E88 with E87 plate??

[TTC135I]

Hi guys,

I've recently bought my first BMW, a 2008 135I E88 2 door convertible. The other day while looking around under the bonnet, I noticed a plate riveted to the car showing the vin number, and it also says on the same plate series-E87..
?? Is not the E87 a 5 door hatch??

Cheers

[Piets94]

My 1M has E87 on the passenger door placard also, even though it's E82.
Not sure why, but there is also the usual M Gmbh codes so no big deal I would've thought.

[Giveway74]

you have really bought a hatchback even though it looks like a vert

[choppedliver]

My 2008 E88 Vert has E87 as well.

B

[RadiuM]

It's probably because they are all essentially the same chassis. Just different bodies dumped on top.

[D2000]

Pretty sure my E82 has an E87 plate

[TTC135I]

Ah, good to know. I guess being the same E87 chassis and different body options make sense..
Cheers

[135]

Looks can be deceiving - you actually did by a hatchback!

But, seriously, prior to the 1st generation 1-series and 5th generation 3-series, BMW would assign a code at concept stage and that code carried through prototype and into production as the chassis code, e.g. E30, E36, E46. During this era, these chassis codes then had body codes associated with them, which was an incrementing numerical identifier (that usually, but not always, indicated the number of doors), whether it was a convertible, or was an M-car (i.e. contained an S-motor), e.g.

E30 3-series
E30/2 Coupe
E30/2C Convertible
E30/2S M3 Coupe
E30/2SC M3 Convertible
E30/2Cab Baur-Convertible
E30/4 Sedan
E30/4Cab Baur-Convertible Prototype
E30/5 Wagon/Touring
E30/16 AWD 325iX
E30/Z Z1 Roadster

E36 3-series
E36/2 Coupe
E36/2C Convertible
E36/2S M3 Coupe
E36/2CS M3 Convertible
E36/3 Wagon/Touring
E36/4 Sedan
E36/4S M3 Sedan
E36/5 3-door Compact
E36/6 3-series 5-door Compact Prototype 1981/82
E36/7 Z3 Roadster
E36/7S M Roadster
E36/8 Z3 Coupe
E36/8S M Coupe

E46 3-series
E46/2 Coupe
E46/2C Convertible
E46/2S M3 Coupe
E46/2CS M3 Convertible
E46/3 Wagon/Touring
E46/4 Sedan
E46/5 3-door Compact

BMW's chassis/body nomenclature changed with the introduction of the 1st generation 1-series, which replaced the BMW 3-Series E46/5 Compact, which itself was a small (by 3-Series standards) hatchback.
When it was in concept status, BMW designated the new 1-series body types the codes E81 (3-door hatchback), E82 (2-door coupe), E87 (5-door hatchback) and E88 (2-door convertible) and, when the E87 concept became reality (it was released in 2004), the E87 5-door hatchback was the first (and only) 1-series available, thus, the body code was retained and it also retained E87 as the chassis code and carried through to all 1-series cars, irrespective of the body type.
When the other three body types were released in 2007, the chassis code was again retained (just like it was for the E30/E36/E46) while the body code differed but, instead of using an incrementing numerical identifier as was the case with previous chassis, BMW used new above-mentioned "chassis codes" to represent the different body types, i.e. E81, E82 and E88.