RECENT ARTICLES
ALPINA Exhibition Opens to Record Numbers at The Ultimate Driving Museum
BMW News, Community, Events, Featured
Maybe borrowing a line from a Seinfeld episode, “yes, they’re real, and they’re spectacular.” They’re twenty-five ALPINA cars–all very real ALPINA cars. After a special evening and an open house with ALPINA and BMW team members plus founding family members and hundreds of guests, the newest exhibit at The...
Visit the BMW Vehicle Distribution Center with BMW CCA NCC and M Chapters
Come join fellow BMW enthusiasts from across the country for our NCC & M Chapter Annual Membership Meeting at the Baltimore Vehicle Distribution Center (VDC)! The event will take place Saturday, June 21, 2025 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the BMW VDC in Sparrows Point, Baltimore, MD. ...
Register for the BMW CCA Car Corral at Michelin GT Challenge at VIR
Registration is now open for our BMW CCA Car Corral for the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR (Virginia International Raceway) that will take place August 22-24, 2025! This action-packed weekend features the following activities for BMW fans: BMW race team paddock meet & greet Reserved BMW infield parking Trackside...
The FrankenThirty Does The Vintage (part I)
Last week, I wrote about the final set of repairs to the FrankenThirty before departing for The Vintage. Last Wednesday, it was go time. I met my frequent road trip companion Jose Rosario at the Charlton Service Plaza on I-90 in central Massachusetts, and off we went. Years back,...
Random Vandals Racing & Turner Motorsport Win At Sebring In GT World Challenge America
BMW teams Random Vandals Racing and Turner Motorsport had very successful weekends in May 2025 at Sebring International Raceway, with both teams competing in the pair of GT World Challenge America races, and Turner also competing in GT America. In race one, the #99 Random Vandals Racing BMW M4...
BMWs Sweep GT4 America Weekend At Sebring
BMW has had a lot of success at Sebring International Raceway over the years, but they might have set a record for the number of wins over two days in the two SRO GT4 America races this past weekend of May 17-18, 2025. Over two hot and humid days...
50 Years: BMW Advertising and the “Ultimate Driving Machine”
In 1975, Ammirati & Puris proclaimed BMW “The Ultimate Driving Machine,” setting off one of the greatest ad campaigns of all time. The synergy between the agency and BMW of North America saw BMW’s US automobile sales increase nearly fivefold over the next decade, a remarkable achievement. As the...
BMW CCA Dream Car: 50 Years of 3 Series Grille Badge Revealed!
Announcing the 2025 BMW CCA Dream Car Raffle Grille Badge: Celebrating 50 Years of the 3 Series. This exclusive BMW CCA Grille Badge is available only to BMW CCA members who purchase 10 tickets for the 2025 BMW CCA Dream Car Raffle. The shield-shaped design includes motorsport colors and...
Looking for the perfect Father’s Day gift? Give him a trip on the Bourbon Trail!
Give him the gift he will truly enjoy! Register today for BimmerLife Rendezvous: Bourbon Trail 2025 June 12-15, 2025 | Louisville, KY Get ready for a BMW CCA experience that blends horsepower, heritage, and hospitality in true Kentucky fashion. Rendezvous – The Bourbon Trail 2025, taking place June 12–15 in Louisville, KY, invites...
The Short Strokes To The Vintage
BMW News, Community, Resto & Mod
First, let me follow up on something from my “Springtime Odds and Ends” piece a few weeks ago. The brake and ABS lights in my E39 were on, the speedometer had become intermittent, and the cruise control had stopped working. The odds seemed strong that these were all due...
Looking for the perfect Father’s Day gift? Give him a trip on the Bourbon Trail!
Give him the gift he will truly enjoy! Register today for BimmerLife Rendezvous: Bourbon Trail 2025 June 12-15, 2025 | Louisville, KY Get ready for a BMW CCA experience that blends horsepower, heritage, and hospitality in true Kentucky fashion. Rendezvous – The Bourbon Trail 2025, taking place June 12–15 in Louisville, KY, invites...
The Short Strokes To The Vintage
BMW News, Community, Resto & Mod
First, let me follow up on something from my “Springtime Odds and Ends” piece a few weeks ago. The brake and ABS lights in my E39 were on, the speedometer had become intermittent, and the cruise control had stopped working. The odds seemed strong that these were all due...
Forget Minecraft. The Real Fun Is Found With Vintage BMW OEM Accessory Configurators.
BMW News, Community, Lifestyle
Ever want to look back a couple of decades and pretend you’re configuring a brand new late 90s or early 2000s BMW? Now you can thanks to a couple of vintage BMW OEM accessory configurators you can download for free (I hate to describe them as “vintage,” but it’s...
BMW 50 Years: Sponsoring the Olympic Torch Relay in Atlanta 1996
It’s always nice to be first, but being second can be just fine, too—especially when it yields a high-visibility sponsorship of the Olympics. That’s exactly what happened for BMW in early 1995, shortly after the start of production at BMW’s all-new manufacturing plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The plant...
Samantha Tan Extends BMW M Motorsport Global Ambassador role for 2025 and 2026.
BMW News, Community, Motorsport
BMW of North America, LLC announced on May 1, 2025, that Samantha Tan, the 27-year-old Asian-Canadian driver and co-owner of Samantha Tan (ST) Racing, will continue to support BMW M in 2025 and 2026 as BMW M Motorsport Global Ambassador with appearances at events in North America, Europe, and...
Unobtainium: Rebuilding An E36 M3 Power Steering Pump
As part of preparing my 255,000-mile 1998 M3 for a 500-mile road trip to The Vintage in Asheville, North Carolina, I decided to replace the E36’s leaking power steering rack, reservoir, and hoses. I was originally planning on doing this work myself, but when I called to schedule an...
BMW Meets Profit Expectations for First Quarter of 2025
While profits were down compared to 2024, BMW managed to meet expectations for revenue in the first quarter of 2025 while delivering over 580,000 premium automobiles to customers. Over a quarter of the vehicles sold were electiified, showing over 32% growth in the electric market. In addition to growth...
Hear From 2024 Winners of the BMW CCA Dream Car Contests
BMW News, Community, Events, Lifestyle
Every year, BMW CCA members turn their dreams into reality through the Dream Car Raffle – and 2024 was no exception. 2024 Grand Prize Winner: Stephen R., an M Chapter member since 2011, drove away in a 1-of-1 BMW CCA Edition X5 M Competition, valued at $168,545. Assembled at the BMW Plant Spartanburg and customized by...
Like BMW M in the U.S.? Credit the BMW Car Club of America
In the latest of BMW NA’s 50th Anniversary articles, the BMW Car Club of America’s member enthusiasts are largely credited with convincing BMW AG to keep the M performance vehicles coming to the U.S. In 1992, BMW saw low sales numbers for M vehicles in the U.S. and was...
Ultimate Driving . . . Scent?
BMW News, Community, Lifestyle
Admittedly, I checked the calendar and then the press release posting date to see if April 1st was involved when I first got a whiff of this story. BMW, creators of the Ultimate Driving Machine, masters of automotive engineering, supporters of the arts, and caretakers of a beloved brand,...
A Spiritual Journey in a BMW E30
Community, Featured, Lifestyle
If I were to measure the progress of closing my service business by the number of industrial spaces I rent, last month would be a good milestone. I made the final payment for a storage space where I had the last of my equipment, and with it, breathed a...
BMW Celebrates Seven Million BMWs Assembled in the U.S.
BMW Manufacturing is celebrating a historic milestone this month as the seven millionth BMW rolled off the assembly line in Spartanburg, SC. To commemorate this special event, associates assembled a truly exceptional vehicle – a BMW ALPINA XB7 painted ALPINA Green Metallic and powered by a 4.4-liter BMW ALPINA...
Bavaria Blower Fan Fix
I’m flirting with the idea of selling the Bavaria, so I brought the old girl back from the Monson warehouse and began addressing a number of issues. One of them was that the blower fan wasn’t working and never has for the eleven years I’ve owned the car. Of...
BMW CCA 2025 Dream Car Revealed
This M3 Didn’t Roll Off the Line. It Landed The wait is almost over. The BMW CCA 2025 Dream Car Raffle is about to launch! One lucky BMW CCA member will win a stunning 2025 BMW M3 Competition xDrive, finished in BMW Individual Ruby Star Neo with an Ivory...
Mixing It Up at the BimmerLife MiX Enthusiast Weekend!
BMW News, Community, Events, Featured
(We’d like to thank XPEL for sponsoring this column covering the BimmerLife MiX Enthusiast Weekend presented by Continental Tire.) When you ask yourself what draws you to BMWs, the answers were most likely found at the 2025 BimmerLife MiX Enthusiast Weekend presented by Continental Tire. Do you like the...
The FrankenThirty Does The Vintage (part I)
Last week, I wrote about the final set of repairs to the FrankenThirty before departing for The Vintage. Last Wednesday, it was go time. I met my frequent road trip companion Jose Rosario at the Charlton Service Plaza on I-90 in central Massachusetts, and off we went. Years back,...
The Short Strokes To The Vintage
BMW News, Community, Resto & Mod
First, let me follow up on something from my “Springtime Odds and Ends” piece a few weeks ago. The brake and ABS lights in my E39 were on, the speedometer had become intermittent, and the cruise control had stopped working. The odds seemed strong that these were all due...
Bavaria Blower Fan Fix
I’m flirting with the idea of selling the Bavaria, so I brought the old girl back from the Monson warehouse and began addressing a number of issues. One of them was that the blower fan wasn’t working and never has for the eleven years I’ve owned the car. Of...
E30 A/C Rejuvenation – Part IX (Charge!)
Last week, I explained how I was ready to charge up the resurrected a/c in the FrankenThirty, but found that the system wasn’t holding pressure due to a leak at the big #12 suction fitting on the compressor. As I’d explained way back in February, this fitting had been...
Springtime Odds and Ends
With the road trip to The Vintage now just a month away, I really really wanted to finish the a/c rejuvenation of the FrankenThirty by charging the damned thing already on this 80-degree day, but one final round of pressure-testing with nitrogen revealed dropping pressure from a leak at the...
E30 A/C Rejuvenation – Part VIII (Electrical System)
In my book Just Needs a Recharge: The Hack Mechanic Guide to Vintage Air Conditioning, I define “vintage air conditioning” as a system that doesn’t have climate control (meaning the evaporator assembly is separate from the heater box and there’s no blend door combining the hot and cold streams), has...
