You Can Buy A Brand-New, Very Specific Part For Your BMW M1

In recent years, lots of car makers have started making a big song and dance about producing brand-new parts for old models. Stellantis will sell you brand-new body panels for the Lancia Delta Integrale or a reproduction Abarth tuning kit for the original Fiat 500. Mazda is building brand-new parts for the NA MX-5 and FD RX-7. Aston Martin’s Works division can source or reproduce parts for basically any car the company has made since the DB4.

It’s all a rather nice way for manufacturers to show that they still care about their heritage and owners of their classic cars, but did you know BMW has been doing it for 30 years now without making a particular song and dance about it?

Motor1 spoke to a spokesperson for BMW Group Classic, the division which handles the brand’s heritage models and parts, to find out a bit more. Apparently, the company maintains a stock of new-old parts, but if something isn’t in stock, it’s generally able to have it built to order.

Indeed, BMW Group Classic’s website has a rundown of all the brand new parts available to buy, which cover everything from the ‘New Class’ saloons of the 1960s to the E39 5-series that went out of production in 2004.

It’s mostly small exterior and interior parts like exhaust tips and bits of trim, although you can buy brand-new clutch discs and chassis bracing for the original 8-series. Meanwhile, anyone who finds themselves constantly unable to lock their one-of-453 BMW M1 will be pleased to know they can get a brand new latch striker, the part in which the door latch rests.

Apparently, this process started in 1994 when BMW Group Classic’s predecessor, BMW Group Mobile Tradition, was formed. It’s reassuring to know that the firm has been quietly helping owners keep their classic Beemers on the road for three decades now. We can only assume they’ll keep it up as cars like the E46 M3 and E60 M5 become dyed-in-the-wool modern classics.