BMW 2800 GTS Shows What Kidney Grilles Should Look Like

All car manufacturers update their design philosophies to remain fresh and modern. Sometimes, however, a car manufacturer opts for divisive styling directions that don’t result in better-looking vehicles and instead ones that look worse than before. Take BMW, for example.

There are some good looking cars in the German marque’s current range, in particular the 8-Series and M2. However, there are also models like the X7 and 7-Series currently in production, dominated by kidney grilles so large they can swallow up small children.

In days gone by, BMW’s famed kidney grilles were minuscule by comparison, as these images of a classic BMW 2800 GTS show.

Compare that to the BMW Concept 4 Series that previews the production model

The vehicle was designed by Italian coachbuilder Pietro Frua and based on the E9. A little bit of digging indicates that just a small handful of examples were ever built and this unit was recently restored and shared online by BMW Group Classic. Not only does the sleek and simple bodywork put many of BMW’s more modern vehicles to shame but the 2800 GTS also sports a tiny chrome kidney grille probably one-sixth the size of the current X7’s grille.

This particular 2800 GTS was originally painted in the same shade of green you see pictured, but in the 1980s, was bathed in a shade of red. The BMW Museum acquired the car in the 2000s and set about restoring it between 2017 and 2019.

Not only does it still look good to this day, but we’re willing to bet it’s also worth a pretty penny.