Prior to our BMW Classics City Tour we took a quick walk through the BMW Museum. There is a fascinating kinetic display in the museum made of metal orbs suspended on wires that rise and fall, telling the story of design development. Here is a short video I shot of a bit of it. Mesmerizing in person.
During the car tour we stopped at BMW’s private classics collection for about an hour. This is where they restore and keep cars that are not in the main museum, and they also restore and maintain classic BMWs for private collectors. I looked online at other people’s pictures of this collection and it looks like it changes often. There were only eight of us there with our guides, so it was a very personal tour. Each car had interesting stories behind it. Many pictures are included below, here are a few of my favorites…
Original owner BMW with over 300,000 miles.
This 1930s era BMW belonged to a German gentleman. When the Nazis were coming through his town confiscating anything of value he completely disassembled his car to make his garage appear to be a collection of spare parts. Years after the war he put it back together and traveled all over the world in it. He put on over 300,000 miles. When he died he gave it to the museum with the requirement that they never restore it.
1937 320 Cabriolet.
We asked about the empty slot in front of this 1937 320 and he told us that’s the space for one of the cars we were touring in. Sure enough, there were three empty slots with oil spots on the floor.
1937ish 328
How amazing would it be to cruise around in this Roadster? Evidently Elvis had one while he was stationed in Germany and all the girls would kiss it. He had it painted red so the lipstick wouldn’t show.
Isetta and Me.
I love Isettas, and I don’t know why. Don’t be too surprised if I pull up in one someday. The door opens from the front – it looks like a refrigerator door because it actually is one. This model is about the same age as me.
1949 HH49 Formula 2
Okay, I love this 1949 Formula 2 racer even more than the Isetta, but it isn’t quite as practical.
1950’s 502 Limo retrofitted with beer kegs and taps in the trunk.
On a more practical side, how about a 1950’s era 502 limo with beer kegs in the backseat and a trunk that opens for the taps. I missed the part when he explained why this car even exists.
Hood from 1999 LeMans entry.
BMW raced in LeMans for the first time in 1999. They won. After that they never entered again. (I checked online and couldn’t verify that.) Check out how much damage the front takes during just a portion of the 24 hour race.
Beautiful bike, don’t know model number.
BMW’s bike lines are well represented there, too, with probably a hundred motorcycles on display. I don’t know bike models at all, but this one caught my eye – I love the early simplicity of it.
If you want to look up BMW models from the beginning to today, they have a nice guide online at bmw-classic.com/produktkatalog/. That was part of my cheater’s guide for captions on the pictures.
As I mentioned in the post about the Classic City Tour, this is something any car fanatic must do in Munich.
More pictures:
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- Our tour cars in front of the Classics building.
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- 1936 326 – One of our tour cars.
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- 1937 335 – One of our tour cars.
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- 1952 502 w/V8 – One of our tour cars.
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- Original owner BMW with over 300,000 miles.
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- 1935 319
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- 1937 320 Cabriolet. The space in front is where one of our tour cars parks.
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- 1937ish 328
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- 328 Roadster
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- 326
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- 1950’s 502 Limo retrofitted with beer kegs and taps in the trunk.
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- 1955 Isetta.
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- Isetta and Me.
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- Beautiful bike, don’t know model number.
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- 1949 HH49 Formula 2
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- Sorry, missing what race series this car was for.
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- Hood from 1999 LeMans entry.
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- Sebastian Vettel’s 2004 Formula BMW car.
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- 1964 Mini completely rebuilt for racing in 2011.
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- A special option on the James Bond BMWs.
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