BMW cars in popular culture.

A 1956 BMW 503 Cabriolet with Portuguese plates was driven by the George C. Scott character in the 1971 movie The Last Run.

A 1957 BMW 503 Coupé appears in the BBC drama Father Brown, episode 2, series 4, The Brewer's Daughter, first broadcast January 2016.

A BMW 1800Ti/SA won the 1965 Spa 24 Hours touring car race.

A BMW 2000ti won the 1966 Spa 24 Hours touring car race.
Hubert Hahne won the 1966 European Touring Car Challenge (Division 3) driving a BMW 2000TI.

Contributing to the E38's continued popularity was its appearance in several films such as
 Tomorrow Never Dies (750iL),

Bumer  (750iL),

Enemy of the State (740iL),

Invictus (740iL),

Bad Santa (740iL),

Fun with Dick and Jane (740iL),

Valley of the Wolves (TV series) (L7),

Showtime (740i),

The Transporter (735i) which was a one off manual 750i badged as a 735i,

Live Free or Die Hard (740i),

The Game (740iL) and The Sum Of All Fears.

Even though it was the only featured car in the series to be replaced the following year, the E38 featured in the BMW Film Ambush which was released in fall 2001.

In the 18th James Bond feature film Tomorrow Never Dies, the sixteen E38 cars used during production were modified so they could be driven from the backseat. The car type is actually a BMW 740iL but they were re-badged as the 750iL. One survives today and can be seen at exhibition “TOP SECRET” at Museum Industriekultur, Nuremberg. Besides the 7 Series saloons, BMW also supplied a $14,000 R1200C motorcycle. BMW received the rights to use movie clips from the film in its multimillion-dollar campaign, and during the 1997 holiday season they offered a special promotion that included the R1200C with the purchase of the 750iL.