RECENT ARTICLES
The BMW XM Has Officially Arrived
The week surrounding the 2022 fall equinox has been an exciting one for BMW fans. In the last seven days, there have been not just one, not two, but three big announcements from BMW. (Four if you count Mini’s 69th special edition.) Last Thursday, BMW held a launch party...
Do You Remember Your First Z?
As BMW just dropped the latest 2023 Z4, it got me thinking about my first Z. No, it wasn’t a Datsun. Actually, it wasn’t even the first BMW Z that I drove, it just happened to be the first Z produced—the Z1. If you read the July 2022 issue...
Electrifying M: BMW’s New M Hybrid V8
Read this only if you like combustion engines. Or you like electric cars. Or hybrid cars. Or if you like race cars—or if you don’t. Or if you like M cars… or non-M cars. Read this only if you like progress—or awesomeness. On September 22, BMW M Motorsport held...
Re-Engaging Hampton, A Car That I Own
With the “mitzvah” 2002tii finally sold on Bring a Trailer, I didn’t think that the car would be here at the house much longer. This thought turned out to be optimistic, since as of this writing, the buyer, whose email address is at Beverly Hills Porsche, still hasn’t paid...
BimmerWorld Wins SRO GT4 America Am Class Championship!
The BimmerWorld Racing duo of James Clay and Charlie Postins have had a fantastic year in the SRO GT4 America championship. Coming into the penultimate race weekend at Sebring, the duo had won six races in the Am class with their #36 M4 GT4 and finished second in three...
Rough Weekend For DTM Points Leader
Sheldon van der Linde came into the DTM race weekend at the Red Bull Ring in Austria with the lead in the drivers championship. He still had that lead at the end of the weekend, but it had narrowed considerably. After being fastest in the second practice session, Van...
The Mini 20 Years Edition–Number 69
If you recall, the recent Mini Multitone Edition was the brand’s 68th special edition. Imagine my surprise when only a few weeks later, Mini announced yet another special edition. With five other special editions already launched this year–-the Untold, the Untamed, the Resolute, the Patt Moss, and the Multitone—whoever...
The 2023 Alpina XB7 Is The USS Enterprise Of SUVs
Alpina has just announced the specs for the 2023 XB7, their latest luxury SUV with monstrous levels of performance. What’s new compared to the 2022 model? Quite a bit! Let’s take a look at what’s available when space and budget aren’t major constraints and Alpina can boldly go where...
Rumor Roundup: The BMW XM
We’re nine days away from seeing the production version of the long-awaited BMW XM, so BMW decided to build more excitement and tease us with a new video. On Tuesday, September 27th at 6:01 p.m. EST, we’ll get to make “first contact” with the production XM, BMW’s first standalone...
The Baby Sells on BaT (The Mitzvah, Part VII)
The story of “the mitzvah” (good deed)—my helping sell two 2002s for two local women who inherited them from their late husbands—is nearly at an end. As I wrote last week, Chris’ 1972 2002tii, the car that she and her husband Jim called the Baby, finally went up on...
Turbofans Are The Best Hubcaps
When I bought my 1991 318iS in 2016, it came with a set of factory fourteen-inch BBS basketweave wheels. These were the “factory upgrade” wheels that came on “iS” models back when E30s were sold new. While I sorted out the engine, brakes, suspension, interior, and other systems of...
Needed: 50 M Cars For Rockville Classic-Car Show
Celebrate the 50th anniversary of M at the Rockville Antique & Classic Car Show! National Capital and M Chapters are looking for 50 CCA members to submit their M cars for Rockville Antique & Classic Car Show’s prestigious Special Display Group at this year’s show on Saturday, October 15....
BMW M Teases All-Electric All-Wheel-Drive Burnouts For Future M Vehicles
BMW M dropped a new video on YouTube today. It’s short–only one-minute-and-sixteen seconds to be exact. I’ll save you some time; fast-forward to the 50-second mark for the good stuff. You’ll see the new camouflaged test mule that BMW M is using to develop the “future of fully electric...
BMW M Motorsport Sells The Best Used Cars: The Daytona GTLM Class-Winning #24 M8 GTE
BMW M Motorsport’s used car lot isn’t known for its throughput. Like diamonds, they control the release of their precious resources, making purchasing and owning one a special and exciting opportunity. BMW USA Classic Manager Thomas Plucinsky noted, “I only need the fingers on one hand to count the...
BMW CCA at Michelin GT Challenge Weekend
Come join CCA for IMSA weekend at VIR, August 26-28! This is the best and only way to watch all your favorite BMW race teams and only a few weeks away. All three race teams, RLL, Turner, & Paul Miller, are having great inaugural seasons with the new M4 GT3...
Every Day Should Be National BMW Appreciation Day
According to 16,000 people (and counting) on Instagram, yesterday, August 4, 2022, was National BMW Appreciation Day. I felt a bit bad for not knowing this, so I decided to Google it and find out more–when it started, what nation(s) celebrate this day, and what people are doing to...
Members’ Rendezvous II: The Essex In Vermont
The BMW Car Club of America combines the spirit of the best driving machines in the world with the people that make them and this organization so popular—you, the members. And when we travel as a club and descend on a town like ducks on a pond, it is...
BimmerLife Rendezvous: Essex Photo Gallery
BMW Car Club of America members recently enjoyed the exclusive BimmerLife Rendezvous: Essex event. Read all about it in David Newton’s article here. Here are additional photos of the wonderful BimmerLife Rendezvous: Essex event from July 2022!
Chapter Newsletter Showcase: Rocky Mountain Chapter’s Motorsport Report
Welcome to the latest edition of BimmerLife’s Chapter Newsletter Showcase–a series that highlights outstanding BMW CCA chapter publications. This week we’re upping our elevation and traveling to the Rocky Mountain Chapter (RMC) to learn more about their quarterly magazine, Motorsport Report. RMC was founded in 1974 and they describe...
BMW Begins Development of New Test Tracks
Does anyone remember The Matrix Reloaded? It was nearly twenty years ago, so I don’t remember much. What I do remember was the highway scene. And I also remember all of the hype about the highway scene. They built a three-lane, 1.5-mile highway from scratch that cost $2.5 million....
Dorian Hicklin’s Restomod 1973 2002
You may recall seeing an Inka Orange ‘73 2002 making its way around the internet a couple of weeks ago. It’s BMW CCA member Dorian Hicklin’s restomod 2002 project that was recently featured on Jay Leno’s Garage. As the story goes, in April of this year, Leno saw Hicklin...
BMW Corporate Headquarters Turns 29 (Again)
Just kidding. BMW Corporate Headquarters (HQ) turned 50 this year, which isn’t really that big of a deal because we all know that 50 is the new 30. Am I right? Admittedly, I’ve been seeing photos of BMW’s HQ, which is located in Munich, Germany, for years, but I...
A Substantial Spark In Fully-Electric BMW Vehicle Sales
If NBA Jam’s Tim Kitzrow was announcing BMW’s fully-electric vehicle (EV) sales figures for Q1 2022, he would have said, “They’re heating up!” For Q2 2022 he would be saying, “They’re on fire!” Am I the only one who remembers that console game from the early 90s? Can anyone...
Dream Car Raffle: Win The BMW CCA’s First-Ever Hybrid Vehicle!
Hearing and reading about hybrid vehicles comes as no surprise these days, and the BMW lineup of vehicles is ever-expanding to offer more hybrid options. What could be an amazing surprise, however, is the opportunity to be the first lucky BMW CCA member to win a 2023 BMW 330e...
Don’t Panic! BMW’s Subscription Model Explained
For those keeping track, that is the second Douglas Adams reference I’ve made in the last two weeks. The “not panicking” part, not the part about BMW’s subscription model, which was big news this past week. If you read the headlines, you saw that BMW will start charging you...
Re-Engaging Hampton, A Car That I Own
With the “mitzvah” 2002tii finally sold on Bring a Trailer, I didn’t think that the car would be here at the house much longer. This thought turned out to be optimistic, since as of this writing, the buyer, whose email address is at Beverly Hills Porsche, still hasn’t paid...
The Baby Sells on BaT (The Mitzvah, Part VII)
The story of “the mitzvah” (good deed)—my helping sell two 2002s for two local women who inherited them from their late husbands—is nearly at an end. As I wrote last week, Chris’ 1972 2002tii, the car that she and her husband Jim called the Baby, finally went up on...
A Little Surprise As The Baby Comes Down The Stretch (The Mitzvah, Part VI)
My friend Chris’ 1972 2002tii (aka the Baby), a car which her deceased husband, Boston Chapter member Jim Zanfagna, bought new, is finally on Bring a Trailer. The auction can be seen here. As I wrote last week, the BaT process is a supremely frustrating one, and this one...
Mixing It Up With BaT (The Mitzvah, Part V)
Eight weeks and two days after Bring a Trailer (BaT) accepted my friend Chris’ 1972 2002tii (her deceased husband’s original-owner car), an auction specialist finally sent me a draft description. Imagine my joy. I’ve made no bones about my frustrations with BaT. Note that don’t hang out there looking...
Mice, One Last Time—I Hope
Okay, I’ll admit that it’s been a slow week, repair-wise, because I somehow aggravated my fifteen-year-old back injury—either that or I injured it afresh. I can’t tell. Maybe it was doing the double-inverted Lotus position last week, lying upside-down in the driver’s seat and sliding my head under the...
Mice Again—Or Still.
I finally heard from Bring a Trailer (BaT) regarding the listing of “the Baby,” the original-owner ’72 2002tii that was owned by my friend Chris’ husband until his death last year. They have assigned us an auction specialist, so I expect that any day now, I’ll engage in the...
