Munich isn’t the only town that knows how to throw a BMW birthday party. The Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, Tennessee is honoring our favorite marque with a yearlong exhibit titled Bavarian Birthday, Celebrating BMW’s Centenary. The display opened Thursday, March 10, 2016 and will run a full year through March 6, 2017.
Drawing from both the museum’s collection as well as loaned vehicles and art from the BMW Car Club of America’s Old Hickory Chapter members as well as the BMW CCA Foundation, the exhibit currently shows over 75 years of the 100-year history of BMW.
The oldest vehicle, a 1928 BMW R 52 motorcycle was generously loaned by Virginia Bloodworth of Bloodworth Motorcycles, and it pairs nicely with the museum’s 1930 3/15 PS DA2 Roadster—and we thought BMW’s modern nomenclature was a mouthful!
Unlike BMW Classic or Die Welt, the Lane Motor Museum has neither the depth of collection nor the space to show everything. Even so, some of BMW’s greatest hits from years gone by are represented. The car that really put BMW on the map here in the U.S., the iconic 2002, was loaned by Old Hickory Chapter member Adam Nitti, with assurances that he can take it out for exercise from time to time for the duration of the exhibit. My own 1990 E30 M3, which has been my daily driver for the last decade-and-a-half and has over 260,000 miles on the clock, is also on display, along with other cars and motorcycles arranged chronologically. Seeing the very early air-cooled twin R 52 next to the 2004 R 1100 S BoxerCup Replika is proof that we’ve come a long way, baby!
Even though the exhibit will run for a year until next March don’t put off a visit for too long, since time seems to pass quickly. With luck, we hope to include a BMW i3 to demonstrate BMW’s latest direction, but we’re still working on BMW of Nashville’s possible involvement. BMW is a very forward-looking company, and the i Series of cars, along with technologies shared across other BMW Group brands and platforms will hopefully make for another century of Ultimate Driving Machines!
This exhibit at the Lane Motor Museum would not be possible without the support and assistance of:
BMW North America
BMW Manufacturing, Spartanburg, SC
BMW CCA Foundation and Michael Mitchell
BMW CCA and Steven Schlossman
David and Virginia Bloodworth
Adam Nitti
…and the hard-working Lane Motor Museum staff.
The Lane Motor Museum was founded in 2002 by Jeff Lane, an automobile enthusiast who donated his collection to start the Museum, a 501c(3) nonprofit organization. As the Museum Director, Jeff continues to search for technically significant or uniquely different cars for the museum’s collection. The goal of Lane Motor Museum is to share in the mission of collecting and preserving automotive history for future generations. The Museum specializes in European cars and works to maintain all the vehicles in running order.
The Museum’s home is in a former Nashville landmark, the Sunbeam Bakery at 701 Murfreesboro Pike. It is open Thursday through Monday, but not on New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving, or Christmas. There is an admission charge, but members get in free. For more information, call (615) 742-7445 or visit http:// http://www.lanemotormuseum.org. —David Yando.
[Photos courtesy of David Yando.]
