8-ttle Zone: The Drive and Blipshift Celebrate the BMW 850i
Put some V12 radness in your life—for cheaper than the cost of actually owning an E31.
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Calling all pre-1990s recession oligarchs! Your chariot has arrived. Or at least, its t-shirt has. And snagging one of these will be cheaper than owning an Autobahn cruiser with two ECUs to go with its 12-cylinder engine.
Your favorite car website (us, The Drive) has teamed up yet again with your favorite car-themed apparel store (Blipshift), and this time we're celebrating the raddest company car around: our own left-hand-drive, Japanese-market 1990 BMW 850i. The same ride our man Mike Spinelli is taking to RADwood at the Greenwich Concours d'Elegance this weekend.
This latest design celebrates the V12-powered BMW E31 coupe that's been our company car for a hot minute now. But thanks to various pandemic-related delays, #Project850i hasn't seen a ton of action—until now. Mike assures us it's in mostly fighting shape, and ready for its retro-concours debut this weekend.
The 850i remains one of BMW's most opulent and excessive GT cars, serving as the flagship of the entire company through much of the 1990s and taking what used to be the 6 Series coupe to an entirely new level. But while it was dogged by slow sales, a massive price tag, and a good degree of mechanical complexity, it remains iconic today—and a blast to cruise in. So even if you don't own one, you can throw your support behind it with the new 8-ttle Zone design from Blipshift.
And because we here at The Drive believe in freedom, you have lots of choices: Men’s fitted tee ($20), men’s heavy-duty tee ($22), men’s premium tri-blend tee ($25), men’s long sleeve ($25), hoodie ($40), women’s tee ($20), women’s tank ($20), youth tee ($20), and poster ($27).
It's on sale today through Sunday, Oct. 31, so get it while you can, or your life will be sadder than a BMW tech who gets one of these dropped off at their shop on a Friday evening. Until then, we'll see you in Greenwich on Saturday!
Got a tip? Email us at tips@thedrive.com.
