For a company that has been building cars for 96 years, it is amazing how late in the day BMW forged its own identity and direction. Some would argue that it was really born only with the Neue Klasse. They’d be wrong, of course, but between the 328s and Baroque Angels, the company does have a rich history of advancing itself via the work of others. It started at the very beginning with the Austin Seven/ Dixi, its financial fortunes were revived post-war via Iso’s Isetta bubblecar, but when it tapped into the creative stream of Glas after buying the company in 1966, all it did was rapidly wind down operations – including Glas’s much-admired range-topping V8 coupé.