BMW Museum, Pt. I

In the past few years I've tried to take a day or two after the Eurobike show to check out some great places in my favorite country to visit. Since I hadn't yet been to Munich, this year I decided to spend a day checking out the BMW Museum and the Bavarian city.

While cruising the A96 at dusk on Friday evening, I passed this mid-50s BMW 502 Cabriolet, a harbinger of good things to come the next day.

BMW's headquarters and museum (partly contained in the bowl-shaped building):

BMW Welt (BMW World), across the street.

Among other things, the sweeping BMW Welt...

...houses brand shops for Rolls Royce...

...Husqvarna...

...along with a coffee bar, restaurant, gift shop and factory delivery.

new BMWs awaiting pickup by their new owners

 spot the 560HP M5s, including a police car are ready for pick up

The MINI brand shop was still under construction. Although stuffed bulldogs were available for purchase:

Some vintage VW models were spotted as well:

And smartly-designed kid's like-a-bikes:

 Isettas by the handful:

 And this trim 120D sitting in the lobby.

It's a shame that BMW doesn't bring in the best-looking and most-practical 1-series variant to the US and A.

Since BMW has such a rich history of both two and four wheeled-vehicles, I'll focus on the motorcycles with this post. Sorry that it's not very detailed. I love BMW bikes, but took more notes on the cars. Onwards...

One of each of the current offerings out front.

I'd happily put this GS in a shipping container and send it on to California:

Lederhosen-clad youths extra.

Pops was decked out for a big day as well. Waiting outside the museum.

1923 R32:

 

R32 flat twin engine detail:

Rear brake shoe:

Impressive wall of bikes from throughout their history:

1931 R2, known for its innovative pressed-steel frame:

I really like this R 50/2 police bike from the 1960s:

 only 500ccs of displacement from the Boxer engine

1970s (I think) R 80 GS:

 

Aesthetically it's definitely one of my favorites in the collection.

1938 RS 255 race bike:

RS 255 gauge package. Yup, just a tach staring at the rider:

Side hack:

Streamliner:

Streamliner cockpit:

Streamliner helmet - more for aerodynamics than protection:

1980s Paris-Dakar GS:

Contemporary Paris-Dakar GS:

Navigation consists of a scrolling route ticker:

Mid-70s R 90 racer:

Basic gauges:

Love that orange tank:

R 90 in stock, street guise:

GS styling prototype from a few years back:

XT500 "Expresso Racer" show bike:

Now if the bugs in the Blogger site that I've been fighting get taken care of quickly, maybe I can post the cars soon. Until then, one more motorcycle, vintage marketing: