Europe - BMW Welt and Museum

We woke up super early after our first night in Europe, no doubt the result of still being on USA Mountain time. After a few refreshingly small cappuccinos we checked out of the hotel and made our way to the first stop of the trip, the BMW Museum. Located in Olympic Park at the base of the corporate headquarters and Munich plant the BMW Museum and BMW Welt are like the left aorta in the heart of BMW.

The Heart of BMW

Jo and I arrived before the BMW Museum was open so we spent the better part of an hour at BMW Welt. BMW Welt is described as "the experience and delivery centre of the BMW brand." Sans the marketing lingo, it's a really nice show room with futuristic aluminum architecture as clean and orderly as the rest of Munich. This is a perfect match for the displays of BMW's latest car's and technology. The European Delivery Center sits exclusively on the second floor. Here's how it works. Your new BMW is driven across the street (actually under via a secret tunnel) from the factory and delivered to you via a glass elevator in the presence of a BMW factory representative who personally guides you through your car. Then you get to parade your new ride down an exclusive ramp in front of jealous onlookers like myself (if it was a 1 Series M Coupe that is) and wring it out on the Autobahn for up to two weeks before BMW ships it to the States. The best part is that it's cheaper than buying it at your local dealer because it is technically a used car and tariffed as such.

BMW Welt

European Delivery Level

As we walked though the door we were greeted by the gaping smile of a brilliant orange 1 Series M Coupe. I've been very disillusioned with the direction BMW has taken over the past several years with its increasingly bloated and complicated offerings. I've always looked past the luxury aspects of the BMW brand and the prestige motivated buyers that choose it as such. In fact I bitterly detest the latter. For me BMW is driver's brand. Seeing the core elements that made it one continually diluted by weight and complication is sad. The release of ///M badged trucks was slap-in-the-face proof that the trend had even infected the hallowed ground of the M GmbH. They might as well be building Hummers. Then replacing the 5 and now 3 series Tourings (sport wagons in American speak) with hideous cross-overs called "GTs" further added insult to injury. Shame BMW, shame... Or is it American culture that should be shamed? A chicken or egg question, but I digress. The 1 Series M Coupe is the carrot that reeled my M-purist-self back. Maybe BMW does still care about the drivers out there.

1 Series M Coupe

Based on the smallest (and theoretically lightest) model, stripped of posh fancy gadgetry, and best of all offered in only a manual transmission, the 1 Series M Coupe has been M GmbH's return to its roots. It has been marketed as the modern incarnation of the original E30 M3. Some say it's closer to the US spec E36 M3 with it's non-M specific engine. One pundit said it was the most fun he had since driving an S54 powered M Coupe and that got my attention!

More 1 M Coupe

Next to the 1 Series M Coupe was an E90 M3 tricked out all the options available from BMW Performance. My favorite is the alcantara wrapped steering wheel with a built in rev counter and gear display. That is one piece of complication that doesn't remove the driver from the driving experience! The E90 is near the end of its lifecycle, but it still looks as menacing as the day it came out in 2008. Down the line was a new Z4. I think the new Z4 is better looking than the old version, but it has grown dramatically in size and weight since the Z3. Opposite the Z4 was a 116d hatch, which is my dream daily driver. It's light, well appointed, rear wheel drive, and gets 60mpg. That's American gallons too! The only problem is that in the US we don't get any 1 series hatch's. Instead we get the 5 Series GT that was parked next to the 116d. As I walked from one to the other I went from frustrated envy to throwing up in my mouth.

Das M3 Coupe w/ BMW Performance Options

In More Refined Colors

Jo with the E89 Z4

The 116d - My Dream Daily Driver

The Hideous 5 Series GT - So Ugly

This is the Replacement for 5 Series Tourings in the States

At 10:00 am we crossed the foot bridge to the Museum side of the complex. A very red, almost so red it was orange (brilliantrot perhaps?) E21 318 was sitting on the patio which contrasted the continued brushed aluminum architecture well... ...brilliantly. The Museum entrance was an upside down cone shape with an E9 style roundel on the roof that we couldn't see from below. Through the doors we descended a set of polished curving stairs into a subterranean layer that would have made Dr. Evil snicker with envy.

The BMW Museum

The first display was a collection of roadsters head-pieced by a 1956 507 in dark metallic grey over a red interior. The 507 was elegant and stately, a beautifully styled roadster at home with the Jaguar's and Ferrari's of the era, at least in the looks department. In the back a Z1, Z3, and Z8 showed the evolution of the modern BMW roadster. The Z1 is a radically M1 styled E30, the Z3 an E30/E36 parts bin car with the sole of every roadster in Britain, and the Z8 a V8 powered super car with a flawed frame that none-the-less holds it's value like new.

The Roadster Display

1956 BMW 507

1988 BMW Z1

Note the internal slide-down doors and E30 based interior.

The BMW Z8 = Modern Elegance

In the next room were two elevated podiums holding an adorable Isetta and a Inka Orange 2002ti. The Isetta was originally designed in Italy and produced by a number of different countries after WWII. The bubble-windowed micro car was entered by literally opening the whole front of the car, steering wheel and all. What happens if you crash into something? You exit through the ragtop in the roof. Seriously! The 2002ti set the standard of what defined BMW for a generation; light weight, well balanced, and rear wheel drive. No fancy styling, just a well built car that didn't need looks to reward the driver.

1955 BMW Isetta

Note the Door Handle on the Front Facing Door

1968 2002ti in Inka Orange

As I was visually swimming in the Inka Orange of the 2002ti I noticed another piece of orange eye candy. That was the original M badged vehicle, none other than the numerically appropriate M1! Some say the M535i's were the first M vehicles, but I am not one of them. The M1 is genesis for me. The M1 was born of the success of BMW Motorsport's original project, the 3.0CSL (more on that later). Originally intended to be designed in cooperation with Lamborghini, financial problems limited that to nothing more than a faint influence. Homologation rules required that 400 of the mid engine, V8 powered cars be built and sold to qualify for racing. As such the M1 was a proper race car, not just a badge and a name, and not unlike another M badged vehicle that caught my eye, the venerable E30 M3. The original M3 is over two decades old, but its homologation cred is robust enough to make even the latest M3 owners bow a nod of respect. While the M1's racing success was limited by rule changes and poor timing, the M3 dominated nearly every category of motor sport it contested. Lightweight, balanced, and high revving the E30 M3 was a driving man's bliss and it still is!

Catching a Glimpse

Of the BMW M1

The Original M3

Behind the M Power Wall were a sampling of Motorsport engines from over the years. The ones that garnered my interest were the S14 that powered the aforementioned M3. It is said the number 14 came from the number of days it was designed in. The other engine was the S54. I have in intimate relationship with the S54 and after 4 years and tens of thousands of miles each individual whaling RPM on the climb to redline still tickles my soul. Yes it is that good! Soul tickling!!

The E30 M3's S14

The Mighty S54

This one is slightly cleaner than the one in my M Coupe - slightly

Look at that Header

A Work of Art

For Some Reason this View Gave me Nightmares

As we moved into the next room I round myself staring down the grill of an E21 320i. It was at the bottom of a stack of 3, 5, 6, & 7 series. On the other end of the room, suspended from the ceiling, was a cloud of model badges from 1970 through present. I looked for the plain ///M badge on the M Coupe and Roadster, but I couldn't find it. I think it was on a white background and up high.

The Bottom of the Stack

Of 3, 5, 6, & 7 Series

The Badge Cloud

Below the Badge Cloud was a sterile white room that conveyed a sense of singular purpose equal to the cars that it housed - racing. And by racing I mean proper racing. Sports car racing in the tradition of Le Mans, Touring Car, and the predecessor to Grand Am in the states. The 2004 M3 GTS and 1977 320GT that occupied the far wall would have consumed the entirety of my attention in any other setting, but they were merely incidental compared to what sat against the near wall. A 1992 M3 in Warsteiner Livery, which also quickly faded into incidental obscurity when I saw what was parked behind its evo spoiler. The bat mobile. The car that started it all. A 1973 3.0CSL in Factory Livery! This was Motorsport GmbH's original eight employee's first project. The 3.0CSL was a homologation special that led to long term success in European Touring Car Racing and Le Mans. The car was delivered from the factory complete with the aero kit, except that the large rear wing remained uninstalled and in the trunk because it wasn't legal on German roads. Dam the traffic laws, I would have bolted that thing on as soon as I got home!

2004 M3 GTS

1977 320GT

1992 M2 in Warsteiner Livery

The Batmobile! 1973 3.0CSL

A 1971 Model of the 3.0CSi the CSL was Based On

With the 3.0CSL I thought we had seen it all, but as we ascended from the subterranean layer we realized the upside down cone held a temporary exhibit featuring Art Cars. According to the exhibit, during BMW's 1970's racing success a French race car driver named Hervé Poulain commissioned American artist Alexander Calder to paint a 3.0CSL race car. That car competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the art car was born. The exhibit had various art cars staggered along a rising circular ramp inside the upside down cone.

Alexander Calder and his creation, the First Art Car

Here it is at present day, Art Car #1 1975 3.0CSL

Art Car #2 1976 3.0CSL, Artist Frank Stella

Art Car #3 1977 320i, Artist Roy Lichtenstein

Art Car #4 1979 M1, Artist Andy Warhol

Art Car #5 1982 635CSi, Artist Ernst Fuchs

Art Car #7 1989 M3, Artist M.J. Neslon

Art Car #8 1989 M3, Artist Ken Done

(my favorite, of course it's an E30)

Art Car #10, 1990 730i, Artist Cesar Manrique

Art Car #11 1991 Z1, Artist A.R. Penck

Art Car #13 1992 E36 Race Car, Artist Sandro Chia

Art Car #14 1995 850CSi, Artist David Hockney

The current Art Car, a 2010 M3 GT2 by Jeff Koons

(wasn't in the exhibit)

It was nearing noon and we had bigger plans for our trip than looking at BMW's. We could do that on every road we drove on. It was time to depart the flatlands of the fatherland for the mountains of Austria. Jo had lovingly given a morning of her honeymoon for my obsession. We headed south out of Munich for the Autobahn. On the way we drove through one of the cleanest, modern, and friendly cites I have been in. We passed a 5 series touring taxi cab on the way and I couldn't help but think about how sad it was that the new generation would make it to America.

A Munich Glass Tunnel

5 Series Taxi Cab