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Originally Posted by Efthreeoh
Wait, injection molded thermoplastic was an advanced material in 1988? Really? Injection molding was about 40+ years old by 1988. Now RIM (Reinforced Injection Molding) and SMC (Sheet Molded Compound) both used on the 1984 Fiero were a bit advanced for the day in use in an automotive application.
I'm not here to argue, but you are reading BMW's marketing material, which is not in consideration of automotive history. As I remember it (I was 26 at the time and fresh out of manufacturing engineering school) the Z1 basically had a monocouqe chassis, an advanced floor material (although Audi by that time was working on and showed a complete light-weight aluminum chassis - 5 years before), and most of the road going components were E30 bits (which at that time was about at the end of it's design cycle).
It's a great car, and a milestone for sure (but not anymore than say the Z8), but it really did not set the automotive landscape on its ear as the reading materials try to suggest. What parts of the Z1 are in production today?
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If I am correct the rear axle in your E90 was first introduced in the Z1.
The Z8 was not a prototype that went in production as the Z1 was. The Z1 wasn't intended as a production model but as a study. And the Z1 was handbuild by BMW Technik GmbH instead of BMW itself. The aerodynamics, the sliding doors and the rear axle were the new items. The engine and the front axle were just old E30 parts. But never the less the car changed the image of BMW. And that was what the car was intended for.
Everything was probably done before somewhere else but not combined in a roadster those days.
And the last time I looked this was a BMW forum not a Audi or GM history channel.
