Apple founder Steve Jobs' BMW Z8 to go on auction along with its Motorola car phone; expected to sell at £300,000

Thanks to RM Sotheby’s and a generous owner, Steve Jobs’ BMW roadster will once again hit the auction block. Sotheby’s is expected to sell the car for £300,000 at its ‘Icons’ auction and the sporty convertible also features the original ‘ **Motorola** ’ car phone that the **Apple** founder used. [caption id=“attachment_4183247” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] BMW Z8. Image credit: RM Sotheby’s[/caption] The roadster may not be the most beautiful ones to look at these days, but it is iconic nonetheless. We are talking about the BMW Z8, the same model that was driven by actor Pierce Brosnan when he played James Bond in the The World is Not Enough. This may not be the same car from the film, but it is special because the late Steve Jobs drove it. According to the auctioneer, Sotheby’s, Jobs had purchased the roadster in the year 2000 and it has averaged less than 1,000 miles a year (total of 15,200 miles), since the first purchase. Jobs reportedly kept the vehicle with him for three years before selling it off. It now belongs to its second owner who has put it on sale, making it a good 17 years old. The auction is expected to take place on 6 December. [caption id=“attachment_4183259” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] BMW Z8. Image credit: RM Sotheby’s[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_4183257” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] BMW Z8. Image credit: RM Sotheby’s[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_4183253” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] BMW Z8. Image credit: RM Sotheby’s[/caption] The BMW Z8 was manufactured between 1999 and 2003. While it may not look as attractive in front of the modern roadsters we have today, its design is iconic and the car has now been termed as a ‘modern classic’, one that bridged the gap between the late 90s and the early 2000s. [caption id=“attachment_4183255” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] BMW Z8. Image credit: RM Sotheby’s[/caption] The vehicle was first produced as a concept called the Z07 and was a styling exercise by BMW in an effort to celebrate the 1956 BMW 507. The Z07 made its appearance at the 1997 Tokyo Auto Show and thanks to the overwhelming response form audiences, was pushed into limited production and tagged as the Z8. [caption id=“attachment_4183261” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] BMW Z8. Image credit: RM Sotheby’s[/caption] It was made available with a 4.9-litre V8  producing 400 hp and coupled with a 6-speed manual transmission. BMW produced 5,703 Z8s between the 1999 and 2002. In 2003, BMW worked with tuner Alpina to produce a variant of the car called the Alpina V8 Roadster, which was a slight deviation from the original car with a smaller 4.8-litre V8 and a 5-speed automatic transmission. Only 555 of these were produced.