The jaw-dropping Garmisch is BMW’s lost 3 Series

By Steve Saxty

| 28 Jul 2026

Classic & Sports Car – BMW Garmisch: the story of Bertone’s lost 3 Series

Few knew the full details of the relationship between BMW’s Wilhelm Hofmeister and the legendary Italian design studio Bertone.

Hofmeister’s name will be forever associated with the upturned kink on BMWs’ rear side windows, but he was never a pen-wielding creative maestro.

Instead, he was something rather more senior.

Since the early 1950s, Hofmeister had overseen the car company’s body-engineering department and the tiny styling department within it.

Rather than rely on the three to four stylists directly under his control, the German manager farmed out some projects to independent designers.

Bertone’s striking proposal for the BMW 3 Series disappeared in the 1970s, but the reborn Garmisch is a faithful recreation of the original show car

During the 1960s, Hofmeister favoured the Italian stylist Giovanni Michelotti, but as time passed by, and as BMW grew larger, he began casting his design net wider and considered more options.

Step forward Nuccio Bertone’s company – a design studio that had been in business for longer than BMW itself.

Bertone was invited to provide a submission for the 1968 BMW 2500, the forerunner to the first 7 Series.

Bertone’s design, penned by Marcello Gandini, was just one of several proposals alongside those submitted by BMW’s in-house designers and another from the Michelotti studio.

Hofmeister, however, was impressed.

The one-off BMW Garmisch was unveiled by Bertone at the 1970 Geneva Salon

In June 1968 he switched BMW’s design consultancy allegiance from Michelotti to Bertone by signing a retainer.

Around this time, Hofmeister invited Nuccio Bertone to see BMW’s in-house proposal for the E12 – the forthcoming mid-size saloon that would later be called the 5 Series.

The Italian walked around the full-size model and, with a frown, delicately asked how long the conservative-looking design was expected to last.

It was a perfect way to suggest that maybe Bertone could offer an alternative.

Bertone shipped its full-size E12 proposal in August ’69, complete with a hexagonal interpretation of BMW’s vertical twin-nieren (kidney) grilles.

BMW design chief Adrian van Hooydonk pored over period imagery before initiating the recreation project in 2018

Nuccio Bertone’s working relationship with Hofmeister strengthened, and his studio submitted ideas for the facelifted compact 2002 – again, proposing the same oversized grilles.

In late ’69, Bertone was asked to do some work on the all-new 2002 replacement – originally planned for introduction in 1973 – that was codenamed E21 and would be launched, after some delay, in 1975 as the BMW 3 Series.

BMW drew up outline specifications that allowed Gandini to create his first thoughts on paper, continuing the hexagonal-grille theme on several sketches.

But behind the scenes Bertone’s craftsmen were up to something special – and a little daring.

Superstile’s work on the Garmisch tribute made BMW designers re-evaluate how one-off concept cars are made

Typifying the spirit of Italian design studios during their 1960s and ’70s heyday, Bertone decided to make one of Gandini’s E21 proposals into a drivable car to wow showgoers and, hopefully, BMW.

Early in 1970, Bertone picked apart a 2002ti donor car to build – without BMW’s agreement – a vehicle that was in essence the very first 3 Series.

“The original idea came from Nuccio Bertone himself, who wanted to consolidate our relationship with BMW by designing a surprise show car for Geneva,” recalls design legend Marcello Gandini.

“We wanted to create a modern, mid-sized coupé that was faithful to BMW’s design language, but also more dynamic and even provocative.”

The BMW Garmisch panels were beaten by hand over resin formers

It was called Garmisch, after Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the ski resort south of Munich, BMW’s home town.

“We picked the name because skiing was very popular at that time,” says Marcello.

“It evoked dreams of winter sports and Alpine elegance.”

This was typical Italian showmanship of the period, and it still carries on today: the Garmisch cheated here and there in the name of looking good.

Compared with Bertone’s formal E21 submission, the completed BMW Garmisch car was subtly different in tiny ways: it sat 35mm (1⅓in) lower at the front, it was longer in the doors and it was also sleeker overall.

Like the original, the reborn BMW Garmisch show car was built over the disassembled body of a 2002 donor car

When BMW heard that Bertone planned to reveal the fully drivable one-off Garmisch at the March 1970 Geneva Salon, the Italians were cautioned not to do so.

The reason was obvious: the upcoming E21 – the car that would be launched as the first 3 Series – was still a yawning five years away.

Plus, in early 1970 BMW employed its own new chief designer, Paul Bracq, who would be taking charge of the E12 5 Series and the forthcoming E21 3 Series, not Bertone.

Despite the potential for muddying the waters by revealing a BMW intended for many years into the future, Bertone was allowed to show the Garmisch thanks to Nuccio Bertone and Hofmeister’s relationship.

The BMW Garmisch’s panels were recreated by Superstile’s master coachbuilders

Bracq’s E21 ideas were quite different from those of Bertone, so the risk of playing BMW’s hand was negligible.

The Garmisch would make several appearances on the 1970 motor-show circuit before this 3 Series-in-waiting vanished – seemingly forever.

Fast-forward almost 50 years to 2018 and BMW Group Design boss Adrian van Hooydonk had an idea.

After decades of horizontal kidney grilles, his team had proposed boldly shaped vertical items; it was a risk, but part of BMW’s new design DNA.

A few years earlier, he had seen photographs of the almost-forgotten Garmisch – and now he thought about recreating it.

BMW’s relationship with Bertone started with a proposal for the 1968 BMW 2500

No cheating on technique: it would be constructed from a BMW 2002 donor car, and on a tight budget.

Adrian explains his motivation: “Gandini’s designs have always been clear and clean, but also dramatic.

“He was always able to create something spectacular using very few design elements. This approach is still quite modern today.

“Building the Garmisch for a second time was an opportunity to pay tribute to Marcello, to recall one of his lesser-known cars and to highlight Bertone’s influence on the evolution of BMW design.

“That was reason enough to go ahead: filling in the gaps in BMW’s history.”

Bertone’s BMW concept was named after the Garmisch-Partenkirchen ski resort in Germany

Adrian’s first stop was the Italian city of Turin, to ask the then 79-year-old Marcello if he had any objections to the Garmisch recreation.

Surprised that BMW was interested in reincarnating it, the Italian designer was nonetheless happy to help.

In July 2018, design engineer Sebastian Höpfl was tasked with reverse-engineering the Garmisch – a car designed and built long before he was born – from a handful of photos and Bertone drawings.

“We started by scanning an original 2002 in the studio,” he says, “so we had a digital model to align to the photos and see what bits of chassis and suspension lined up.”

The BMW Garmisch recreation has a ‘vanity case’ glovebox

“Then we needed to source a freshly restored donor car through BMW Classic,” explains Sebastian.

By October 2018 the donor car was ready, and the digital interior and exterior had been completed.

Everything was shipped to Italy.

Just like Bertone had done way back in 1970, artisan coachbuilders stripped down the freshly restored, classic BMW 2002.

The second life of a one-off Italian was about to begin.

Superstile is the unsung hero of Turin.

The company exists to build unique specials, using the dying art of making metal-bodied cars by hand, such as recreating BMW’s long-lost Garmisch one-off.

The BMW Garmisch’s back seats are trimmed in white leather

Superstile is run by Davide and Franco Palmisano, with the collaboration of Flavio Gallizio.

Like Giovanni Bertone, who handed his eponymously named business to son Nuccio, Flavio’s father set up the modern-day coachbuilder.

The bloodline runs deep across the decades: back in the day, Flavio’s father worked at Bertone, so the metal-crafting baton was eloquently passed to the younger Gallizio.

Superstile was working under the same five-month timeframe as Bertone took to build the Garmisch, but its task was quite different.

“We had to source parts such as doorhandles and lights from the 1970s,” says Flavio.

“That’s where Klaus Kutscher at BMW Classic was so helpful – he could recognise components from other cars.”

The BMW Garmisch’s hexagonal theme continues at the rear

Five decades ago, you could pop down to your local Fiat or BMW dealer for 130 Coupé front lights or a 2002 steering wheel, but in the 21st century, those days are long gone.

Playing classic parts detective might have been fun, at least for a while, but the serious task of building resin formers to hand-beat the exterior sheet metal soon ran up against a problem: it quickly became clear that Bertone had not only lowered its BMW 2002 donor car in a quest to make it look slinky, but it had also moved the door hinge forward.

This required major surgery on the recently refreshed model serving as the basis for the recreation.

BMW’s Garmisch has a groovy steering wheel and neat dials

Thankfully, Superstile was able to suspend the 2002 in a specially built cage while the exterior was picked apart and drastically reconfigured under the skin for the longer doors.

Without the cage’s girdle-like support, the semi-naked 2002, devoid of so much structural metalwork, might have collapsed in on itself.

BMW designers and engineers dropped in on the project and found themselves amazed at the quality of Superstile’s craftsmanship – to the extent that it led to a reappraisal of today’s convention of using composite materials to build show cars and an acknowledgment that good, old-fashioned metal could still be a basis for a fully functioning one-off.

Adrian van Hooydonk reveals the finished BMW Garmisch to Marcello Gandini in the marque’s studio

The finished BMW Garmisch, the second of its name, was duly completed on time and on budget in early 2019.

As planned, the reincarnated Garmisch was driven on to the centre stage at the 2019 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este.

The concept car sparkled in the Italian sunshine, looking every bit the ’70s design star it was.

But there was one unrealised wish for a hopeful Sebastian Höpfl: “With all those millionaire owners of classic cars in attendance there, we hoped someone would step forward and say, ‘Oh, actually, I’ve got the original Garmisch – it’s tucked away in my garage’. But no one did.”

“We wanted to create a coupé that was faithful to BMW’s design language, but also more dynamic and provocative”

The BMW design team’s ultimate detective story was drawing to a close, but there is a sequel to the tale.

Superstile had proven that it could make a fully functional, bespoke metal-bodied car from scratch.

“Everything worked – wipers, lights, the lot,” says Sebastian.

“Well, except the radio, which always made a crackly noise. But I’d happily drive our Garmisch across the Alps.”

He might never get that chance, but Sebastian was reunited with Superstile five years later.

In early 2023, the Italian company built the BMW Concept Touring Coupé – a one-off two-door intended to wow the crowds at that year’s Concorso d’Eleganza.

The BMW Garmisch tribute was unveiled at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in 2019, almost 50 years after the original car was revealed

The Turin coachbuilder took the same skills, hammers and craftspeople to pick apart a Z4 roadster and reclothe it with unique sheet-metal, creating a BMW in the style of Z3 and Z4 Coupés past, blended with a contemporary sense of Italian couture.

Munich and Turin might be an hour’s flight apart, but their spirit of creative co-operation is clearly as close as ever.

Images: BMW Group

Marcello Gandini died in 2024

BMW by Design is available standalone (for £79.95) or as part of a three-book set called BMW Behind The Scenes (for £239.95). The set includes BMW’s Hidden Gems, which contains the full version of the Garmisch story, and BMW Art by Design. Both book and set are available direct, with free postage & packing, from stevesaxty.com/bmw

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