Introduced in 1968 and based on the 2000CS, the E9 went under the draughtsman’s pencil, evolving from an executive four-door to a sleek pillarless coupe. The front end would take visual elements from its sister car the E3 saloon. At the same time, the footprint was further lengthened to accommodate BMW’s new singing and dancing straight-six engine, the M30. Designed by Alex von Falkenhausen, ‘the big six’ as it would be known was a gamechanger for the struggling brand in the market and their impact on motorsport. 

With the E9 CS and CSi models serving as testbeds, it was time to add power and add lightness. Enter the CSL,’ L’meaning ‘leicht’ or ‘light’ in the king’s English. Lightness was achieved using thinner gauge steel to build the body, and aluminium for the doors, bonnet and boot lid. Perspex was used for the side windows and thinner carpets finished the cabin, with no sound deadening added for driver comfort. This resulted in the CSL being 210kg lighter than the 3.0 CSi.

Almost, if not all of the 500 RHD versions came fitted with the ‘City Pack’, an optional extra designed to make the CSL more comfortable for the road. It included power steering, electric glass front and rear windows, a heated rear screen, boot lock, toolkit, sound deadening, interior bonnet release and chrome CSi front and rear bumpers. This understandably added a small amount of weight back to the final kerbweight of the CSL. City Pack Cars were also built on the standard 3.0 CSi suspension. Whereas the initial 169 CSL prototypes were built using Bilstein shocks and progressive rate springs. This gave the CSL with City Pack a much refined and compliant ride.