1998 BMW Z8

The Z8 began production in 1998, a year after the Z07 concept previewing it was shown at the October 1997 Tokyo Motor Show. The car had been developed under the E52 codename since 1993 and it was meant to evoke the 1956 to 1959 BMW 507. The first cars used a 4.9 liter V8 from BMW Motorsport that was shared with the E39 M5 saloon, producing 400 PS, and they were finished by hand in Munich. Prototypes had been spotted testing between 1996 and 1999 before the roadster reached customers.