1986 BBS Wheels "The Best of the Best" IMSA GT Prototypes Vintage Print Advertisement
1986 BBS Wheels "The Best of the Best" IMSA GT Prototypes Vintage Print Advertisement The mid-1980s represent a golden era in international sports car racing, predominantly defined by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) GT Championship in North America. The GTP (Grand Touring Prototype) class featured some of the most technologically advanced, aerodynamically aggressive, and fastest closed-wheel race cars ever constructed. This 1986 advertisement functions as a definitive statement of dominance by BBS. By explicitly stating their status as the "Winner 1986 IMSA GTP, GTO, GTU and Camel Lights Championships," BBS asserts absolute superiority across all tiers of the sport. The visual composition is particularly noteworthy; rather than utilizing track photography, the art direction employs highly detailed, blueprint-style side-profile illustrations of the era's most iconic machines: Ford Probe (Zakspeed/Roush) BMW GTP (March Engineering) Corvette GTP (Lola/Hendrick Motorsport) Jaguar XJR-7 (Group 44) Porsche 962 (Holbert Racing / Löwenbräu) These illustrations emphasize the engineering rigor of the vehicles, mirroring the technical precision required to manufacture BBS's multi-piece modular wheels. The iconic cross-spoke (basketweave) design is prominently detailed on every vehicle, unified by the signature gold centers. The underlying consumer strategy is laid bare in the closing copy: "The wheels specified for every one of these prototypes: BBS. Doesn't your fine automobile deserve the same?" This translates the elite cachet of 200 mph track performance into a direct consumer aspiration, solidifying BBS's position in the premium automotive aftermarket.
Category: Cars
Year: 1986
Rarity Class: S
Paper & Print Condition
Printed on standard mid-1980s commercial publication stock with a semi-gloss finish. Close inspection reveals the traditional CMYK halftone dot patterns characteristic of the era's mass-market automotive journalism.
Provenance & Rarity
Sourced from the bottom-half layout of Road & Track magazine, Page 16. Bearing the copyright "© 1986 BBS", this piece serves as a primary artifact of corporate marketing transitioning motorsport success into direct-mail catalog sales (noting the $4 catalog offer to their Spring Valley, N.Y. headquarters).
Rarity & Condition Summary
While the advertisement itself was widely circulated to hundreds of thousands of subscribers in 1986, retaining a mechanically sound, uncreased, and vividly colored physical specimen requires archival storage to prevent UV degradation of the red and gold hues present in the vehicle liveries.
