Never before had BMW built a car this large, or luxurious. The original BMW 7 Series, launched in 1977, was something entirely new for the German automaker at the time as it set out to truly enter the luxury market with something that could compete head-on with the likes of Mercedes-Benz. While its smaller models were truly wonderful at the time, BMW required something larger to not only attract new and wealthy buyers, but also a model to serve as a benchmark for new high-tech features.

That's why the E23 7 Series came into being and it was so advanced for its time that it managed to stay on the market for 10 years. Even today we still think the original 7 Series is better-looking than its successors. For BMW, the car proved that it was fully capable of being a major player in the luxury car segment.