Seller turned down nearly a quarter of a million dollars for a car with unknown mileage
Renner Projekts is a specialist restomod manufacturer with a focus on classic German cars. One of her first creations, a heavily modified BMW 850i, just went up for sale and failed to sell at auction after a high bid of $227,000. Here’s what the seller wasn’t willing to part with for nearly a quarter of a million dollars.
Originally, the car you see here started life as an 850i with a naturally aspirated 5.0-liter V12 engine. Today, this BMW 8 Series features a 4.9-liter V8 taken from a 2002 BMW M5. According to Renner, it now makes around 485 horsepower, while remaining unboosted.
To accomplish this feat, Renner rebuilt the entire engine, added ARP rod bearings, replaced timing components, and improved airflow with components on both the intake and exhaust sides of the compression chamber. A six-speed manual transmission sends power to the rear wheels only. It didn’t stop at the drivetrain, though.
The braking system includes pads, rotors and calipers from an E60 M5 up front and the same from an E39 M5 at the rear. The interior is also improved with updated upholstery, a ZHP-style shifter, dual air conditioning and an Alcantara headliner. A “Projekt 8” nameplate sits between the two front seats to signify the car’s significance.
However, this car is not without its share of criticism. Commenters on the auction thread noted how the odometer reads just 38k miles. That’s a lot less than what a CarFax report says, showing over 80k miles back in the mid-2000s. That’s due to a number of factors, including the fact that Renner bought the 8 Series with 95k miles on the odometer, and then updated her with a cluster of gauges from a BMW 840 that only had 34k miles on it. Total mileage is unknown.
Some questioned the validity of the bid near the end of the auction on Bring A Trailer, as two relatively unknown accounts ended up bidding the car late in the game from around 100,000 to its final bid before the reserve was not met. Regardless of why it didn’t sell, we’re surprised to see that Renner didn’t accept that price.
