BMW's "Halo Car"... [PIC]

Not since the 1958 507 V8 roadster, did BMW produce a car that would embody all that the company had to offer a consumer. By definition, a Halo Car would be expensive to produce with generally at a loss and would still in small numbers due to its cast. The beloved 507 only sold 252 units and this Z8, produced between 2000 and 2003 sold a bit better at 5703 at an MSRP of $128,000. Like other halo cars, like the Toyota 2000GT and even the Aston Martin DB5, one way to gain notoriety was to have it star in a James Bond movie, in this case, the film "The World Is Not Enough". The aluminum body was designed by Henrik Fisker on an all aluminum space frame.  It was powered by the M5's 394 HP 4.9 liter V8 and the 6 speed manual transmission. Every Z8 sold was delivered with a color matching removable hard top and matching stand.

This model, by Kyosho comes with the soft top only and sports Bond's "V354 FMP" license plates basically stock w/o out all the gadgets. I promised my one daughter a BMW if she graduated from the rather grueling Merchant Marine Academy, so I gave her this model on graduation day. Later, I gave her what she really wanted, my old Bronco after I also gave her this virtually identical 1/18 "Eddie Bauer" edition.

 I'm proud to say she just got here Captain's license in January and she now commands merchant ships in the Pacific Ocean. In a man's world- no DEI in this biz-, she has quite the reputation, and had her pick of competing shipping lines for a permanent position. She's the hardest working, most committed person I know. Anyway, enough bragging, here's the model: