Today’s BMW Z1 may not drop panties like its Z8 big brother, but it will drop its doors making underwear a requirement for drivers and passengers alike lest they drop all decorum. Let’s figure out if this crazy-rare roadster’s price needs a drop too.

In Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom the nickname of Indy’s Asian kid sidekick was ‘Short-Round.’ Relatedly, yesterday’s was an Asian car that you could conceivably nickname ‘Tall-Round,’ as that is a fitting description. With a 57% Nice Price win, it also wouldn’t be too taxing a sidekick to have around either.

Of course, not everyone wants or needs the utility that a tall five-door wagon affords, some of us actively seek a challenge when it comes to automotive ingress and egress and that’s why BMW once built about 8000 of a little roadster called the Z1, which had unique and iconic hide-away sliding doors. And shit-yeah you can drive it with the doors down.

The Z1 had a number of other interesting features as well. Those included construction made up of a steel space frame covered in a body made of mixed polymers. This was of course similar to the way your grandma’s Saturn SL1 was built. These were also the testbed for BMW’s complex Z-axle rear suspension that later spread to their more mainstream products. Another notable factor of the Z1 is that they were never officially sold here in the U.S..

That last fact makes the presence of this on the Philadelphia Craigslist such an eyebrow raiser. In fact, the seller goes to the extreme length as to explicitly state in his ad that the car is real and not a scam. We’ll take him at his word and will focus on the car and not the oddness of its offering venue.

That ad claims the car to have a meager 65,000 kilometers on the clock. That’s about 40,000 miles or approximately 1,500 miles a year. The odd thing is that over the course of those few miles the car has picked up what the seller says are some ‘minor cosmetic issues.’ Perhaps most noticeable of those is what appears to be a sizable scratch in the black forest green paint on the passenger door. There’s also the convertible top’s rear window that wouldn’t have offered a laid-up Jimmy Stewart much in the way of voyeuristic entertainment. Oh well, there’s those funky mid-A pillar sideview mirrors to make up for that.

Aside from the minor cosmetics, there doesn’t seem to be much to dun the car for. The ad claims that ‘everything works’ and that must include the M20B25 under the fiberglass hood and the Getrag 260 five-speed that backs it up. The Bimmer six is spec’d at 168-bhp and to allow for the low hoodline and scuttle it leans over to the side like a kid trying to sneak one out in class. That engine isn’t burdened with A/C so while it won’t likely break a sweat, you just might.

The interior looks to be perfectly serviceable and, as noted, a no-no land for women in short skirts or men who like to go commando under their baggy cargo shorts—don’t you do it! There is something funky going on in the center stack above the vent and temp controls, but I can’t make out what it is from the single interior shot provided.

I also checked to make sure this wasn’t but while similar in description, it definitely is not.

This one comes with what’s described as a clean Pennsylvania title and its seller says it’s priced to sell. That price is $27,000 and what we’re all here to decide is whether that’s low enough for it to actually sell. What’s your take on this sliding door Z1 and that price tag? Does that seem like a deal to you? Or, despite the seller’s protestations, does that smell of scam?

You decide!

Philadelphia or go if the ad disappears.

H/T to Drakkon for the hookup!

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