BMW 745i
RUN BY Graeme Hurst OWNED SINCE October 2023 PREVIOUS REPORT n/a
The 1980s gave us some of the coolest music and, for most petrolheads schooled in the era, some of the best cars. Especially so in South Africa, where local manufacturing plants enjoyed a sense of brinkmanship with their parent companies abroad.
That played out most obviously on the race track in the fiercely competitive Group One saloon car series. And it delivered some special and unique models: think Ford Sierra XR8 (the worldʼs only production V8-engined Sierra) and the GTV6 3.0 – an Autodeltaendorsed 3-litre version of Alfa Romeoʼs 2.5-litre coupé. Both hugely impressive, but neither had quite the kudos of BMWʼs offering: the mighty 745i, which packed an M1-derived engine delivering a whopping 286bhp.
This unique-to-SA model came about after BMW in Germany turbocharged the regular 735i (the previous E23 range-topper) and badged it 745i. But with the turbo sitting on the right of the engine, the model was strictly left-hand drive and so unavailable in South Africa. Which in turn meant that it couldnʼt take part in national motorsport, so BMW SA created its own version of the 745i, using the naturally aspirated, twin-cam, 24-valve M88 engine.
The potent result comfortably outstripped the German 745i against the stopwatch, and would also pave the way for another noteworthy model: the E30 333i, BMW SAʼs 3.3-litre, six-cylinder response to the LHD-only M3. And although that, too, offered spectacular grunt, it was the 745i which really stood out among car-mad teenagers such as me upon its debut in 1983.
Back then I used to devour the local CAR magazine within hours of it hitting the shelves, and could recite the stats of each new model. And the 745i was the king of the playground numbers when it was tested a year after launch: 0-100kph in 7.14 secs, with a top end of 236kph (145mph) – for a big saloon weighing 1720kg! But those were not the only impressive figures: it cost an eye-watering 70,000 Rand. Itʼs hard to put that in todayʼs money, but at the time it was north of a Porsche 911 and nearly 20,000 Rand more than a regular BMW 735i. For that outlay the 745i owner wasnʼt left wanting, despite the model being homologated for competition. The car was finished to a high specification, the most obvious of which was a full leather interior that extended to a stitched dashboard, along with electrically adjustable front seats complete with memory settings.
There was also self-levelling re
