For one and the same car, the contemporary specialist press quotes three different power outputs. sport auto tested a Hartge H35-24 in May 1986 with 286 hp. auto motor und sport pitted it against the M1 and the in-house H7-24 in issue 8/1988 with 300 hp against the M1 and the in-house H7-24. rallye racing drove it with 330 hp.
This is not an error of secondary literature that crept in over the years. The contradiction is built into the original sources themselves — and it becomes clear once you understand how Hartge worked: not as a manufacturer of a defined model line, but as a workshop that built up every engine individually and sold every part individually as well. This is exactly where the biggest problem when buying a Hartge stems from, to this day.
Beckingen, Saarland
Herbert Hartge founded the company in 1971 in Merzig; since 1974 it operated in Beckingen in the district of Merzig-Wadern. Hartge came from motorsport — wins with the BMW 2002 on the circuit and in hillclimbs. Whether he founded the company alone is not entirely clear: Wikipedia names him as the sole founder, FCP Euro speaks of three founders (Herbert, Andreas and Rolf Hartge), and RM Sotheby’s refers to the “Hartge brothers”.
Team Hartge competed in the European Touring Car Championship in 1983 and 1984. Francis Dosières won the European Hillclimb Championship driving a Hartge M3 in 1989, 1990, 1992 and 1993; Jean-Michel Martin became Belgian Procar champion in 1990. Motorsport at Hartge was not a marketing add-on, but the starting point.
1985: Hartge becomes a manufacturer — with consequences for the paperwork
Since 1985 Hartge was a manufacturer recognised by the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (German Federal Motor Transport Authority). From that point on, a vehicle built in Beckingen carried a Hartge model plate instead of the BMW plate — and its own chassis number.
This is the point on which everything hinges when buying, and it can be proven. Two chassis numbers from RM Sotheby’s auction catalogues:
| Vehicle | Chassis number |
|---|---|
| Hartge F1 (1988) | W09F10X01HBH06116 |
| Hartge Compact V8 4.7 (1997) | W09C47X06XBH06165 |
If, on the other hand, the paperwork shows a BMW number beginning with WBA or WBS , it is not a complete Hartge vehicle in the legal sense — but a BMW with Hartge parts. That can be an excellent car. It is simply something different, and the market prices it differently too.
FCP Euro also describes a hand-stamped number behind the left headlight, which Hartge applied upon completion. Hand-stamped digits cannot be bought as an aftermarket part — unlike every emblem, every badge and every set of wheels.
The proof that the market knows the difference
A 635 CSi with the BMW chassis number WBAEC710518173547 was sold by RM Sotheby’s in June 2020 as “modified to Hartge H6SP specification” — for €55,000. In April 2021 the same car appeared in the catalogue again, this time with the explicit statement that it could not be confirmed whether the Hartge conversion had actually been carried out at the time. It remained unsold.
The same vehicle, the same substance, an openly stated doubt — and no sale. It is hard to demonstrate the value of unbroken provenance more clearly than that.
The idea: big engine, small body
ALPINA built fast touring cars, AC Schnitzer sold tuned parts packages. Hartge did something else entirely: the company turned BMW’s own model hierarchy upside down. The big six-cylinder from the 5 Series or 6 Series moved into the compact E30, later the V8 from the M5 into the E46 and the V10 from the E60 M5 into the E90.
| Model | Base | Engine | Power | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| H23 | E30 323i | 2.3 l R6 | 170 hp | introduced in sport auto 4/1983 |
| H26 | E30 | 2.5 l R6 | 190 hp | two versions documented |
| H27 / H27 SP | E30 | 2.7 l R6 | 210 / 220 hp | SP with individual throttle bodies |
| H35 | E30 | 3.5 l M30 | 250 hp | without four-valve head |
| H35-24 | E30 / E30 M3 | 3.5 l 24V (M88/3 or S38) | 286–330 hp | see below |
| H5S | E28 535i | 3.4 l M30 | not determined | only five imported to the USA |
| H5 V12 | E34 | M70/S70 V12 | 326 hp | amS 15/1989 against the M5 E34 |
| H6SP | E24 635CSi | R6 | approx. 190 kW | figure from auction catalogue |
| H7-24 | E32 750i | V12 | 330 hp | amS 8/1988 |
| Compact V8 4.7 | E36 Compact | 4.7 l V8 | — | two units, DM 146,000 conversion cost |
| H50 V8 | E46 | 4.9 l S62 | 394–444 hp | no more than 20 units, 2001–2006 |
| H50 V10 | E90 | 5.0 l S85 | 550 hp | 10 Sedans |
A note of caution on “H50”: The designation refers to two completely different cars. The H50 V8 on E46 basis received the S62 from the E39 M5; autoevolution names no more than 20 vehicles between 2001 and 2006 and an entry price of €106,700. The H50 V10 on E90 basis came later and received the S85. Anyone looking for production numbers must first clarify which of the two is being discussed.
The 286-300-330 question, resolved
The most plausible explanation lies in the sources themselves, once you place them side by side. 286 hp is the series output of the M88/3, as fitted in the E28 M5 and the M635 CSi. 330 hp is the Hartge upgrade stage — Brussels Oldtimers explicitly names both figures side by side, and MCP Motorsport describes the technical work behind it: 10.7:1 compression, Hartge camshafts, reworked cylinder head, modified Bosch Motronic. The 300 hp in the 1988 amS comparison test lies in between and cannot be reliably assigned without the original issue.
Even the engine designation varies: M88/3 at supercars.net and Brussels Oldtimers, S38B35 at e30zone. Supersprint simply lists the application as “Hartge E30 H35-24 (M88 / S38 engine)” — which is probably the most honest way to handle it, since it is the same engine in two versions.
On production numbers two sources give the figure six — but for different matters: one says “only six on M3 basis” (Brussels Oldtimers, with the explicit caveat that this cannot be officially confirmed), the other “six in 1985 with the M88/3” (supercars.net). No reliable total production figure for the H35-24 across all model years exists publicly.
And one more small detail that is wrong everywhere: the typical Hartge wheel is not a cross-spoke design. The sources describe a multi-spoke wheel, manufactured by BBS for Hartge — FCP Euro and e30zone cite eleven spokes, the BMW Car Club GB speaks of ten. The successor designs available today are called “Hartge Classic I” and “Classic 2”.
What the market pays
| Date | Platform | Vehicle | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24 Jan 2018 | Bring a Trailer | 1985 Hartge H5S, 194,000 km | US $48,500 — not sold |
| June 2020 | RM Sotheby’s | 1988 Hartge F1 (Mercedes 300E with BMW M88) | €72,600 |
| June 2020 | RM Sotheby’s | 1997 Hartge Compact V8 4.7, under 37,500 km | €42,900 |
| June 2020 | RM Sotheby’s | 1983 635CSi “modified to H6SP specification” | €55,000 |
| April 2021 | RM Sotheby’s | same vehicle, conversion date unconfirmed | not sold |
| 02 Feb 2023 | Bring a Trailer | 2006 325i Hartge H50 V10, 38,000 miles | US $58,500 |
| 10 Oct 2025 | Collecting Cars | 1988 Hartge H27 (E30), 15,068 km | approx. £16,225 |
A price index cannot be constructed from this, and anyone offering one overestimates their data basis. The public sales are too few and the vehicles too different. What can be read off: a documented complete vehicle achieves a multiple of the BMW base value, while a conversion with unclear history does not reliably find a buyer.
Checkpoints before buying
- Chassis number. W09…BH0… or a BMW number? That is the first and most important question.
- Model plate. Hartge motorsport plate or BMW plate?
- Hand-stamped number behind the left headlight.
- Paperwork. Original invoice, Hartge brochure, service documents, contemporary photographs. The auction descriptions of the successfully sold cars list exactly this.
- Spare parts availability. Supersprint continues to manufacture the original Hartge exhaust systems to order. This does not apply to internal engine parts of the special upgrade stages.
There is no central production archive, and we found no official Hartge register. This makes the vehicle’s paperwork the only reliable source of information.
July 2019
In July 2019, Herbert Hartge GmbH & Co. KG was liquidated. The register entry of 29 December 2019 (HRA 61484, Amtsgericht Saarbrücken) reads: “The liquidation has been completed; the company has been dissolved.”
It was a liquidation, not an insolvency proceeding — that is the wording in both sources. autoevolution writes of “financial difficulties”; we found no register record confirming this. What became of the company archive and the trademark rights is not known to us.
How ALPINA worked within the same model lines is covered in the article on ALPINA from Buchloe.Where tuner vehicles stand within today’s market structure is examined by the article on preserving the value of classic BMWs .
Sources
- Wikipedia — Herbert Hartge (company) (founding, motorsport, KBA recognition 1985, liquidation, H50 V10)
- North Data — Herbert Hartge GmbH & Co. KG (register entry 29 Dec 2019, HRA 61484)
- RM Sotheby’s — 1988 Hartge F1 and 1997 Hartge Compact V8 4.7 (chassis numbers W09…)
- RM Sotheby’s — 635CSi H6SP, June 2020 and same vehicle, April 2021
- FCP Euro — Hartge H26 E30 (hand-stamped number, individual parts sales, BBS wheels)
- MCP Motorsport — Hartge H35-24 (technical details of the 330 hp upgrade, prices via Birds of Amersham)
- Brussels Oldtimers — Hartge H35-24 (286 versus 330 hp, production number caveat)
- supercars.net — Hartge H35-24 and e30zone Wiki — Hartge
- autoevolution — Hartge H50 V8 (E46)
- evo — Hartge H50 V10, road test 21 Mar 2006
- Issue references via autotestversand: sport auto 4/1983 and 5/1986, auto motor und sport 8/1988 and 15/1989, rallye racing 9/1989
- Market data: classic.com, The Classic Valuer, Collecting Cars, Artcurial — retrieved 08 Aug 2026
Not determined: the total production figure of the H35-24, the difference between the H35-24 and the H35-24 S, the precise key findings of the contemporary road tests (we have the issues only as references, not in full text), and the whereabouts of the company archive. If you have factory documents, invoices or issues on this: Write to us — we incorporate evidence and credit the source.
Bildnachweise
- Lizenziert · nakhon100 · CC BY 2.0
- Lizenziert · David HARTGE · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Lizenziert · Mr.choppers · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Lizenziert · Mr.choppers · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Lizenziert · nakhon100 · CC BY 2.0