The World of BMW
Visits to BMW Museum and BMW World, Munich
Even a Winged Wonder like me knows that Munich is the home of the world-famous marque, so it was pretty much inevitable that BMW would sooner or later appear on the agenda.
Now, the Oldies are not particularly into cars. Normally, their only interest in motorised vehicles is purely as a means of getting themselves from A to B. But I never figured that the BMW Museum would bring out the petrol heads in them!
The interior of the building itself, with its series of ramps, reminded me of the Museum of Human Rights in Winnipeg. Here, the ramps are not as elegantly finished, but they certainly allow you view the vehicles from all angles.
This display of engines left me rather bewildered. I’m not in the least technically minded, of course, but with all those pipes and tubes, I wasn’t sure whether I was looking at car components or musical instruments!
One of the ‘treasures’ in the museum is Elvis Presley’s BMW 507. He apparently bought it in 1958 when he was stationed in Germany with the US army. It was originally white, but after groupies kept scrawling messages and phone numbers on it in lipstick, the ‘King’ had it painted red. Due to the change of colour as well as numerous changes of registration plates and components, the car ‘disappeared’ for many years. By the time it was finally tracked down in the USA in 2014, it was ‘All Shook Up’ and in quite a sorry state by all accounts. So it was a case of ‘Return to Sender’, i.e. back to BMW, for a complete restoration which took two years to complete. It was painstaking work apparently, but I’m sure it was worth it. It certainly looks like a car fit for a King!
I was surprised to learn that it was BMW who developed the first electric cars. Two were made especially for the Munich Olympic Games. Powered by a stack of normal car batteries, they only had a range of 30 km. I wasn’t overly impressed – until I realised that this was back in 1972, over 50 years ago!
With the Isetta, dating from 1955, Her Ladyship finally found a car just about her size. And her vintage. It’s even smaller than the tiny Steyr-Puch 500 she’d fallen for in Steyr. I kept a close eye on her after she’d spotted it. I wouldn’t have put it past her to try to smuggle it out in her rucksack!
This was the first time I’d been in a museum where there was a time limit on your visit- 5 hours in this case. Believe me, it was not nearly long enough! Luckily, the Oldies’ appetites for BMW could be further satisfied across the road in the amazing BMW WORLD. Basically, it’s a showcase for all the BMW-owned marques – BMW, of course, Mini and Rolls Royce – but boy, what a showcase. The architecture is stunning, it’s huge, and over its two storeys there are amazing video displays, a multi-media centre for kids, shops, a restaurant … the works.
Hmm, I noticed the Dynamic Duo didn’t avail of the opportunity to put in an order for a Rolls Royce. ‘One of those would be marvellous for pulling the caravan’, I thought. And there was even a plush, private area where you could relax and choose the colours and finishes for your Roller. The Oldies certainly missed their chance there. I can’t for the life of me figure out why they didn’t take it!
Himself, in fact, seemed far more interested in the BMW motorbikes. There were certainly enough of them on display, and the public is even allowed to try them out. Well, at least to sit on them – the bikes are all firmly bolted to the floor. Which was probably just as well in His Lordship’s case.
I couldn’t believe that the Oldies had spent most of the day oohing and aahing over cars and motorbikes. They must have been dreaming about them all night. Even I was doing wheelies in my sleep!
