Bmw 1600 GT Cabriolet: Italian bodywork, German heart

BMW 1600 GT Cabriolet is the only survivor of two specimens, one of which was destroyed during the technical tests. This car was built jointly by the car manufacturer HANS GLAS GMBH and by BMW, which, in 1966, took over the Bavarian company in financial difficulties. The design is Italian, in fact almost all the models of the Glas were created by Pietro Frua, who was from Turin, and the mechanical part (engine and gearbox) was in large part of the German BMW, which imposed its mark. Pietro Frua (1913/1983) was a famous technical designer who, at a very young age, was already director of the Style Center of the Farina Plants, founded in 1906 by the great coachbuilder, father of the first Formula 1 world champion, 1950, Nino Farina. Of this sleek and elegant high-end model, 1256 cars were produced, of which there are still a hundred coupes, and it is the direct competitor of the ASA 1000 GT, also a coupe, but all made in Italy; reason why the BMW 1600 GT coupè is considered by collectors the "German Ferrarina".