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You’ve probably heard of the moose test that involves making evasive maneuvers to assess a car’s handling. Well, this is a different type of moose test, a more literal one. A specimen of the largest member of the deer family wreaked havoc inside a facility of BMW specialist Schmiedmann in Sweden. The moose on the loose damaged not one but two BMW 8 Series E31s.
Freshly painted and almost entirely restored, a customer’s 850i had a tête–à–tête with the moose. The big animal, which typically weighs about 360 kilograms or nearly 800 pounds, slammed its legs on the coupe’s beautiful hood with its cutouts for the pop-up headlights. Attached below, footage shot by Schmiedmann CEO Viktor Örtegren over the weekend shows the moose damaging the precious E31.
Not only did the moose stomp on the mint-condition 8 Series, but it also damaged to a lesser extent another 850i from the same E31 era. As if that wasn’t bad enough, a modified 3 Series E36 belonging to one of Schmiedmann’s employees also suffered. The moose eventually made its way out of the building. It then headed to the nearby forest, crossing the highway without being hit by any cars.
When Viktor got in touch with the owner of the severely damaged E31, he said: “I’m terribly sorry, but a big moose came by and trampled your BMW 850i.” Understandably, the person on the other end of the line initially thought it was a joke. Looking on the bright side, only cars suffered in this peculiar incident, as no one reported any injuries.
The shop will now have to repair the cars, meaning their respective owners will have to wait even longer to get their prized possessions back. BMW produced just over 30,000 units of the original E31 between 1990 and 1999. Although revered today, the original 8er wasn’t a commercial success. Its high price and the global recession of the 1990s hindered its popularity.