A rare ALPINA-badged BMW 3 Series of the E21 generation has been pulled from a lake in southern Germany, where investigators believe it lay underwater for decades. Police are now trying to establish how the car ended up in the water and who owned it.
The vehicle was discovered in late October at the Seepark lake in Pfullendorf. Divers found it while searching for a 69-year-old man who had gone missing. The search for the man was called off, as he was later found safe elsewhere. Earlier, police had suspected he might have entered the water after a hat was found near the shore, which prompted the search in the first place. The discovery of the car therefore came entirely by accident.
On November 11, water police and a volunteer fire brigade raised the car from the lake. The recovery took several hours, and the vehicle was covered in mud when it was brought to the surface. Officers noted that it carried no license plates, a detail that has complicated efforts to trace its history. Investigators are examining the circumstances in which the car was disposed of in the lake, and are considering whether waste dumping or pollution may have been involved.
Police have appealed to the public for information about the car's former owner. Its identity remains unknown for now. The front badge suggests the vehicle was a 320 base model, but the engine code has yet to be checked. ALPINA, the tuning specialist that worked closely with BMW, offered several four- and six-cylinder versions of the E21, so the exact specification will only become clear once the engine code is confirmed.
Restoring the car is unlikely to be quick. After decades submerged, it is far from roadworthy, and the recovery process alone has left it heavily damaged by mud and water. For enthusiasts of the brand, the find is a reminder of the E21's historical significance, as ALPINA's early 3 Series models are sought after by collectors.
The case also carries a broader interest for the car world. BMW has revived the ALPINA name as a separate, more expensive marque. The final B3 GT example was built in November 2025, and no new small ALPINA 3 Series is expected. That makes an older, rare example of the badge's earlier work a notable find, even in its current condition. The photograph released by the Polizeipräsidium Ravensburg shows the car after its recovery from the lake.