BMW / Bertone Spicup - Concept 1969
Built as both a spider and a coupe, the Spicup was daring prototype made by Bertone and Marcello Gandini for BMW. A highlight of the design was the three-piece sliding top made of stainless steel, but this didn’t stop the Spicup from becoming a relative failure. It was totally out of place with BMW's refined model line and was not suitable for production.
Using the BMW 2500 as a backbone, the designers at Bertone shortened the chassis to fit a new body and interior. Inside, only the gauges and pedals remained stock. Bertone fitted a new dashboard, seats and carpet with two tone, green on green upholstery.
Bertone describes the car: "The considerable dimensions of the mechanical components were handled by creating almost excessively fluid vertical lines. At the same time, the relatively important tail and wings become the car's focal point. The rollbars had to satisfy a combination safety needs and design criteria, and Bertone solved the problem with an automatic mechanism which also contained the elements for the transformation from spider to coupé and back again.
For the Spicup, Bertone used the larger inline-6 from the BMW 2800. This capable 2.8 liter, six-cylinder engine produced 170 bhp and drove the rear wheels through a 4-speed manual transmission. These components made the prototype fully functional.
Revealed at the 1969 Geneva Motor Show, the Spicup had a great resemblance to the Alfa Romeo Montreal prototype released at the 1967 Montreal Expo. This was especially true of the semi-hidden headlights with motorized flaps. However at the front Bertone kept BMW's 'double kidney' motif, but with obscure padded inserts.
Having little to do with past or future BMWs, the company quickly sold the Spicup to an enthusiastic owner that racked up over 60,000 miles (100,000 kms) traveling constantly from the Netherlands to Germany. This was largely possible due to the BMW 2500 underpinnings. At some point the body was painted orange and the engine cover was attached in unit with the hood.
In recent times the Spicup was found by Paul Koot in the Netherlands along with an Intermeccanica Indra. It was complete and a subsequent restoration was completed for Roland D'Ieteren in Belgium. Painted its original hue of green with triple-tone interior, the Spicup made its debut at the 2009 Villa d’Este Concours with BMW as the acting sponsor.
[Text from supercars.net]
www.supercars.net/cars/2256.html
This Lego miniland-scale BMW / Bertone Spicup - Concept 1969 has been created for Flickr LUGNuts' 100th Build Challenge - our Centenary, titled 'One Hundred Ways to Win!'. In this challenge, a list of 100 challenges is available, kept by the admins. Individuals wishing to enter, request a number from 1-100 (so long as it has not already been requested) - and the admins assign the individual build challenge associated with that number.
In the case of admins entering models - they request that a general LUGNuts member assigns a number - and the admin must build to that challenge number.
In this case, the number 14 was chosen for me, corresponding to the challenge: #14.Design a vehicle for Spiderman or Green Lantern.
The BMW / Bertone Spicup Concept is pretty much as presented here, but for the modification of the front windscreen to clear yellow. The original show car even has the two tone lime and dark green interior!
I chose to build this car for the Green Lantern due to the colour (obviously), but also, the character has had a few reboots over the years, including a stint in the late 1960s, early 1970s. This car was originally fitted with a standard BMW 2800 inline six, but could easily be imagined with the BMW 3.4 litre M-Power engine of the same vintage (as used int he CSL racers) - making for one mighty fast road car. The car is also distinctive without being completely out of place driving along the roads of the period.
BMW / Bertone Spicup - Concept 1969
Built as both a spider and a coupe, the Spicup was daring prototype made by Bertone and Marcello Gandini for BMW. A highlight of the design was the three-piece sliding top made of stainless steel, but this didn’t stop the Spicup from becoming a relative failure. It was totally out of place with BMW's refined model line and was not suitable for production.
Using the BMW 2500 as a backbone, the designers at Bertone shortened the chassis to fit a new body and interior. Inside, only the gauges and pedals remained stock. Bertone fitted a new dashboard, seats and carpet with two tone, green on green upholstery.
Bertone describes the car: "The considerable dimensions of the mechanical components were handled by creating almost excessively fluid vertical lines. At the same time, the relatively important tail and wings become the car's focal point. The rollbars had to satisfy a combination safety needs and design criteria, and Bertone solved the problem with an automatic mechanism which also contained the elements for the transformation from spider to coupé and back again.
For the Spicup, Bertone used the larger inline-6 from the BMW 2800. This capable 2.8 liter, six-cylinder engine produced 170 bhp and drove the rear wheels through a 4-speed manual transmission. These components made the prototype fully functional.
Revealed at the 1969 Geneva Motor Show, the Spicup had a great resemblance to the Alfa Romeo Montreal prototype released at the 1967 Montreal Expo. This was especially true of the semi-hidden headlights with motorized flaps. However at the front Bertone kept BMW's 'double kidney' motif, but with obscure padded inserts.
Having little to do with past or future BMWs, the company quickly sold the Spicup to an enthusiastic owner that racked up over 60,000 miles (100,000 kms) traveling constantly from the Netherlands to Germany. This was largely possible due to the BMW 2500 underpinnings. At some point the body was painted orange and the engine cover was attached in unit with the hood.
In recent times the Spicup was found by Paul Koot in the Netherlands along with an Intermeccanica Indra. It was complete and a subsequent restoration was completed for Roland D'Ieteren in Belgium. Painted its original hue of green with triple-tone interior, the Spicup made its debut at the 2009 Villa d’Este Concours with BMW as the acting sponsor.
[Text from supercars.net]
www.supercars.net/cars/2256.html
This Lego miniland-scale BMW / Bertone Spicup - Concept 1969 has been created for Flickr LUGNuts' 100th Build Challenge - our Centenary, titled 'One Hundred Ways to Win!'. In this challenge, a list of 100 challenges is available, kept by the admins. Individuals wishing to enter, request a number from 1-100 (so long as it has not already been requested) - and the admins assign the individual build challenge associated with that number.
In the case of admins entering models - they request that a general LUGNuts member assigns a number - and the admin must build to that challenge number.
In this case, the number 14 was chosen for me, corresponding to the challenge: #14.Design a vehicle for Spiderman or Green Lantern.
The BMW / Bertone Spicup Concept is pretty much as presented here, but for the modification of the front windscreen to clear yellow. The original show car even has the two tone lime and dark green interior!
I chose to build this car for the Green Lantern due to the colour (obviously), but also, the character has had a few reboots over the years, including a stint in the late 1960s, early 1970s. This car was originally fitted with a standard BMW 2800 inline six, but could easily be imagined with the BMW 3.4 litre M-Power engine of the same vintage (as used int he CSL racers) - making for one mighty fast road car. The car is also distinctive without being completely out of place driving along the roads of the period.