History

The following section is an excerpt from Wikipedia's BMW New Class page on 11 January 2024, text available via the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Introduced in September 1963, the BMW 1800 was the second member of the New Class family. This model had an M10 engine with an 84 mm (3.3 in) bore and 80 mm (3.1 in) stroke, giving a displacement of 1,773 cc. It produced 90 hp at 5,250 rpm and 96 lb-ft at 3,000 rpm.

The 1800 TI (Turismo Internazionale) model featured components developed for the 1800 by the tuning company Alpina. The upgrades included dual Solex PHH two-barrel side-draft carburetors and higher-compression pistons for 110 hp at 5,800 rpm and 100 lb-ft at 4,000 rpm; an anti-roll bar was also added to the front suspension.

A homologation special, the 1800 TI/SA, was introduced in 1964. (The SA stood for Sonderausführung, or "special version".) The TI/SA's engine had dual Weber DCOE-45 two-barrel carburetors and a 10.5:1 compression ratio. This engine produced 130 hp at 6,100 rpm and 106 lb-ft at 5,250 rpm. The TI/SA also had a Getrag five-speed gearbox, a stronger front anti-roll bar as well as a new anti-roll bar at the rear, and larger-diameter brake discs than the TI. 200 examples of the TI/SA were built and were only sold to licensed racing and sports drivers.

For the 1966 model year, a three-speed automatic transmission option was introduced. In the 1969 model year, the 1800 was generally updated along with the 2000. The 1800's former 1,773 cc (108.2 cu in) engine was replaced by an engine with the 3.5 in bore of the 2000's 2.0 L engine and the original 71 mm (2.8 in) stroke of the 1500's and 1600's engines, which resulted in a displacement of 1,766 cc (107.8 cu in) and a stroke/bore ratio of 0.798:1 (compared with the previous 1800 engine's ratio of 0.952:1). Other updates included a dual-circuit brake system for greater braking reliability, an improved cabin heating/ventilation system, a modernized dashboard design, and styling changes to the front grilles. In its last year of production (1971), the 1800 got the same rectangular headlights and wide taillights as the 2000.

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