ALPINA Exhibition Opens to Record Numbers at The Ultimate Driving Museum

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 Ultimate Driving Museum, ALPINA: 60 Years of Excellence, is now open.

This E3 3.0S greets you as you enter.

You might have heard, the BMW CCA Foundation has done this before—hosted a grand opening weekend with a wonderful evening event and then an open house party environment the next day. It’s become an annual tradition for hundreds of enthusiasts, many of whom align this pilgrimage with Saturday’s Vintage event. Indeed, it happened again, with some visiting from across the country and some from across the pond.

Folks came from hundreds and thousands of miles away for the Grand Opening and The Vintage. Here’s Bill Wade back in the saddle of his E30 M3 that he brought to both!

But this time might have been a little different. More energy. More anticipation. More unique cars. It was a common refrain when friends approached each other. You could see the heads nodding and knew they were repeating the same, “You know, I think this is the best one yet,” affirmation you just said yourself. After the eight incredible major exhibitions, it’s hard to believe there would be one that could top them all. Yet that’s what they might have with the ALPINA exhibit.

Mike Bevels and the foreground’s Z1 owner, Dirk de Groen, chaperoned by Bevels’ daughter Avery, point to many of their favorite cars.

Even before the comments flowed, you could see the passion and often astonishment in attendees’ expressions as they poured into The Ultimate Driving Museum winding their way through the 25 cars with the same eagerness of children launching into their Easter egg hunts.

There is eye candy at every turn.

Sure the past exhibits have been tremendously successful and rewarding. Yet perhaps never before had one exhibit covered so much ground, therefore resonating with so many. If older cars are your cup of tea, the exhibit has cars from as far back as the 1960s. If you like race cars, there are many with pedigrees ranging from regional to international. If you like cars never before seen in the US, that box is checked, too. Coupes? Yep. Sedans? Yes. Convertibles? Of course. Wagons (er, tourings)? Front and center. Roadsters? There’s a trio. If you’re more of a modern car fan, there are cars as modern as, well, almost yesterday.

Jan Chasak, Nathalie Bauters, Todd Hill, and Tom Plucinsky surround the seven millionth BMW produced at the Spartanburg BMW factory.

“Yesterday” might be hyperbole, but the just-completed seven millionth BMW made in the Spartanburg factory is an ALPINA XB7. And appropriately, it was shared with the guests first Friday night and then through the open house. If you’re quick, you can see it in The Ultimate Driving Museum for at least the next two weeks.

Robert Tran’s rare E36 B8 4.6 Touring stood out–and above–even this incredible array of cars.

That aforementioned Touring is an ALPINA E36 B8 4.6 Touring, one of 27 made. It’s owned by Robert Tran, now a Tennessee resident who drove his ALPINA E39 Touring to the event. “I have been a fan of ALPINA since my first car, a 1998 BMW 328i back in 2004,” Tran explains. “They were always the forbidden fruit, but after becoming an ALPINA owner and member of the community in 2020, my admiration only grew. Seeing the exhibit of these grail cars, the level of engagement from ALPINA, and having my ALPINA in the center of the exhibit was overwhelming to say the least.”

The gathering outside the gathering counted 23 more ALPINA cars.

“In my search for like-minded enthusiasts, I’ve been able to connect with and share my passion for keeping these cars on the road and bringing more of them into the US, Tran continues. “Those efforts led to rallying other ALPINA enthusiasts in the region. It was amazing to see 23 ALPINA cars come in for the grand opening! I had accidently created the largest ALPINA gathering outside of Europe and Japan! The furthest driven car was a 2003 B10 V8S Touring (E39) from Calgary, Canada. The oldest car was the earliest known example of an ALPINA modified 1967 BMW 1600 in the US that was featured in the December 1967 issue of Car and Driver.”

This was three more E39 ALPINA Tourings than this writer had seen before.

“One of the older gentlemen who attended the opening in a 2019 B7 (G12) commented that it was a once in a lifetime experience and that he was so glad to have been part of the exhibit opening and gathering in the time he had left.”

This line-up captured a lot of attention throughout the Open House Friday.

The line-up of the 23 ALPINA cars outside during Friday’s open house certainly complemented the 25 cars inside the museum. With hundreds of cars on the lawn, the ALPINA cars outside captured much of the attention. Some had never seen an E39 ALPINA Touring, yet there were three lined up next to each other.

The walls were often as intriguing as the cars.

Board Vice President and Trustee Lance White echoed much of that enthusiasm seen throughout the weekend. “The cars are amazing, definitely the most ALPINA cars I had ever seen before,” White describes. “But beyond the cars, I was so impressed with all the ancillary things in the exhibit. My favorite wall has that fantastic display of one enthusiast’s own ALPINA steering wheel collection, then four ALPINA wheels and even a pair of ALPINA seats! That wall—all the walls—tell stories. Then when the ALPINA team shared the video about the company’s history, it really presented a feel for the culture of the company that I did not know before. It really personalized it and touched my heart. This is the museum’s best exhibit yet.”

That’s high praise especially considering that while White has had at least one car in each of the previous eight exhibits, he does not have one in this exhibit. (We want to be clear that this does not imply a correlation and certainly not a causal relationship, but perhaps just merely…coincidental!)

ALPINA’s racing heritage is also on display in this exhibit.

Another Foundation Trustee, Peter Gleeson, was equally impressed. “I’ve always appreciated ALPINA and its racing heritage,” he says. “It’s great to see it all come together in this first ever ALPINA-centric museum exhibition. I strongly suggest any automotive enthusiast—BMW or not—get to this exhibit and see these incredible cars and memorabilia. We’ve known there’s fantastic passion in the BMW CCA community for these ALPINA cars. I was really moved to see this community’s response to this event and exhibit. It’s really going to be exciting.”

BMW Classic NA’s Tom Plucinsky and ALPINA’s Director of Sales Erik Ploss enjoy the exhibit and grand opening.

He’s spot on about that enthusiasm from the BMW CCA community. Jeff Caldwell, BMW CCA President, also made the journey for the grand opening weekend. “BMW CCA is very proud to support the Foundation and their mission bringing us this wonderful exhibit at The Ultimate Driving Museum,” Caldwell exclaims. “It is a wonderful opportunity for our members and the community to enjoy these member-owned (and ALPINA and BMW owned) examples here. The ALPINA history is incredible. It’s great to see that 60 year legacy represented here in so many ways.”

Even for Carina Bovensiepen, an ALPINA Z1 is not a common sight.

One way it was represented was with a founding family member present. Carina Bovensiepen, third generation of family leadership and activity with the company, she attended and spoke at the events with colleague Erik Ploss, Director of Sales. It was excellent to see that support from ALPINA, but it sure seemed like it was great for her as well. “This is such a great exhibit and the grand opening was wonderful,” she says. “There are so many passionate owners and community members. It was really nice to see all of it. I have really enjoyed sharing that history and passion with the members but also seeing their enthusiasm for ALPINA.”

ALPINA’s Matt Russell facilitates an engaging and informative panel with ALPINA’s Carina Bovensiepen and Erik Ploss.

Erik Ploss was also impressed. “I really recommend to visit this exhibit,” Ploss says. “It’s a great collection and presentation of ALPINA vehicles. It was a great experience to talk with the owners and meet so many people interested in ALPINA cars old and new.”

We’re not saying Jan Chasak had a favorite car at the exhibition, but he didn’t dislike this E30!

Many of the exhibition car owners participated in a special behind the scenes tour of the SVO at the Spartanburg factory across the highway. Jan Chasak, Manufacturing Engineer, Todd Hill, Production Supervisor, along with Matt Russell, ALPINA Regional Representative, led the tours and were on hand throughout the weekend providing fantastic insight into the ALPINA cars made right in Spartanburg. They even brought the entire team over to the exhibit to show how much passion there is in the community for the very cars they make there in the factory.

Who works on your ALPINA XB7s? This cool crew who came over from the factory to see what all the fun was about! (Thank you, team!)

Even with more than 130 people at the grand opening evening event Thursday night and more than 600 guests at the open house Friday, countless more exclaimed how much they wish they had been able to attend. Social media reactions like “How did I not know about this?” and “I need to get to this soon!” poured in from all over the country. Fortunately, this exhibit will be at The Ultimate Driving Museum all the way through January 16, 2026. But I wouldn’t delay; you might want a couple of visits to soak it all up, especially with the BMW Performance Center next door and the BMW factory across the highway. When you do arrive, you’ll also be greeted by the nicest and best staff around!