BMW lifts shroud of mystery over a V16-packing 7-Series from the 1990s

BMW Classic, the department responsible for preserving the brand’s history, has suddenly revealed that the company built a 7-Series sedan study armed with a 16-cylinder engine in 1990. It was generally believed that BMW only experimented once with such an engine in its flagship saloon – in 1988.

The mill was designed based on the V12 block the Bavarian company used at the time. By increasing the cylinder count, the engineers raised the displacement volume to a cool 6.7 liters. As a result, the peak power output rose to 348 PS (343 hp / 256 kW) – around 50 PS (50 hp / 37 kW) more than the original V12 could do. As a result, the experimental 7-Series could reach 250 km/h (155 mph) despite its considerable bulk.

The newly revealed prototype looks quite different from the famous “Goldfish” saloon dating back to 1988. That one had large air intakes near its trunk area and could deliver up to 408 PS (402 hp / 300 kW). It necessitated a large cooling system to do so, which ended up installed in the trunk – hence the unusual location of the intakes.

Unlike the Goldfish, the newer car was seemingly designed with superior technologies because it looks much more like a normal 7-Series of the era. Still, you can’t mistake it for either the E32 generation or the E38 that came after. It looks built on an early third-generation prototype that the public never saw.