DerekShiekhi

In the past several years, BMW has filled the holes in its numerically named model line. The long-standing 3, 5 and 7 Series have been joined by the 1, 2, 4 and the reincarnated 6. At one point, there was even talk of a new flagship wearing the number 9.

You don't have to be a math whiz to notice there's a digit missing from those above. It has been since 1999 when BMW stopped manufacturing the 8 Series coupe.

Back in 1989, the automaker introduced the two-door at the Frankfurt Auto Show. It wasn't messing around: it came straight out of the gate with 12-cylinder power. The 5-liter engine in the 850i made 300 horsepower and 332 pound-feet of torque. That output was transmitted to the asphalt through a six-speed manual or a four-speed automatic gearbox. "Automatic Stability Control plus Traction (ASC+T), speed-sensitive power steering and the Electronic Damper Control (EDC) system introduced as an option in spring 1990 were among the other details that helped give the BMW 8 Series its distinctive identity as a driving machine."

Read more on the 5Series.net blog.