This rare Alpina B2 is one of the ancestors of the M5 (and can be yours)

Blue-green stripes nowadays often mean that a car has a sustainable slant. That someone has converted the car into an electric vehicle or that it runs on left-turning yogurt cultures, for example. Don’t worry: no one has touched this classic with their green fingers. This Alpina B2 still has its special six-in-line.

The B2 is one of Alpina’s first models. When BMW introduced the new 5 series in 1975, Alpina made this B2 with the 3.0-liter six-in-line engine from Alpina 3.0 CS. The B2 engine produced 230 hp, which was good for a top speed of 230 km/h and a 0-100 time of 6.9 seconds. Serious numbers for the seventies.

Remember that the first BMW M5 would not appear until almost ten years later. This Alpina B2 is also regarded as one of the first performance sedans from BMW (although it was not from BMW of course). Somewhere you can see it as the grandfather of the M5. The company built according to Classic Driver only 11 copies of the B2 before the B7 took over. The one you see here is from 1976.

From 2008 to 2014 this Alpina B2 underwent a full restoration. Everything from engine to gearbox was overhauled. They did leave small authentic details intact, such as the worn spots on the gear lever. It will go under the hammer at RM Sotheby’s on February 1, 2023. It is unknown how much he should earn.