► 50 years of go-faster BMWs
► Oal-BB 50: The Alpina Book
► We’ve three copies to give away!
Fans of fast BMWs take note: fabled Beamer ticklers Alpina have passed their half century in business, making Munich’s four-doors, coupes and roadsters even fruitier and even faster.
To coincide with the 50th anniversary, German publisher Delius Klasing Verlag has commissioned a heavyweight book to mark the occasion: Oal-BB 50: The Alpina Book.
It’s a proper tome, at 464 pages long and the format is of high quality – it feels worth its punchy £69.99 price tag in thud factor alone. Enter our competition to win one of three copies here.
The Alpina story: 1965-2015
The book is written by Paolo Tumminelli, professor at the Cologne International School of Design, and he adopts a thorough rootle through Alpina’s back catalogue. It charts how Burkard Bovensiepen (below) spurned his family typewriter business in Bavaria and started the collaboration with neighbouring BMW in January 1965; a natural engineering talent, he spotted the potential in the 1500 saloon after a visit to the Frankfurt motor show and the book charts with relentless detail how the company grew, took to the track and helped BMW engineer the legendary 3.0 CSL.
Every step of the way is captured by a mixture of archive photography and new studio pictures, bringing the Alpina story to life. This is a translation from German, and readers must put up with bi-lingual text on every page, but nevertheless there’s plenty to learn in here for fans of Alpinas and all BMWs.
And the photography is impressively bright, showcasing Alpinas from every generation – from 1500 and 1800 TI of 1965 through to B5 Biturbo Edition 50 from this year.
Which is your favourite Alpina? Be sure to tell us in the comments below! And click here for your chance to win one of three copies of Oal-BB 50: The Alpina Book, distributed in the UK by ACC Publishing Group.
