AllCarCentral's Trip to
The BMW Museum

AllCarCentral Goes To
The BMW Museum
Munich, Germany
October 2012


Story and Images by Frank Cunningham


The BMW Museum

We were touring central Europe and one the stops was Munich. I left my wife in the company of others and headed for the BMW Museum. Old buildings and historical places are ok, but with a World Class Auto Museum just kilometers away what is there to think about. One just has to go.


The BMW Museum

The local Munich rail line has a point marked as the BMW/Olympic stop and getting off I naturally choose the wrong direction to leave the station and all the signs I saw pointed to the Olympic park, I was off in the wrong direction, making a long walk out of a short trip. The BMW World (Dealership) building, which is a very showy structure next to the rail station would have been right in front of me had I turned left instead of right as I left the train.

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The BMW Museum

The museum is on the other side of the road in the "twin cylinder" building. Both inspiring structures. Once in the "World" building I was directed across the road to the museum.

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The BMW Museum

Entering the Museum lobby I purchased a ticket and looked around. The lobby appeared to be on the top with a display of a racing 1981 BMW M1 Procar to the right.

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The BMW Museum

After photographing the M1, I looked down over the railing and saw the 2001 BMW Gina concept car at the bottom center of a spiral walkway.

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The BMW Museum

People were going in and out of a turn style that had a "out of order" sign and the gate was open. So down I went shooting the Gina and several of the 'special' displays like this 1955 BMW 502 Cabriolet along with several other early 50's cars that were on the ramp above the Gina, as I descended.

At some point one of the museum personal guy's stopped me as I was trying to negotiate a different turn style and checked my ticket, and told me that I was going at this all wrong, and I would have a better time going back up to the lobby on the other side and start over, which I did.

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The BMW Museum

This new course took me down a series of ramps and into or through several rooms with displays of engines, motorcycles, and cars.

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The BMW Museum

In the early years and during World War II most all automotive companies made aircraft engines.

Upon entering the 'proper' turn style the first display has a bunch of small spheres on cords moving up and down forming a 3D shape of the top of a BMW.

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click here The BMW Museum

For most part the displays were approachable and one could walk around and look into the cars. All very casual. My personal reaction however is that this was a collection which showed the evolution of the BMW street car line.

The Museum emphasized series of car models in many of the rooms.

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The BMW Museum

Other small displays seemed to explore the future range of automotive dynamics.

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The BMW Museum

This museum was not about displaying or showing the cars of the rich history of BMW total car culture involvement. Sort of like, yes we have done some things in the past and are doing something's in racing, and yes we are not forgetting to look into the future, but let's just enjoy the wonderful cars which are out on the road every day.

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The BMW Museum The BMW Museum

There were several Engine Dispalys.

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The BMW Museum

I on the other hand was looking for those cars which one would not expect to see in the normal car show environment. Special one off concept cars and special racing models etc. One room did go in that direction but there were only 2 cars displayed. Those were the 1999 BMW Z9 GT...

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The BMW Museum

with its 2 way opening doors. The plaque also stated that this car set the design lines for the road cars that were developed after.

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click here The BMW Museum

The other car set off, was my favorite. That was the 1939 BMW 328 Mille Miglia Roadster. This car had it all, style that is timeless, balance, and proportion. It is one of those cars that come along just ever so often.

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The BMW Museum

The most entertaining section for me was the one with 2 iconic cars for BMW. The 2002 and the BMW/Isetta. The wall around the Isetta has several "family photo albums" showing people using their little cars on camping trips, and traveling all over Europe. One was even towing a trailer.

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The BMW Museum

1968 BMW 2000i Lad

The BMW Museum

Spending all day at a museum is, in my way of thinking, an event that is to taken in slowly. Going slowly means time in the museum's food center. The BMW's restaurant was small and a bit unclear as to the procedure. But once I was directed outside to the seating area, where I had a clear view of the magnificent BMW World building across the street, the food and rest was most rewarding as I enjoyed the sunshine.

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The BMW Museum The BMW Museum

1929 BMW 3-15PS/Austin-Seven
In the beginning BMW Licensed rights to build the Austin Seven and these were, therefore, the 'first' BMW's

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The BMW Museum

BMW 328 1936

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click here The BMW Museum

BMW 700 1964
Showing The 'tail fin' influence.

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The BMW Museum

BMW Turbo 1972 concept car with a very striking paint scheme. Note: the shading is not do to lighting.

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The BMW Museum

1966 BMW 2000Ti racecar. The 2000 and 2002 series with their independent suspension were very effective in the sedan racing class

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The BMW Museum

2004 BMW H2R concept car
The H2R set a international speed record in 2004 using a BMW hydrogen combustion engine

BMW calls their cars "Driving Machines", and their styling reflects that. However there seems to be a lot of interest in testing the automotive limits of engineering, based on many of the Museums smaller displays. This is not readily or visually seen in the cars on the road or in the museum.

As we all know BMW makes great Driving Machines, but if you watch people on the street, no one turns and has a long look at a BMW as it drives by. I know that there are BMW's out in the world that make people stop and look, I had just hoped that there would be more on the floor at the Museum.

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The BMW Museum

The BMW World Building and showroom is a monument to perseverance for a car company the has been through 2 world wars, almost devastated under communist rule and challenged with financial problems.

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