2008 BMW 128i Convertible

17/08/2008 11:09. It may be hard to believe at this late date, but in the early 1960s BMW was a faltering manufacturer of baroquely-styled luxury cars and small sedans and coupes powered by flat-twin engines derived from the motorcycle division, which supplanted the single-cylinder Isetta microcar. The "New Class" of sedans, which debuted as the 1.5-liter 1500 in 1962, saved the company and spawned a line of sedans, coupes, and convertibles that brought BMW to its present position in the automotive world.

The boxy New Class sedans were technologically advanced for their day, with overhead cam, cross-flow engines when most manufacturers were still using pushrods and had the intake and exhaust ports on the same side of the cylinder heads, and fully-independent suspension when solid rear axles were the norm.... // Autochannel