Rare Alpina B12 crops up on sale

This Alpina B12 5.7 is a 1998 BMW 7-Series at heart, has around 88,500 km (55,000 miles) on the counter, and is expected to go for $50,000 or $60,000 when the auction closes on Wednesday, August 4.

Alpina worked with the BMW E38 for the project, producing 202 units total and 59 long-wheelbase ones. The owner of this particular example purchased it in Japan and currently resides in Canada, while the front license plate pictured here is inexplicably Ukrainian.

The stock V12 got drilled out from 5 to 5.7 liters of displacement, enabling a boost of 61 PS (60 hp / 45 kW) and 60 Nm (44 lb-ft) of torque. As a result, the car now has 387 PS (382 hp / 285 kW) and 560 Nm (413 lb-ft), needs 6.4 seconds to get from zero to 100 km/h (62 mph), and maxes out at 280 km/h (174 mph).

The five-speed automatic transmission now supports a feature called Switch-Tronic, which lets you switch gears using buttons on your steering wheel. Brakes and suspension have likewise been improved, and the trim level is the highest the E38 has ever shipped with.

The bidding has reached $33,000 so far, stopping just short of the $34,000 reserve. With two days until the auction end, however, we expect it to sell for considerably more than that.