I was a bit dumbfounded when I learned that BMW sold 60,000 units of the old M2. Ok, sure, in the big scheme of things, 60,000 sales over seven years isn't a ton of cars, but for M cars, it's a lot.

Yet the taste of most BMW customers of the day would never be sated by the boxy 02. Coincidentally, BMW had a perfectly delightful inline-six engine with which to power a more substantial car. That ...