RECENT ARTICLES
Win A BMW CCA Watch—And A Lifetime Membership!
Win a lifetime of BMW fun and memories with Nationwide, thanks to a new contest presented by the BMW Car Club of America and Nationwide Insurance! Enter by this Friday, 12/14, for a chance to win! Club partner Nationwide Insurance is giving you the chance to win not just...
A Retro E39 Road Test
Article By all test participants; photos by Victor Yuen and Chris Tworek One never knows what will come up at our monthly Cars, Coffee & Chat (CC&C) In Calgary Alberta. A few months ago, Gerard Mercier, came up with a spur of the moment comment that we should do a...
V8 BMW Baroque Angel Projects For Sale In Las Vegas
BMWs from the 1950’s and early 1960’s are rare. Before the company experienced the much needed commercial success of the New Class sedans and coupes, which of course led to more recognizable models like the 2002 and 3.0CS, the automaker survived by producing luxury cars with the 501 and...
U.S. BMW Brand Sales Inch Forward During November
November of 2018 marked the 13th consecutive month of growth for the BMW brand in the U.S., with sales expanding 1% compared with 2017 from 28,330 vehicles sold as opposed to 28,049 a year ago. For 2018 sans December, the BMW brand is up 1.9% in terms of U.S....
Next-Gen M4 Slated To Come With A Manual Transmission
Earlier this year, the man in charge of BMW M, Frank van Meel, offered a bit of early confirmation that the next generation of M cars will be available with manual transmissions. For months following, not much was said about the matter, as many were preoccupied with the G20...
BMW CCA Recognition Nominations Open
Thanksgiving has been and gone for another year and now we drive forth into the holiday season and the end of another year. It is also time to consider nominating a business or a fellow club member for an award under the Club’s award program. There are five awards...
Classic BMW Wins The 2018 BMW Sports Trophy for Teams
Plano, Texas-based Classic BMW became the first American team to win the coveted BMW Sports Trophy for teams, awarded to the privateer BMW racing team that accumulates the most points over the course of the season. Classic BMW, which raced M4 GT4s and M235iRs in Pirelli World Competition in...
BMW Motorsport Announces 2019 Racing Lineups
BMW Motorsport presented its 2019 racing program at its annual motorsport gathering in Munich on December 7. For the most part there will be continuity in driver lineups across the series that BMW contests. There is one new driver in IMSA; Tom Blomqvist will join BMW Team RLL in...
The Lama Goes Legal
Last week, I described driving the insured but unregistered Lama a bit farther than the around-the-block sort-out runs I’d been previously doing, and giving it its first real application of Lamathrust. I was pretty gentle; this was not a bonsai run to red line. After all, the car had previously suffered...
What if Santa’s Sleigh Was a BMW?
There’s nearly an entire Barnes & Noble full of songs and storybooks about the fat man in the red suit, but there’s comparatively little written about his sleigh. We can only guess at the sort of technology that allows Santa’s sleigh to fly around the world in 24 hours...
It’s Official! Club Corral Confirmed For Rolex 24!
After much anticipation, we can confirm the club will host another corral and hospitality area at the Rolex 24 this January 24-27, 2019. The club package for the Rolex 24 at Daytona has become the hottest ticket of the year with packages often selling out in under 24 hours....
Taking An E36 On A Coast To Coast Rally
By Carl Ledgister: Although I love my great state of Florida -the weather, no state income tax, some great breweries- I long for the challenging roads of the more northern states. The Sunshine State is flatter than some ironing boards I know and there isn’t a hint of curvaceous...
Holiday Sale Drawing Winners Announced!
Everyone who shopped the BMW CCA Holiday Sale between Wednesday, November 21, and Monday, November 26, were entered into a drawing for a chance to win 1 of 3 prizes! The prizes included a Yokohama Tire Certificate, BMW Z4 remote-control car, and a BMW 6 Series remote-control car. We...
The 5 Best BMW Engines (Pre-1990)
Among others that have risen to prominence more recently, one of BMW’s most important core competencies as an automaker and a global brand is its ability to design and build some of the best engines in history. The heart of any BMW, including the modern variety that are moved...
Is it Time to Reconsider the E53 X5?
People say all kinds of nasty things about BMW’s SUV—pardon me, SAV—lineup, myself included. Lately, though, I’ve had a bit of a change of heart. Just the other week, Ms. Yuppie (also an SUV-hater) told me about “a cute BMW hatchback” that she saw. After showing her almost the...
Start Your Holiday Shopping With The BMW CCA Store!
Yes, there’s just three short weeks until the holidays, and now is the perfect time to pick out gifts for the BMW enthusiasts in your life! This year, the BMW CCA store is once again offering a seasonal selection of ornaments and commemorative items, as well as the complete...
Classifieds Challenge: 1990s Villain Edition
It’s almost December, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some awesome cars listed on the BMW CCA Classifieds. In light of Radwood Los Angeles next weekend, we’re looking at a selection of BMWs from the 1990s—which would you like to see under your tree? Our first contender hails from...
What Would You Swap a BMW V8 Into?
My previous post, about the logistics of swapping a Ford V8 into a BMW, generated a lot of discussion and more than its fair share of controversy. In an effort to restore some sort of karmic balance to the Bimmerlife universe, this week, I’ll be covering the logistics of...
3 Series M Performance Parts Photographed By BMWBlog
BMW M Performance parts always look great in the doctored-up press photos circulated by automotive media outlets, but getting a look at things through real-world photos tends to facilitate a much greater understanding of how the stuff is going to look either in a dealership showroom display case or...
507 Formerly Owned By Designer Albrecht von Goertz Up For Auction
Got roughly two and three quarters of a million dollars burning a hole in your pocket? 507s do not come up for sale often, and when they do, they typically demand serious money at auction. According to Hagerty, the very best examples of the extremely limited production run—just 252...
West Coast Yokohama Showdown Awards Given At Thunderhill
Three Tire Rack BMW CCA Club racers won the 2018 West Coast Yokohama Showdown awards in an event at Thunderhill Raceway on November 10-11. Ralph Warren in a B-Modified E90 M3 was the first place winner. Vic Pizzino in a C-Modified E46 325i was second, and Julie Wolf in...
How To Beat The Winter Doldrums
For many of us, the temperatures have already dropped to near-freezing, and the fun cars are put away for winter. What can a Bimmerphile do to stay busy while they wait for spring? Here are some ideas. Build a model. In addition to writing for BimmerLife, I’m also a contributor...
X5 Traces Monza On Saharan Desert Floor
Nine days, 50 people, four bulldozers, four trucks, two graders and two compactors. That’s what it took for BMW Italy to create a one-to-one scale, earthen version of the famous Monza circuit on the floor of the Sahara Desert at a remote location near Merzouga, Morocco. Every turn, twist, straight...
BMW Classic To Feature Owner-Submitted Photos During December
Everyone’s favorite Instagram (aside from @bmwcca of course), the official account of BMW Group Classic, will be sharing submitted photos of owner’s vehicles from December 1 to December 24, 2018—and you can submit your photos for a chance to be featured! To help your chances of being featured, BMW...
Third Quarter, Monthly Membership-Drive Winners Announced
We had a great battle in the third-quarter 2018 Membership Drive competition with plenty of members stepping up their referral game! Coming home in first place is Michiana Chapter member, Quenton Smith, with a total of 20 referrals for the quarter! Quenton is clearly on a hot streak this...
The Lama Goes Legal
Last week, I described driving the insured but unregistered Lama a bit farther than the around-the-block sort-out runs I’d been previously doing, and giving it its first real application of Lamathrust. I was pretty gentle; this was not a bonsai run to red line. After all, the car had previously suffered...
Engage the Lamathrusters!
A few weeks ago, as I was closing in on getting the Lama (the worse-than-expected 535i I’d bought sight-unseen and had shipped from Tampa) up and running after its decapitation and valve job, my friend Andrew Wilson began using the word “Lamathrust” on my Facebook page. Sometimes it was...
The Trick To Using E30 Basketweaves on a Tii
As I write this, it’s the day after we hosted Thanksgiving for 30 people and it’s 15 degrees out. Any thought of today being the day that I drive the Lama has vanished along with reasonable temperatures, my energy level, and my waistline. So, instead, I’m going to address...
Buttoning Up The Lama’s Head
After I submitted last week’s piece describing reassembling and reinstalling the Lama’s head, I thought that I might have the bloody thing running in one more repair session, perhaps even by the end of that very day. This estimate, of course, turned out to be optimistic. While connecting a freshly-installed head...
The Recapitation Of The Lama Continueth
Last week I began addressing the broken rocker arm in the Lama, my 1987 E28 535i. I had really, really wanted to leave the head intact and conduct a precise surgical strike, simply replacing the broken rocker and dropping the still-assembled head back on, but by fits and starts, I instead...
Decapitating The Lama, Part II
Last week, I discussed the broken rocker arm in the Lama, the 1987 E28 535i that I bought because I thought I could make a little money on it. Before deciding to pull the head, I did some tests. The compression was 155-155-145-135-155-155, showing that the cylinder with the...
