RECENT ARTICLES
The E39 Alternator Surprise
Loyal readers may recall when, about three years ago, the alternator in my 2003 E39 530i stopped charging when I was up in southern New Hampshire. I was alerted by the battery warning light on the left corner of the cluster coming on. I usually drive with a cigarette...
Self Propelled | Some Skills Transfer in Both Directions
In my fourscore years on Earth, I’ve learned some wide-ranging skills, with an array of abilities from rudimentary to reasonably proficient. Most have been related to the plethora of jobs I’ve held, some hands-on, others involving more head work. An unexpected benefit was transference: job to hobby and vice-versa....
The 2025 BMW X3 M50 Is the Pick of the Litter
When the first X5 was introduced in 1999, I think there are few that would have guessed that BMWs lineup of SUVs would grow to encompass eight models—from the X1 to the XM—and 19 total trim options. It’s more models and trims than some entire car companies, and it...
Enter Now To Showcase Your Car In the BMW Classic Cars and Caffeine at the 2026 Amelia Island Concours
In conjunction with BMWNA, the BMW CCA has the exclusive opportunity to celebrate several BMW anniversaries at one of the most prestigious automotive weekends of the year at The Amelia Concours, this March 6-8th. Register here. The M Chapter secured 50 spots for the Cars & Caffeine showcase as...
BMW Motorrad Motorsport’s 2025 Was Fantastic
BMW has been racing motorcycles longer than cars, and started winning championships on two wheels in the mid-Twenties. Now, 100 years later, BMW Motorrad Motorsport is still winning titles and had a very successful 2025. Overall, BMW Motorrad teams and riders had 411 podium finishes with 169 wins in...
Tech Talk | Preventing Destruction, To Lower or Not, and Sunroof Problems
Welcome to Tech Talk, where our resident BMW tech Nick Owen answers all your pressing BMW technical questions, frustrations, and issues. Have a question for Nick? Email him at techtalk@roundel.org. Let’s get into it. N55 DISASTER PREVENTION I own a 2018 M2 (F87) and love it. I keep my...
The Mini Column | When the Dragon Calls, I Answer
The Tail of the Dragon in the Great Smoky Mountains is one of the greatest roads in America. If you’ve never heard of of the Dragon, it packs 318 corners into 11 miles, making it a challenge and a bucket list destination for any driver. I make an annual...
Racing Lines | Roebling Road BMW CCA Club Racing Finale Saw Broken Track Records, Close Racing
Thirty-five competitors converged on Roebling Road Raceway near Savannah in December for the Tire Rack BMW CCA Club Racing series’ annual finale, hosted by the Tarheel Chapter. Racers ran three sprints and an enduro over the course of three days—a weekend of close racing, with the C-Modified track record...
Safety Third | The Great E30 M3 Parts Fiasco
Hindsight is always 20/20, and now that my car-sales business has been appropriately downsized and my service business closed, I have some breathing room to reflect on the past. In aviation, debriefing is an effective tool for identifying both the good and the bad elements of a flight in...
Re-Resurrecting Bertha (Part V: Heat)
The next step in making Bertha the knock-around-drive-during-winter-if-there’s-no-salt-on-the-roads 2002 (which is, not coincidentally, what it already looks like anyway) is to get the heat working. This had two components—getting the heater valve to turn on from inside the car, and dealing with the dead blower fan in the heater...
Four Quick Things You Learn After Driving the M8 Competition Gran Coupe
Last week, we learned that the M8 is already dead, gone, out of production since October without a chance of returning. The 8 Series has a few months left, before its production comes to an end in April. That’s a shame, really, because the M8 is a wonderful car,...
The Mini Column | When the Dragon Calls, I Answer
The Tail of the Dragon in the Great Smoky Mountains is one of the greatest roads in America. If you’ve never heard of of the Dragon, it packs 318 corners into 11 miles, making it a challenge and a bucket list destination for any driver. I make an annual...
Racing Lines | Roebling Road BMW CCA Club Racing Finale Saw Broken Track Records, Close Racing
Thirty-five competitors converged on Roebling Road Raceway near Savannah in December for the Tire Rack BMW CCA Club Racing series’ annual finale, hosted by the Tarheel Chapter. Racers ran three sprints and an enduro over the course of three days—a weekend of close racing, with the C-Modified track record...
Safety Third | The Great E30 M3 Parts Fiasco
Hindsight is always 20/20, and now that my car-sales business has been appropriately downsized and my service business closed, I have some breathing room to reflect on the past. In aviation, debriefing is an effective tool for identifying both the good and the bad elements of a flight in...
Re-Resurrecting Bertha (Part V: Heat)
The next step in making Bertha the knock-around-drive-during-winter-if-there’s-no-salt-on-the-roads 2002 (which is, not coincidentally, what it already looks like anyway) is to get the heat working. This had two components—getting the heater valve to turn on from inside the car, and dealing with the dead blower fan in the heater...
BMW Lineups Set for Bathurst 12 Hour
The Mount Panorama circuit in Bathurst, Australia is one of the most dynamic and challenging circuits in the world. It’s 3.9 miles with long fast straights and 23 turns strung on the ascent up the mountain and descent back down, with walls close in on both sides. It’s one...
Proper Preparation Makes Maintenance Enjoyable
For the Do-It-Yourselfers out there, I wanted to share a few tips I’ve picked up over my years of working on different kinds of cars in various conditions. Whether it be in your own garage, shop, dealership, or even on the sidewalk, there are a few things you should...
Inside Line | Reminiscing on BMW NA Turning 50
Celebrating your own 50th birthday is really not much fun; for me it was a black-and-white realization that I’m officially older than dirt. Of course, I really wasn’t that old—but I only realized that when I turned 60. It’s a completely different story when a company turns 50, and...
The BMW M8 Went Out of Production in October
We’ve known for a while that 8 Series production was coming to an end, but we just didn’t know when. Now, we have dates. A source familiar with BMW’s plans confirmed a report from BMW Blog to BimmerLife that the M8 ended production in October, with the rest of...
Self Propelled | Add “Load-Test Battery” To My Pre-Trip Checklist
I’ve never been shy about driving my 2002s on long trips. Heck, when I bought them—the ’69 (Wolfgang) new, the ’73 (Ludwig) in 1978—they were our daily drivers and vacation cars. Less than a month after taking delivery we departed with Wolfgang on a 2000-mile trip through New England...
Re-Resurrecting Bertha (Part IV: Brake Master Cylinder Replacement)
Last week, I was less than thrilled to find that Bertha’s low brake fluid was caused by it leaking out the master cylinder’s rear seal and into the brake booster, but that disappointment was nicely mitigated by remembering that one of the parts hoards I’d inherited a few years...
Here’s What Bob Lutz Thinks of Modern BMW Design
For the next issue of Roundel, I asked former BMW exec and all-around car guy Bob Lutz to write about the E24 6 Series, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2026. Even though that car was released after he left the automaker in 1974, Lutz was involved with the early...
Tech Talk | VANOS Conundrum, Parking Brake Issues, and an Alarming Discovery
Welcome to Tech Talk, where our resident BMW tech Nick Owen answers all your pressing BMW technical questions, frustrations, and issues. Have a question for Nick? Email him at techtalk@roundel.org. Let’s get into it. MAYBE IT’S VANOS SPLINES I’m a long-time BMW CCA member (#103837) and have owned too...
The Full History of the BMW i3 and i8 Is Deeply Interesting
The i3 and the i8 were massive departures for BMW. Both of these cars were more about efficiency and mobility than being the Ultimate Driving Machine. But they were both deeply interesting cars that incorporated technology and materials that were advanced, and both seemed to be built for a...
Meet the Members Who Willed Their Dream Car Into Reality
When Katrina and Eric Anderson left Georgia for South Carolina, they figured they were simply picking up a new BMW. What they didn’t expect was how surreal it would feel to pull into the BMW CCA offices, see the lights flash on the Ruby Star Neo M3, and realize...
Safety Third | Which Car Will Be the Last One I Sell?
I have two cars remaining at my business, the 2001 740i M Sport which I wrote about in March and the E36 M3 Lightweight race car. Once those are gone, I’ll suspend my dealer license, officially close the dealership, and in words any fan of The Wire will recognize,...
The E39 Alternator Surprise
Loyal readers may recall when, about three years ago, the alternator in my 2003 E39 530i stopped charging when I was up in southern New Hampshire. I was alerted by the battery warning light on the left corner of the cluster coming on. I usually drive with a cigarette...
Re-Resurrecting Bertha (Part V: Heat)
The next step in making Bertha the knock-around-drive-during-winter-if-there’s-no-salt-on-the-roads 2002 (which is, not coincidentally, what it already looks like anyway) is to get the heat working. This had two components—getting the heater valve to turn on from inside the car, and dealing with the dead blower fan in the heater...
Re-Resurrecting Bertha (Part IV: Brake Master Cylinder Replacement)
Last week, I was less than thrilled to find that Bertha’s low brake fluid was caused by it leaking out the master cylinder’s rear seal and into the brake booster, but that disappointment was nicely mitigated by remembering that one of the parts hoards I’d inherited a few years...
Re-Resurrecting Bertha (Part III: Where the Brake Fluid Went)
Last week, I punted the issue of brake fluid loss in Bertha, my ratty ’75 2002ti tribute car that had seen little road time since returning from The Vintage in 2019, and instead, inexplicably focused on replacing its Momo Jackie Stewart steering wheel with a slightly larger, slightly thinner...
Re-Resurrecting Bertha (Part II: Taking Stock)
Last week, I talked about bringing Bertha (the ’75 2002 I bought in Austin in 1984, brought back to Boston, drove off from my wedding in, heavily modified, sold to a friend in 1988, bought back 26 years later, revived, drove to The Vintage in 2019, then didn’t use...
Re-Resurrecting Bertha
In 1984, as Maire Anne and I began preparing to leave our stint in Austin and return home to Boston to get married, I began looking for a big-bumpered 2002 that would survive Boston’s demolition-derby traffic. I found a rust-free air-conditioned ’75 and christened it Bertha, as with those...
