The BMW Museum in Munich has just broken its own attendance record, welcoming more than 847,000 visitors in 2025 — and it’s not hard to see why. After a year packed with standout exhibitions, including the celebrated “Belle Macchine. Italian Automotive Design at BMW,” the museum is now turning its spotlight onto one of the most beloved grand tourers in BMW history: the 6 Series.
The new special exhibition, open now in the museum’s Rotunda through the end of January 2027, marks 50 years since the original 6 Series first rolled out of BMW’s production facility. It’s a fitting tribute to a car that, depending on who you ask, may just be the most beautiful BMW ever built.
The Sharknose That Started It All
When BMW introduced the 6 Series in spring 1976, the automotive world took notice. Chief designer Paul Bracq — the same mind behind some of the most elegant European cars of the era — penned a shape that somehow managed to feel both aggressive and graceful at once. The distinctive “sharknose” front end, long flanks, and generously proportioned greenhouse windows gave the car an unmistakable presence that has aged remarkably well.
Built on the technical platform of the 5 Series and styled as a spiritual successor to the sumptuous luxury coupés of the 1960s, the E24-generation 6 Series was produced exclusively as a coupé from 1976 to 1989 — a 13-year run that remains the longest of any BMW model series to date. Bodies were initially crafted by Karmann before BMW’s Dingolfing plant took over production in 1982. Over its lifespan, five engine variants were offered, including a US-specific model.
Racing Pedigree
The 6 Series was more than a looker. BMW deployed the 635CSi in Group A touring car racing beginning in 1983, and the results spoke for themselves: back-to-back European Touring Car Championship titles in 1984 and 1986, plus the German Production Car Championship in 1984. It was a program that cemented the nameplate’s reputation as a genuine performance machine — not just a stylish boulevard cruiser.
Part of the Movie World
One of the exhibition’s most compelling angles is its focus on the 6 Series’ career on screen. The car carved out a real place in pop culture, appearing in American productions like Dallas and Back to the Future II, as well as German TV staples Tatort and Der Bulle von Tölz. Exhibition curators Anna Schleypen and Klaus-Anton Altenbuchner have recreated a 1970s film set against the Munich skyline to bring this chapter to life — complete with fictional movie posters lining the Rotunda’s walkways.
Art Cars and the Car Tower
Beyond the Rotunda, the exhibition extends throughout the museum. The Art Car Gallery is rotating two extraordinary 635CSi models from the BMW Art Car Collection, which is currently on a global 50th anniversary world tour. Austrian artist Ernst Fuchs created the fifth Art Car in 1982 — the first in the collection based on a production model — transforming the 635CSi into a mythological and spiritual canvas he titled “Firefox on Harehunt.” Four years later, pop-art icon Robert Rauschenberg reimagined the same model as a black-and-white collage drawing from art history, photography, and everyday culture.
Meanwhile, a BMW 633CSi from 1976 occupies the museum’s dramatic “car tower” in the permanent exhibition. One of the first 6 Series models offered alongside the 630CS, the 633CSi was notable for its early adoption of the Bosch L-Jetronic fuel injection system, later upgraded with DME digital engine electronics in September 1979.
And then there’s arguably the most eye-catching element of the entire exhibition: a body-only 6 Series model mounted outside the museum, suspended in mid-air in the style of French photographer Sylvain Viau’s “Flying Cars” series.
The 6 Series exhibition runs in the BMW Museum’s Rotunda until the end of January 2027. The Art Car Gallery showings are time-limited: the Fuchs 635CSi is on display through July 13, 2026, while the Rauschenberg follows from September 7 through the end of the year.
The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (last entry at 5:30 p.m.).
First published by https://www.bmwblog.com
Source: https://www.bmwblog.com/2026/03/31/bmw- ... xhibition/