This year’s Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este hosted the latest Hommage Concept from BMW – The 2002 Hommage Concept. The unique design philosophy has captured the attention of most people visiting the beautiful surrounds of Lake Como, offering a blend of retro and modernism in a sports car.
The BMW 2002 Hommage Concept is a tribute to a car that had a rather unlucky faith. Being designed under the supervision of the illustrious Bob Lutz back in the 1960s, the 2002 Turbo was a beast on wheels. Turbocharging has become the norm today but back then it was as revolutionary as laser headlights are today and a lot of people didn’t exactly know what it meant.
Fitted with a KKK turbocharger from a light-duty truck, adapted to fit on the M10 2-liter engine of the 2002tii model that came before it, the 2002 Turbo used to have 170 HP and 181 lb-ft (245 Nm) of torque at its disposal which was a lot for a car that weighed a lot less than what modern cars got us used to. Chip in the MacPherson struts and the vented brakes and this little beast could raise your pulse in a heartbeat.
Unfortunately, being unveiled at the 1973 Frankfurt Motor Show it arrived during the ’70s oil crisis, making a sports car look like a foolish acquisition to all those even vaguely interested in it. Therefore, only 1,672 units were ever made, still enough to create a massive following that would raise BMW’s first turbocharged car to legendary status.
The 2002 Hommage Concept unveiled at this weekend’s Villa d’Este is a modern interpretation of that classic, Motorsport division developed car. And even though traditional engine and performance specs weren’t offered, as they would be redundant for a concept car, the design of the thing is truly breathtaking, inspiring and definitely Bavarian.
However, as beautiful as the car may look in photos, they still can’t match up to a video, allowing the car to show its generous hips in motion.
