There is a guy here in Sydney on DTM who has a very nice 850CSi (thats the 5.6litre V12) have seen the car at a few meets, very very nice. He is MadV12 (the plates on the car are the same), nice guy, easy to talk to, but most folks I've met from here are.
The 8er was more a luxury GT car than a sports car, weighed nearly 2 tonnes, the E24 was more of a GT too, the current 6er is pretty much the same.
I posted here before something about a Swedish guy who put a V12 in his E24 6er
The engine in the McLaren was a special one off, the kind of job an engineer wishes for, a money is no object but make it the best project, more cloesly related to the M3 I6 than anything else, a work of art. It works well, won Le Mans in 2 different cars.
Maybe one day there will be another 8 series, but no time soon.
Cheers,
Iain.