Heritage Motor Museum, Gaydon - BMW Day 11/08/2019

[Sam Tyler]

As a Father's Day gift our son bought me a ticket for the BMW day at Gaydon this weekend. Unfortunately he couldn't join me but our youngest daughter did in his stead.

Although I've never been a huge fan of BMWs, I've always liked the E30 3 series and the E31 8 Series, plus one or two others along the way. This year is the 30th anniversary year of both the E30 and the E31 so it was a great chance for me to have a good look at a gathering of these models.

Unfortunately the weather didn't hold out too well but that didn't dampen our enthusiasm for a chinwag with some fellow E31 owners.

As it was a BMW day there were many other models to see but for me the larger number and more recent models don't hold a great deal of interest so the smudges I've taken were my own selfish selection that overlooks the hundreds of later 1-Series and 3-Series that we can see day-in day-out on every street corner. I've also added some cars from the museum itself that took my fancy but to start off with was an old Rover 110 that we spotted in the car park:







































































As for the museum itself I thoroughly recommend it as a good day out. Although I've been there numerous times before, this was the first time I'd attended when I wasn't trading so it was great to finally get a good look around.

If you haven't been then it is certainly worth making the effort. 

Sam.

[The Saint]

Looks like a good day, thanks for posting Sam

The Saint 

[Dirty Epic]

Brilliant pics Sam, some nice examples of Bavarian steel there too mate.

Thanks for posting these.

[D.C. Burtonshaw]

Cheers Sam for the photos, some particularly nice Beemers too. My fav's have been the "02" series, CS E9 coupes as in the photos and the E21 and E30 3 series. There were as seen in the photos 2 types of E30 convertible; the early one had a roll over bar and like the E21 and 02 soft tops before them were converted by Baur. But BMW started making "in house" 3 series cabrios in 1985 with the Baur convertible conversions remaining available alongside it.

The Alpina tuned cars interestingly have always been registered as "Alpina" rather than BMW's. This is because since 1983 Alpina has been recognized by the German Federal Ministry of Transport as an automobile manufacturer, thus Alpina-built cars are branded and registered as Alpina instead of BMW, although an Alpina can be serviced at all BMW dealerships, and are fully covered if there is a warranty issue. Alpinas are sold at some BMW dealerships.

[Del Boy]

I  like quite a few BMW models from over the years. The 80s stuff appeals to me particularly (sorry don't know the code names) the early 80s 5 series, 6 series and the late decade 3 series convertibles.
Is the small roadster a Z1 ? Never seen one on the road. 

I've never been to Gaydon but plan to drop in at some point.  Thanks for the recommendation Samuel.

[Sam Tyler]

Aug 16, 2019 23:37:52 GMT Del Boy said:

Is the small roadster a Z1 ? Never seen one on the road. 

I've never been to Gaydon but plan to drop in at some point.  Thanks for the recommendation Samuel.

Yes the small two-seaters in the tenth and twelfth pictures are Z1s. Strange car that is not really my cup of rosie but I included them for their novelty value. They were left hand drive only and the doors opened by being lowered down into the lower body:



It is very rare to see one on the road nowadays. Edd China did one up in one episode of Wheeler Dealers some years back.

Sam.

[Del Boy]

Thanks for posting Sam.
I think its quirky looks tweaks the interest. It's certainly well down my list of classic roadsters in terms of looks. The doors are cool though