PAID THE COST TO BE THE BOSS M5-styled F02/F01 750Li
Pretty gangsta isn’t it, this 7 Series? There’s a certain tangible brutality to cars like this, be they owned by the Mafia, the Yakuza, an East End crime lord, or the fellas running operations in South Central LA: these motors are imposingly big, low, sleek, shark-like in their menace. They pull off the neat trick of being simultaneously stealthy, with their black-on-black-on-black colour schemes and impenetrable glazing, and ostentatiously showy; a demonstration of wealth and status. Because that’s what being gangsta is all about.
{module Autoads}
This 2009 BMW 750Li F02 is in fact a bit of a creative departure for the man behind it, Ary Minassian. Regular readers will be familiar with the name, as a few of his creations have appeared in these pages before over the years. A couple of months ago we featured Ary’s insane wide-arched E36 Compact; last year there was the E46 M3 with a bespoke wide-body kit, and before that was a bright green E30 track monster with a stroked and turbo’d M20 and oodles of carbon fibre. Each of these builds were crazy, in-your-face and dripping with race car aggression.
This 750Li, though, dances to a different tune. Or rather, it fi res its weapon toward people’s feet and makes them dance. Ary’s own trajectory to this point is an intriguing and impressive one; today his business card lists him as the owner of DTM FiberWerkz, ESM Wheels and Afentiko Wheels, the kernel of which all grew from his business AutoStopUSA back in 2002 and has spawned numerous successful offshoots since, specialising in custom body kits, bespoke wheels and all sorts. “Through my many years in the automotive industry, I’ve been given the nickname ‘Boss’,” he explains. “This, in part, led to the founding of our new venture, Afentiko Wheels; Afentiko is Greek for boss, and I purchased this 750Li because it’s a boss car – the luxurious nature of it caters to the exact sector of the market we’re aiming to reach, so you can see why it’s a good showcase for our new line of wheels.” He’s right, it’s a perfect fit. And we’re not talking about Alan Sugar or Richard Branson here… this is the kind of murdered-out urban cruiser that’s most likely got Courvoisier in the cupholders and an inert snitch in the boot.
“We found this car on Craigslist,” says Ary, rather dampening the gangsta vibes but nevertheless soldiering on; “it was all stock and had been owned by an elderly guy who always kept it garaged. The body was really clean, although that actually didn’t matter either way as we were planning a full repaint regardless – but it was good to find a solid base.” So in just a mere twinkling of an eye, Ary and his team had the car stripped down and ready for a fresh and sumptuous coat or two of Sapphire black paint.
But wait… before that could happen, there was something the guys needed to address. As you can no doubt appreciate, this would be a pretty dull feature if all they did was to buy a used 7 Series and give it a respray. No, before that classy paint was laid down, something needed to come from the revered DTM Fiber Werkz workshop – something unique, something seismic, something evocative. After much deliberation over the nature and potential manifestations of the very principles of being gangsta, Ary decided that the way to go would be to create a custom body kit that emulated the aggressive lines of the F10 M5.
That’s right – what you’re looking at here is, in essence, an M5 that’s been scaled up to Mafiosi size, as if it’s been photocopied at 120%. Unsurprisingly, this isn’t all as easy as it sounds. Thankfully, of course, these people have form. Creating spectacular shapes out of exotic materials is all in a day’s work. “The first thing we did after purchasing the car was to start designing the F10 M5-style body kit,” says Ary. “We used an OEM M5 rear diffuser on the back which we modified and extended onto the OEM 750Li bumper; the front bumper was also beefed up with a larger opening and an M5-style lower lip in carbon fibre. Then we designed side skirts to flow with the height of the front and rear bumpers – once the design was finished we removed the bumpers, preparing to make the mould and casted production. When that was completed the car headed over to the body shop for fitting and a complete respray.”
Given that the intention from the outset was to use the car as a showcase for the new Afentiko wheels, the team were making some very strong headway indeed in creating a striking canvas onto which this new brand’s values could be artfully painted, and now it was time to start investigating the nuts and bolts of actually getting those wheels to sit right. There were to be no half-measures here, the plan was to fit a staggered set of 22” rims, and with tyres running a decent amount of sidewall – lo-pros, for sure, but not comical rubber bands. So the poise of the chassis had to be precise and perfect. Harnessing the 750Li’s factory rear air suspension, Ary added adjustable rear end-links and threw some shorter, uprated H&R springs into the mix, and as you can see it now sits splendidly over its outrageously massive wheels. “They’re the most innovative concave wheel designs offered in 22” staggered sizes,” Ary reckons. “We are the industry’s first to offer such a dominant concave face with a bevelled edge for maximum depth on 22” sizes!” It’s this bevelled edge that’s particularly noteworthy; if you’re not familiar with the term, it refers to an edge which is angled rather than running perpendicular, like you might find on a household mirror or skirting board – this counterpoints the concave wheel face by leading it into a distinct ridge, while also giving a nice big space adjacent to the tyre to emboss the company name. Have you ever seen anything like it?
Given that the long-wheelbase Seven is already a formidable base, the team have exercised restraint elsewhere in the car; that twin-turbo 4.4-litre V8 was considered angry enough without requiring further embellishment, although it has to be said the custom M5-esque exhausts really do accentuate its rumble – less luxury cruiser, more mob getaway vehicle. The interior is bone-stock but, when it’s as luxurious as BMW’s flagship, what more do you really need? “We wanted a classy VIP luxury look,” says Ary, and that’s exactly what’s been achieved.
Never let it be said that these guys can be pigeonholed, however. Does adding a mafia boss car to their fleet of widebody track cars mean they’ve made the shift toward low-down urban cruisers with a menacing attitude? No, not at all.
“We’ve actually now sold this car,” says Ary, “and we’re planning to build another one to similar specs in Alpine white.” You see, you’ve always got to keep people guessing. What was it Henry Hill said in Goodfellas? ‘For us, to live any other way was nuts. If we wanted something, we just took it.’ That’s what this car’s all about. Intimidating and enterprising in equal measure, with enough attitude to silence all questions.
DATA FILE F02/F01 750Li
ENGINE AND TRANSMISSION 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 N63B44O0, custom F10 M5-style exhaust system with quad matt black 4” tailpipes. Eight-speed automatic gearbox
CHASSIS 9×22” (front) and 10.5×22” (rear) Afentiko Concave wheels, 255/30 (f) and 295/25 (r) Toyo Proxes tyres, H&R springs, adjustable rear end-links, OEM air suspension
EXTERIOR Full re-spray in Sapphire black, DTM FiberWerkz F10 M5-style front bumper with carbon fi bre lower section, DTM side skirts, DTM F10 M5-style rear bumper with carbon fibre diffuser, DTM carbon fibre rear spoiler, all trims and grilles blacked out
INTERIOR Black extended leather, anthracite ash wood trim
“The first thing we did after purchasing the car was to start designing the F10 M5-style body kit”
Custom, carbon-clad F10 M5-style front bumper. Interior is stock but super luxurious.
4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 makes 407hp.
Menacing 22” Afentiko Concave wheels.
Carbon diffuser and quad exhausts.
