There have been more than a few special editions of the BMW the i3 and the i8, usually incorporating some kind of special paint scheme. We’ve seen the hybrid coupe in Protonic Frozen Black, Protonic Yellow, and Protonic Red in the past. But now BMW is tapping its paint partner Toplac to create something beyond the pale — a pair of one-offs sprayed in 24-carat gold.
Though BMW’s scheme is actually fairly easy on the eyes, there just something irksome about a gold car. Gold-wrapped exotics are growing in popularity and usually the easiest way to spot the person you’ll most want to choke at a car meet. For example, YouTube prankster and New Jersey stereotype Coby Persin would frequently motor his own gold-covered BMW i8 into New York City to procure some unnecessary attention. In 2016, that vehicle was double parked on a busy Manhattan street with Persin sitting on the hood when an “angry motorist” came and hit it once on the windshield with a baseball bat.
Fortunately, the car was struck on the most easily replaced portion of the vehicle. There was also someone ready to film the incident, for no discernible reason. The video went viral, ended up being covered by major news outlets, and was later revealed to be a prank. Epic stunt, I guess. But it helps underline the point that gold cars are almost exclusively reserved for people with terrible sensibilities — the type that starts conversations with the word “yo,” repeat sentences three times to show enthusiasm, and have more money than taste.
That’s why it’s more than a little disconcerting to see manufacturers, dealerships, and businesses embracing the trend. Last month a Canadian dealership offered a new Aventador LP 750-4 SV Roadster in gold. Meanwhile, a New York-based company recently launched a rental business that offered metallic gold-wrapped vehicles in Jamaica as a New Jersey outlet doing the same expanded its domestic fleet. Hell, even celebrities are getting in on the action. Last year, Jamie Foxx had his Bugatti Veyron wrapped in a pirates’s booty and he was far from the only person to do so.
What sets the BMW’s apart from what is hopefully a short-lived fad, is that the gold i3 and i8 aren’t wrapped — they’re actually painted in real gold. In fact, you can see little flakes of the precious metal (provided by Liebscher Blattgold GmbH) embedded in the clear coat as the vehicles’ back half transitions to black. While the overall effect is still as subtle as an atomic blast, it’s interesting enough to hold your attention after the initial shock wears off. It took six layers of standard BMW paint and four layers of gold to achieve the look.
Dubbed the Starlight Edition, BMW Group Czech Republic says the models are limited to one each. Currently residing in a Prague showroom, the cars will appear at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on July 4th before being sold at a charity auction with all proceeds donated to the Dagmar and Václav Havel Foundation VIZE 97.
It’s easy to give these BMWs a pass, since they’re going toward a charitable cause, but we’re still worried it could embolden more rich people to get metallic-colored cars — vehicles that make simultaneously blind us with reflected sunlight and envy as we judge its driver over the trifling matter of poor taste.
[Images: BMW Grouop]
Can you please interview whomever buys that i3? I think it would make riveting journalism.
Matt Posky: Tell us a little about yourself.
i3 Buyer: You see, Mr. Posky, I love GOOOOOOLD! The look of it, the taste of it, the smell of it, the texture. I love gold so much, I even lost my genitalia in an unfortunate smelting accident…hence the name…Goldmember.
I could see it used as a prop in a Mike Myers movie as it is quite ridiculous.
Good thing that they are using Gold instead of Copper. Criminals would be scraping off the paint to get the valuable copper off, the way they are stripping copper wiring and plumbing from homes and buildings.
“Copper Mining”, lol. People who own older homes sometimes return from vacation to find all of their pipes gone. Even regular metals are being jacked, they were stealing manhole covers here a few years ago, lol. Those things are heavy, you have to put hooks in them, usually one guy on each side. No area scrapyard or foundry will touch them so the geniuses have to haul them out of town, lol.
Motorcycle-style gold flake.
Go big or go home.
I shall express my feelings on this in song:
https://youtu.be/ThHz9wlBeLU
I’d like to take a moment to complain about the tacked-on iPad-looking infotainment screen in the i8: rabble rabble rabble.
I recently saw here on the streets of Chicago a chromed Tesla S. Not silver, not stainless, but chromed. It screamed “LOOK AT ME” like only a custom from George Barris used to do.
Nothing says ‘kidnap me for ransom’ like a gold car.
It’s a good thing that neither of those things is a real car.
24k madness?!
Haha, I think you mean 24k magic, it took almost a 1/2 day for the B&B to make a Bruno Mars reference. We’re slipping.
Now I know what color to NOT paint my antique
leather trimmed death wedge Biturbo,
even if it does contrast nicely with the
dead cow brown interior.