The first of only three Co-Hog BMW 320i's was commissioned by Michael J. Izor. He bought his 1:1 Iberian Red 320i (E21) in 1979 and enjoyed it passionately. It was his pride and joy and he kept it in perfect condition.
Michael also collected miniature BMW's. At its height, he had well over 500 little ones. He was selective and worked hard to secure pieces from difficult to find sources. After discovering Co-Hog Toys, he took his time, did his research and finally asked us to make his 320i for him.
Since he lived within easy driving distance of our shop, Michael kept a close eye on its development, visiting the shop several times during its creation. Sharing his BMW experiences was also important to him so he took photos and wrote an article that was released in the Fall 1989 Little Cars Quarterly, which was created and published by the late George Grenz.
Michael's Co-Hog BMW was delivered on 8/7/1984 and his immense smile said it all. The paint was genuine BMW. I drew up the wheels and silkscreened them. I also drew up and had the iconic BMW grill photo etched in steel. Even the BMW logos were meticulously interpreted for the front, rear and wheels.
We made sure to include his personal additions; the roof top wind deflector and a Cyberlite braking indicator on the rear bumper.
It became the centerpiece in his collection and occasionally even traveled to work with him.
This is the original drawing used to develop the construction process and help guide prototype development. Finished, it's a little over 6" (15 cm) long. Without the internet or digital cameras, the actual car; brochures from the dealer and magazine shots were our source materials.
The "big monkey" referred to in the note over the hood is the larger of two drawing sweeps (templates) for tighter curves that all transportation and product majors made at Art Center. We referred to them as monkey tails because that's what they looked like.
The complete set that we each made also included five larger sweeps that I still use for longer curves.
photos by Michael Izor
The simplified construction process:
Top - Primed and almost ready for color after quite a bit of sanding, filling and more sanding.
Middle - Part way through shaping - The bumpers are separate pieces. It was held together during construction with hex-head machine screws which worked surprisingly well in jelutong and allowed easily repeatable assembly during the build process. They also provided built-in clamps for the final, glued assembly.
Bottom - Basic building layers - sized from the drawing and a prototype.
photo by Michael Izor
This is the only photo I know of that shows me working on a Co-Hog. Michael documented the whole procedure.
The prototype for the 733 lurks in the lower right.
Special note: If an image does not have an attribution it’s because I can’t be sure who took it or I took it myself.