Ask anyone that knows what the quintessential sports sedan is, and 9 out of 10 will tell you it's the BMW 3 Series. It's the landmark against which all others are measured, the target that every other luxury automaker has in its sights, and the very icon of what a luxury sports sedan should be. What's more, it has been all those things for three and a half decades, from the first model introduced in 1975 to the new 6th generation model just rolled out last month.

With a hyphen or without, the 3 Series has come a long way, so to illustrate the fact, BMW has lined up all 6th generations for a family portrait or four, which you can check out in the HD image above, along with the detailed press release after the jump.

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/01/13/bmw-3-series-gets-together-for-family-portrait/