From the surface, the BMW 750iL Excessive Safety seems to be like essentially the most respectable type of late-’80s energy transfer: a long-wheelbase E38 7 Sequence, squared-off and formal, the kind of automotive that blends right into a line of black sedans outdoors a lodge with out anybody giving it a second look. That’s the primary clue. The actual genius of the Excessive Safety wasn’t that it was armored. It was that it was engineered to seem unarmored—as a result of on the earth it was constructed for, visibility might be vulnerability.
It was 2000 when BMW developed the 750iL Excessive Safety at a second when the definition of “flagship” was shifting. A top-spec luxurious sedan nonetheless needed to be quiet, clean, and prestigious, however for a sure class of buyer—heads of state, diplomats, high-risk executives—it additionally needed to be survivable. Not within the summary “safer in a crash” sense, however within the literal sense: capable of take in a violent assault and maintain shifting afterward, all whereas defending the individuals inside. The E38 Excessive Safety was BMW’s manufacturing facility reply to that actuality, utilizing the 750iL’s long-wheelbase platform and V12 powertrain as the inspiration for one thing that functioned as each limousine and automotive shelter.
Why Was The E38 750iL Excessive Safety Distinctive?
In Europe, BMW provided a high-security E38 7 Sequence variant with safety rated as much as B6/B7, identified internally because the 750iL S. The armor and supporting {hardware} added roughly 950 kg (2,094 lb) over an ordinary 750iL. Past ballistic safety, it included a variety of emergency and defensive techniques: a windshield designed for fast elimination to help escape, hydraulically assisted home windows, and a gasoline sensor that would detect irritants comparable to CS gasoline and robotically seal the cabin by shutting down the blower motor, closing the fresh-air flaps, and shutting all home windows.
A hearth-suppression system could possibly be activated manually or triggered robotically by excessive warmth close to the engine bay or gasoline tank space. For conditions requiring extended isolation, an optionally available breathing-air system provided air from a cylinder mounted within the trunk. BMW additionally provided optionally available provisions comparable to safe firearms instances (together with designs sized for an MP5K) and built-in door gunports.
What made the automotive distinctive begins with the best way it was constructed. In contrast to many armored conversions of the period, the Excessive Safety idea was designed as a whole package deal slightly than a traditional 7 Sequence that later had safety layered onto it. That distinction issues as a result of armoring a automotive shouldn’t be merely a matter of creating the glass thicker and the doorways heavier. Safety must be steady, and continuity is tough within the locations you not often take into consideration: the joints the place the doorways meet the pillars, the seams round window frames, the transitions between ground, firewall, and bulkheads.
Stopping Bullets and Blasts
The E38 750iL Excessive Safety was additionally distinctive as a result of it handled mobility as a part of safety. The plain threats are bullets and blasts, however essentially the most harmful second in an assault is commonly the second—after the automobile is immobilized. A punctured tire, a broken gasoline system, a blocked highway: these are mundane failures in atypical life and probably deadly in a safety incident. That’s the reason manufacturing facility safety vehicles have a tendency to incorporate measures geared toward protecting the automobile rolling underneath abuse, even when it’s now not “snug” in the best way an ordinary 7 Sequence is snug.
A Command Heart Inside The Cabin
Then there’s the cabin itself, which turns into a managed atmosphere. In a traditional luxurious automotive, the home windows and air flow are conveniences; in a safety automotive, they’re liabilities that have to be managed. Heavy ballistic glazing adjustments the logic of how home windows can function, and safety automobiles usually reduce opening sections or deal with them otherwise than an ordinary sedan. Air flow and sealing additionally tackle a special that means when the passenger compartment is meant to stay remoted from an exterior risk. Even easy interactions with the surface world—chatting with a guard, passing paperwork, coping with a checkpoint—are dealt with otherwise once you don’t wish to open a door or decrease a window.
An Imposing and Lovely Machine
The automotive’s character is outlined by the strain between what it’s and what it should faux to be. The E38 7 Sequence was already an imposing machine in its day, and the 750iL sat on the prime with V12 refinement and the type of engineering confidence BMW projected in that period. The Excessive Safety model added mass and complexity, but it surely couldn’t afford to turn into clumsy or clearly modified. It nonetheless needed to appear to be a reputable government sedan and drive like one thing that belonged on a quick motorway.
In that sense, the E38 Excessive Safety is among the most revealing 7 Sequence variants BMW ever constructed. It strips luxurious all the way down to its most sincere promise. Not velocity, not consolation, not status—although it nonetheless delivered these—however the promise that, no matter is going on outdoors, the individuals inside stay protected and the automotive stays able to carrying them away. It additionally led to the event of extra safety limousines, and extra lately safety SUVs as nicely.
