This Rare V12 BMW Alpina Was Stupid Cheap Because Some Goob Swapped It to Propane

For a BMW nerd, seeing an E38-generation Alpina B12 6.0 in the flesh is like seeing the face of god. Not only is it an Alpina version of the best 7 Series ever made, but it’s the best B12 of them all, and only 94 were ever built. You can imagine the excitement when Sreten of M539 Restorations got an email from a dealership telling him they had one for cheap. There was a catch, though: A previous owner converted that glorious V12 to use liquified petroleum gas (LPG).

LPG is essentially just propane gas, sort of like the same stuff you use to fire up your Weber grill in the summer. So when Sreten finally got to the dealership and popped the hood on the ultra-rare Alpina, it had all sorts of confusing LPG injectors, hoses, and brackets mounted to the intake manifold. Frustratingly, that also ruined the beautiful Alpina manifold, which had the brand’s signature blue and green color scheme. Those hoses ran to the trunk, where a massive LPG gas tank was hidden behind a false wall, cutting off most of the available trunk space. This entire conversion was a crime against the automotive world.

The original “M73” BMW V12 displaced 5.4 liters. In this case, Alpina bumped that to 6.0 liters, swapped its pistons for higher-compression Mahle aluminum ones, upgraded the camshafts, and modified both the intake and exhaust manifolds. The results were 424 horsepower and 443 lb-ft of torque. While its 0-60 mph time wasn’t anything groundbreaking at 5.9 seconds, its 181 mph top speed made the Alpina B12 6.0 almost as fast as a 996-generation Porsche 911 Turbo (189 mph), despite seating three more people, having two more doors, and packing far more luxury. What a machine.

So why the hell would anyone convert that monster of a classic engine to LPG? Cost, for one thing. LPG can be significantly cheaper than gasoline. But someone who spends big bucks on a fuel-chugging V12 likely isn’t concerned with gas prices. Instead, they probably did so for the environmental benefits. LPG is much cleaner to burn than gasoline, with fewer emissions. And since the Alpina B12 burns so much fuel, maybe they wanted to be as green as possible.

Now that Sreten bought the Alpina B12, he’s going to embark on a journey of removing all of the LPG hardware and converting it back to the way it was. It’s a brave journey, too, as it’s likely going to be difficult, confusing, and expensive—especially since Sreten has no experience with LPG tech. Thankfully, the rest of the car seems to be in good shape, so the journey shouldn’t require too many detours. It’s a journey I admire, either way. He knows it’s going to be maddening but it will be worth it because, once it’s done, he’ll have one of the coolest luxury sedans ever made, not to mention one of the best-looking. The content will also probably do pretty well on his channel, so that doesn’t hurt.

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