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Looking back at 84 years of BMW roadsters

Today BMW is a top player in the luxury vehicle market, but it wasn't always so. With origins as an airplane engine builder early in the 20th Century, it broke into the automotive industry when it bought Automobilwerk Eisenach in 1928. That German manufacturer was licensed to build the Austin Seven under the name Dixi DA-1, which could be had in a roadster body style. In 1929, BMW dropped the Dixi name, and by 1936, it was building a car it designed in-house, the 326 sedan. That was followed by the company's first roadster of its own design, the swoopy two-door 327 of 1937.
XCAR picks up there, and gives a history of BMW's iconic roadsters starting with the 327, ending with today's Z4, and covering everything in between - including the beautiful post-war 507 of 1957 and the funky, plastic-bodied 1989 Z1.
The video, which we've included below, is a good history lesson and a great chance to see a bunch of classic BMWs, spanning 84 years, all driven back to back within the safe confines of a racetrack. When you have a spare 20 minutes, go ahead and take some time to watch it.

BMW Hack: the auto industry's big cyber-security warning sign [w/video]

A cyber-security hole that left more than two million BMWs vulnerable may be the most serious breach the auto industry has faced in its emerging fight against car hackers. Security experts are not only concerned that researchers found weaknesses inside the company's Connected Drive remote-services system. They're worried about how the hackers gained entry. German researchers spoofed a cell-phone station and sent fake messages to a SIM card within a BMW's telematics system. Once inside, they locked and unlocked car doors. Other researchers have demonstrated it's possible to hack into a car and control its critical functions, but what separates this latest exploit from others is that it was conducted remotely. In an industry that's just coming to grips with the security threats posed by connectivity in cars, the possibility of a remote breach has been an ominous prospect. The fact it has now occurred may mean a landmark threshold has been crossed. "It's as close as I've seen to a genuine, remote attack on telematics," said Mike Parris, head of the secure car division at SBD, a UK-based automotive technology consulting company. "At this point, the OEMs are trying to play a game of catch up." Previous researchers in the automotive cyber-security field have launched remote attacks that are similar in nature, though not the same. In 2010, academics at California-San Diego and the University of Washington demonstrated they could remotely control essential functions of a car, but they needed to be within close proximity of the vehicle. In November 2014, researchers at Argus Cyber Security remotely hacked cars with an aftermarket device called a Zubie plugged into their diagnostic ports. But the remote attack was predicated on the Zubie dongle having physically been installed in the car. With the BMW hack, researchers compromised the car without needing physical access or proximity. The German Automobile Association, whose researchers conducted the BMW study, said it infiltrated the system "within minutes" and left undetected, a feat that raises the possibility that a hacker could do the same in a real-world scenario. Messages Were Sent Unencrypted Security analysts described the BMW infiltration as a "man in the middle" attack. Researchers mimicked a cellular base station and captured traffic between the car and the BMW Connected Drive service, which drivers can access and control via an app on their cell phones.

Someone's willing to pay $16,000 for a hollow, non-working BMW i8

There is an unusual BMW i8 for sale on eBay right now. Unlike your average – and by that we mean "working" – i8, this one pretty much just sits there, looking pretty. See, the i8 in question is just a promotional body shell. It's fullsize and being sold (we think) by a legit BMW dealer (Laurel BMW of Westmont), so it's got strong ties to the real thing, but there's nothing inside. In fact, you can't open the doors or windows and the wheels don't move, unless you count the tiny rolling castors that are a part of the prop. There is no fancy plug-in hybrid powertrain – no powertrain of any sort, in fact – and it was "professionally crafted just for BMW dealers." The headlights do turn on, though, so that's something. What's most impressive, though, is that there are 50 bids for this non-working BMW. In fact, the bidding has climbed up to $16,000. For a car that can't fulfill its mission as a car, that's pretty impressive. Oh, and those bids have not yet hit the reserve price, so the dealer is obviously hoping it can get more money for this hollow BMW. The official base MSRP for a working i8 is $135,700. The first i8 delivered in the US, a special edition for Pebble Beach, just sold for $825,000.