one in a 1600-2?

 

Edited October 20 by Flunder

[JohnP_02]

Not sure where I got this picture from, but I believe it’s from the same situation.

 

 

In regard to the steering wheel in the Hobby picture, it is indeed an interesting piece. I have been examining and researching these pictures along with a few others over the years and believe it to be 38-40cm, made by Personal with the black anodized spokes. Personal and Nardi both have the same PCD and therefore utilize identical hubs and horn buttons, and this wheel sports a typical Nardi BMW horn button with a black bezel. This is one of the few Alpina steering wheels I do not own, so I can’t say for sure anything about it. I do have a similar silver spoke wheel that was also from the same time period and I believe these were the very first Alpina branded steering wheels available as they were both marketed for NK’s primarily. 

The silver spoke wheel at the top left is 40cm and manufactured by Personal. It has a slightly more narrow diameter wood rim than the black wheel at the lower right. Otherwise they are very similar. My silver Alpina wheel below probably from around ‘65 or thereabouts. 
 

 

 

The hunt for the black spoke wheel continues! It never ends 😄

 

Edited October 19 by JohnP_02

[JohnP_02]

I’d love to see some pictures of an actual Smiths Chronometric tachometer if anyone has one! 

[visionaut]

23 hours ago, JohnP_02 said:

Not sure where I got this picture from, but I believe it’s from the same situation.

lol. That’s the first thing I thought of too, John. BB got his advert from that same shoot. Different angle, same Diana Riggs-esque driver draped on the fender,  meticulously rearranged with added parts.

 

Chronometrics mechanisms were very precise (and complicated).  Pic say it all — this sits inside the tachometer providing sub-second sampling per each cam rev.   Smiths also made a range of impulse/magnetic tachos, but these were their primo, competition devices

 

I can’t recognize a Smiths face though. To me they all look the same? Only difference is top left has white pointer and no rev limit market.  No?

Also thought I’d share…

 

Which wheel and tachometer are shown here? This tacho is wild..

 

Nice little BMW 1600 Alpina spec sheet. Gotta enjoy that “Check List”…

 

..and a great action shot of two tape-window roundies. Love that look (sry they’re prolly 2002s)

😇

[mmaaaaaxx]

2 hours ago, visionaut said:

 

..and a great action shot of two tape-window roundies. Love that look (sry they’re prolly 2002s)

😇

Not to go off topic, but anyone have details on how these driving lights are mounted? The outer two (lowest of the lights) look like they’re mounted where the bumper beams come out. The inner two (highest of the lights) I can’t quite work out, especially with impacting how the hood opens.

[Flunder]

On 10/20/2024 at 10:16 AM, JohnP_02 said:

I’d love to see some pictures of an actual Smiths Chronometric tachometer if anyone has one! 

   •••Smiths Chronometric•••

These images are posted with permission from the owner.

 

Image above gives a nice view of the resettable telltale and the 4:1 ratio notation along with the 0 to 10 K rpm analog readout.

 

Next image shows the Smiths Chronometric tachometer in the dash panel of an Alpina  02 works car prepared to FIA Group 5 regulations.

 

A Smiths chronometric tachometer may be like a Swiss watch inside but this twin cam 16V Schnitzer 2 ltr is just as noteworthy a complication! It will be giving i tneedle on that Smiths some  serious twist off the snout of its exhaust cam.

 

Edited October 22 by Flunder

[Flunder]

Brackets for mounting auxiliary lighting employed by endurance racing and rally teams came in many varieties.

Not much to it really. It was make do.
 

This seems to have been the bracket often used by Alpina on its cars. Spots above and fogs down low.

 

 

Edited October 22 by Flunder

[Son of Marty]

Looking at that picture I'm sure the upper lights bracket are attached to the hood supports behind the grill, you can't tell from the picture but I would guess they are far enough forward to allow the hood to open.

[Flunder]

Visionsut

A friend once told me that a Chronometric tachometer was made like a fine Swiss watch. When I saw the schematic you posted with components labeled with watch maker terms like balance wheel and escapement I started to understand what he meant.

I do not have an image of a Smiths chrono in a 1600-2 but there is a contributor to this thread that does…

 

This one that you posted is an early Gossen impulse magnetic  tach made for Alpina.. The 7200 red line was the maximum allowable for the 300* and 324* equipped engines sold by Alpina. I say early because it has the Alpina “typewriter”

font logo. This particular example is in a late 1966 1600-2 in which the flash chrome panel is blacked out with a fitted vinyl covering.

Just like this other Gossen you posted mounted in the dash and with what appears to be a vinyl cover to black out the reflections from the flash chromed plastic panel. 

 

Edited October 21 by Flunder

[visionaut]

Agree with Tom, there was lotsa rallye light mount variations, even among Alpinas... 

 

 

 

[Flunder]

The auxiliary lights that Alpina used in the early years for road use 1600-2 s was a much simpler set up than the race and rally stuff shown above.

 

And those examples shown in the post above are all modern pics (flag mirrors and modern rubber are the obvious indicators) and atypical of period light set ups. 

 

A single Marchal 660 spot and one Marchal 760 fog was the classic European combination and was the rule for most of the early road cars from Alpina. See the C&D road test spec sheet for this set up on a very complete 1600-2 Alpina example delivered new to its stateside owner.

 

 

The lighting on the Granada Alpina promo shoot car was pretty elaborate for a 1600-2 Alpina. Here it is with Marchal Amplilux head lamps, combined with Marchal spots and fogs mounted on the bumper.

Edited November 8 by Flunder

[K_02RS]

Hey guys, where am I able to buy one of these black alpine shift knobs? Do I need to buy a 901 part from Porsche?

[visionaut]

On 10/5/2024 at 3:11 PM, Flunder said:

For example, I recall that a Polaris car campaigned by the Schnitzer team that won in 1968. I used to have a pic of it with pig cheeks and Campagnolo 7x13 elektron wheels.

Tom, I found pics of a BMW-Schnitzer 02, driven by Ernst Furtmayr, that won the 1969 Salzburgring DonauPokal race sporting some bad-ass Campy Elektron Millerighes…

 

The same car also wore a different wheel set - can’t quite make it out.

 

Edited November 11 by visionaut