[lederhosen] Europe 2010 - 26 September

oshlo.blogspot.com - Before I continue the story of the BMW Museum in Munich in June this year, I want to mention these freelance travel articles I’ve posted since my last travel journal. Keep in mind that if you click on the title, I get a little cash, so please click away. THANKS!
1. Historical and Modern Czech Town of Jablonec nad Nisou in Bohemia2. Museum of Glass and Jewelry in Jablonec, Bohemia, Czech Republic3. Local Heckenwirtschaft or Wine-Tasting Rooms, Franconia, Germany
Now back to my visit to Munich with my husband and the vast BMW complex, including our further indoctrination into the cult that is at the heart of BMW driving. Here is Day 2.
On Sunday June 6 we woke in our Munich hotel - Park Inn Frankfurter Ring. Now, I’d stayed in a Park Inn in Linz, Austria earlier in the year that was absolutely top-notch! This one was ok, but I wouldn’t put it at the top of any list. Maybe the other locations in Munich were better, but this one was ho-hum. I liked the Ghotel where I stayed in March better.
In any case, we weren’t there for the room. However, I took some shots from our minuscule balcony that morning. One was of a wine warehouse next to the hotel. I don’t even want to know anything else about the wine there.

Our destination that day was the BMW Museum, which is located next to the BMW Welt that we’d visited the day before. Check out the pictures from my previous post. The Museum is the bowl-shaped building in front of the four-cylinder BMW headquarters building.
This day was the highlight of the trip and the main reason we’d come to Munich. We had booked a City Tour, which is to say we were signed up to tour Munich in antique BMW convertibles!
We arrived at the Museum about half an hour early and checked in, poked around the gift shop and checked out the lobby displays. A few minutes til 11:00 we made our way outside to wait for the Grand Ladies, which is my name for the beautiful cars that squired us around that day.
I inquired about the direction from which the cars would arrive and positioned myself about three steps down across the small plaza so I would be grill-level with them. I was not disappointed. A general cry went up, “Here they come!” and I was able to get these shots:



Aren’t they lovely? One of the many things that impressed me were the smiles on the faces of our dashing young chauffeurs. They seemed truly happy to be there and did not drop the attitude all day. These young men had undergone some obviously extensive training to give us the tour that they did. Plus they had hats
I spent another ten minutes or so photographing while the other tour participants, family, friends and assorted visitors inspected the Grand Ladies, took pictures and asked questions about the automobiles.

This car, a BMW 326, was made in 1936 and has a V8 engine. Can’t you just see gangsters in it? I mean real ones, not rappers.


This Lady, a BMW 335, was built in, I believe, 1939. Think of it: these cars survived WWII! This one gave us the most trouble; she stalled a couple of times but the drivers seemed to know just what to do and adjusted the fuel mixture to solve the problem. The smell of gasoline was strong in the air.

I assumed these Grand Ladies required old-time leaded gasoline and wondered where they obtained it. I was surprised to learn that they ran on unleaded gasoline! The drivers told us that no conversion was necessary to allow this but that the fuel mixture has to be richer if unleaded gas is used.
Last but not least is the youngster of the group. She was a 1950’s BMW 502, otherwise known as the Baroque Angel because of her voluptuous curves.

Our attentive chauffeur squad:

Long before I was ready to stop taking pictures, the drivers herded us into the cars. There were, of course, only three passenger spots in each car which is why, because I snatched a few last pictures, I ended up in a different car from my husband. It really didn’t matter, though. I was able to photograph him in the other car. Besides, my car was last and I was able to see the other two ahead of us and get a few more photos.
The first place we went was under the BMW Welt building and into large, car-sized elevators! I didn’t think our huge vehicles would fit, but they did. My car had to wait because there were only two elevators.

When we emerged we found ourselves on the delivery platform! It’s where new car owners can take European delivery of their new BMW’s. We cruised around the platform a couple of times and drew a crowd of BMW Welt visitors along the railing opposite the platform.

In a few minutes we headed down the spiral ramp that led out onto the street.

My driver was speaking German for the benefit of the other passengers and I was only half paying attention to his monologue as I shot pictures until I heard him say “Geburtskanal” which is German for birth canal! At that point I just laughed out loud.

Outside a tour group that had just gotten off a bus greeted us with waves, smiles and cameras. One of the best parts of the tour was that people were just so delighted to see the cars!

We rounded the BMW Welt and drove into the factory compound across the street. Even though it was closed because it was Sunday they did not allow photographs during our time on the factory grounds. Here’s one of the Ladies entering the gate:

Although I’m not at liberty to divulge any industrial espionage information at this juncture I would like to report that the factory has its own fire department and emergency medial center. I tell you that to tell you this: the emergency doctor’s vehicle is a Mini Cooper!
After we drove through the deserted factory compound where the only thing I can remember seeing is a rack of new bumpers on a forklift, we drove another ten minutes or so to another BMW location. This location excited me because, on one side of the small drive was a large, new, skyscraper where all the BMW and Mini Cooper engineers worked. I just felt the energy of so much creativity there! I imagined them drawing out my Mini Cooper on their drafting tables back in 2002 and sculpting it out of clay! Right there!
Alas we were not to visit that building. Our destination was across the small street at a much older building called the BMW Classic Center where BMW stores its vast historical collection of automobiles. They swap out the automobiles in the Museum from time to time using this collection. There was at least one of each model of BMW from the early years up to today. There must have been 200 or so cars in that building and even more motorcycles.
The first floor was the Motorsport division where the racing crews work on the racing cars. It was locked and we couldn’t go in, but they didn’t stop me when I took a picture through the glass doors. I glimpsed more than one Mini Cooper in there. BTW, in case you are wondering why we didn’t tour the Mini Cooper Museum it’s because there isn’t one - at least in Munich - yet. There is one in the works, though, and you know I’ll be visiting that one as soon as they open it.

Here’s a rack of trophies won by BMW Motorsports over the years. Dig the old helmet!

A display on the second floor showed a common condition in which many of the old cars have been discovered.

BMW and other car manufacturers have a department where you can bring your rusty old car to be restored to its original glory by the original car company. That way you can be sure it’s authentically refurbished.
On the third floor was what seemed like acres of cars, motorcycles, models, concepts and everything else ever produced by BMW. I can’t remember near the amount of information provided by our driver, but he knew an extensive amount about almost every vehicle present. It took a couple of hours or more to get through all this. Here are some highlights.
First two models of BMW:

German fire chief’s car:

Toy Grand Lady:

Our driver and guide:

This ugly little brat of a car is an Isetta. It’s credited with saving BMW from bankruptcy after WWII. Because BMW’s were only luxury cars up to that point and no one could afford them, BMW was in serious financial straits. To save the company they bought and re-engineered the one-cylinder Isetta from an Italian firm. Sales of the Isetta saved the company financially. Interesting note: the Italian company that first made the Isetta also made refrigerators, which is why the door on the Isetta, which opens from the front, resembles a refrigerator door.

First Morris Mini 1959 (same year I was born):

This huge monster was custom-made for a client in China. It had Chinese characters on the back so I couldn’t tell you what model it was based on.

Miscellaneous companies were acquired by BMW over the years and, because they didn’t have sufficient time to redesign each one, they just stuck the BMW “kidneys” on the front of existing models.

My favorite car, I have to admit, was this sporty little number made for the James Bond movie GoldenEye. I could see myself driving that one! It’s a Z3 and it is only made in South Carolina. The one in the Bond movie was the first Z3 ever introduced and apparently there was a huge hoopla over the fact that a British agent was driving a German car.

My close second favorite was the stunt car from the Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies, a modified BMW 750i. In the movie it looked so cool, but up close you could see the hand-done modifications. This rather phallic appliance on the front doesn’t really cut anything:

And this string of tire-puncturers was actually flimsy plastic! However, these tires, which were actually used for the stunts, were shredded!

Here’s a shot of the rear bumper where they put in the smoke and oil slick stuff:

At one point in the movie (apparently because I haven’t actually seen it yet) Bond is controlling the car remotely with his cell phone. In actuality a stunt driver was sitting in the floorboard in the back using steering-wheel, accelerator and brake pedal extensions. He could see where to drive only via a video screen mounted beside him and had the help of a director through his audio headset:

Here are some fake rockets mounted in the sunroof:

Now I bet you have that James Bond theme music running through your head!
Moving on, here are a couple of dune buggies custom-built for clients in the Middle East.

Check out the paw-print tire tread:

Gull-wing M1:

An ocean of BMW motorcycles:

Is anyone else thinking “Great Escape?”

This is a modified scooter called the C1. Because of the seatbelt and roll cage you don’t need a helmet under Germany’s and other nations’ laws. This apparently made it very popular. This one was designed by Louis Vuitton, and if that big bag wasn’t on the back you could actually fit a passenger back there. But he would have to wear a helmet!

Painted for the movie Zombie Violence:

Early racing bike. The guy on the sidecar had to hang out over the side to give the vehicle stability around curves.

Now that’s what I call a real car phone! This was in an emergency vehicle model.

By the time we got through that floor of the Classic Car Center my head was swimming. However, I had to go ahead and shoot some more pictures in the lobby while we were served delicious cookies and cappuccino. The main reason for the additional photos was the Mini display. This one was set up like a hotel, of all things. If you look closely you’ll see a pillow and bed on the driver’s side and a lamp. The International Hotel sign is mounted on top the car. I dunno. Mine doesn’t look like that.

Then it was back to the Grand Ladies. We all switched cars. We had one more stop later so everyone had a chance to ride in each car. But the drivers took our photos before they made my husband get out of the driver’s seat:

My husband and I were both in the same car this time and I sat behind him. Here are some shots from that fun ride:

Restored old town walls:

Just think: this guy has a picture of me in the other car taking a picture of him!

Our next stop was the BMW showroom at Lenbachplatz. It’s the place where they introduce all the newest models. I assumed they had my Mini here back in 2001. This year they are introducing the elegant new 5er Series limousine model. Remember all those bubbles from the BMW Welt?

Here they gave us each a copy of a book called Car Styling: BMW Group Design. It’s all about BMW’s design and engineering. A beautiful addition to my library. We also got some “non-alcoholic cocktails,” a term they kept using for some strange reason. It was fruit tea. There was also a Harmon Kardon stereo system demo room that was impressive with its surround-sound effects of helicopters, piano concerts and city traffic. Not all at the same time.
While the slick salespeople bent the ears of the other tour group members, I wandered around for photos. Outside there was a troupe in costume from a local performance drumming up business. I don’t know what show this was for, but I’d seen similar in Prague for Don Giovanni and other operas.

In a little while we were back in the Grand Ladies. Here’s what our driver called the “air conditioning,” a lever to open the windshield panel to tilt it out about two inches!

The turn signal of the car. The driver could turn it on from a dash knob that flipped out the orange indicator.

However, it needed a little help turning off from the passenger (me) who had to reach out and press it back into the housing.

After our three-hour tour (?) we reluctantly returned to the Museum. The drivers said we could stay out longer but there was another tour they had to get back for. I don’t know if I believed them, but I appreciated their saying it.

But our BMW day wasn’t over yet. Back inside the Museum we each received a giftbox with a certificate of participation, a CD with those Harmon Kardon sound effects, a ticket to tour the Museum and a Museum guidebook.
The Museum had been renovated from 2006-2008 and was ultra-modern inside. The walls were made of thick, opaque white glass with millions of LEDs behind it. The displayed constantly moving photos of BMW models and events.

We followed the ramps through the Museum and honestly it seemed like we would get lost or miss something. But we saw everything in order and came out at the end without having to backtrack or look for the exit.
BMW used to be an airplane factory so there was the requisite plane engines:

Early parts delivery van. “Teile in Eile” means “Parts in a hurry.”

Man, that F1 sure is banking that turn!

Here is an actual clay model of a car. Despite the fence and warning signs not to touch it, there were about a million fingernail jabs in it.

This table was a touch-screen. You could touch it anywhere and bring up answers to your own questions about BMW. Sweet.

THIS is my favorite car of all! A 1956 touring convertible. I keep checking eBay.

Concept hydrogen car. I’ve actually seen this car at auto shows in Tampa.

The last part of our tour was the bowl of the Museum building. It has an actual car ramp spiraling around it and, instead of cars, these days it has revolving exhibits. The exhibit that was there in June consisted of models of art museums around the world.

View of the plaza outside through one of the “spaceship portholes.”

The spiral ramp has uplifting and inspirational words and phrases on it. In addition, they projected like words and phrases and photos on the darkened round walls. My favorite shot of all this was going down the escalator that cuts through the middle of the spiral ramps:

So that’s it for our BMW experience. What a head full of information and images! I hope you have enjoyed it. We sure did. I would highly recommend the BMW complex and tour to anyone who visits Munich. I hear the Porsche and Mercedes Museums are even better. I’ll let you know…
Before I sign off, here a Photo for No Apparent Reason (yes, they ARE pedaling):

other source : http://komnatachista.blogspot.com, http://docstoc.com, http://detik.com

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