BMWSA celebrates 100 Years of BMW at Franschhoek Motor Museum
Franschhoek is a beautiful place. A town in the scenic Helderberg mountains surrounded by cultivated fields of grapes sustaining the South African wine industry.
Just before one gets to the town though, there’s a magical place with four huge barns housing some of the most beautiful, clean, rare and special cars in the country. The cars are of international standard and are fit for any renowned car-collector anywhere in the world. It is a “must go” place for any cover lover, and their families too.
I’ve been here a good few times now, but it seems to get more beautiful each time i visit.
What brought me to the museum this time around was the news of some classic BMWs being displayed in one of the barns. The owner of the museum, who also owns the 220 vehicles (of which 80 get displayed at a time) doesn’t have much BMWs in his collection. He owns a 1938 328 roadster, and Nelson Mandela’s 46664 charity 750i L. The cars here today were brought by BMW SA to celebrate the 100th year anniversary of the BMW automobile.
These Beemers are owned and kept in good nick by particular enthusiasts, and we are grateful for them as these special cars stand beaming in the corridor to be appreciated by us mere fans of this brand.
The first BMW car was a DIXI, built under a license agreement with the british Austin Motor Company
The Isetta – when quirkiness meets cool
The gorgeous V8 luxury sedan from the 50s. A “Baroque Angel”
O B – OrangeFreeState /Bloemfontein – even this number plate is older than me
The cult classic which rescued BMW when they needed it most
Owned and raced at Killarney Race Circuit in the Fine Car Series by Johan ‘JB’
| Name : Johan “JayBee” Pretorius | ||
| Date of Birth: 1951 |
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| Car : BMW 2002 – White & Blue (BMW Rally Colours) | ||
| Sponsor: “JayBee” | ||
| Started racing in : Sept 1990 (1st Official Race in Classics & Marques Cars) | ||
| Best Lap Time: 1m 43.00 | ||
| Ideal racing car: BMW CSL Batmobile | ||
| Racing achievements: | ||
| 1992 or 1994 Classic & Marques Cars Champion. 1995 & 1997 Classic & Marques Cars 2nd Overall 2002 or 2004 Finecars 2nd Overall 2006 Classics 3rd Overall (Silver Cup) 2008 Finecars 2nd Overall 2008 Classics 3rd Overall & 2nd Silver Cup |
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| Born and grew up in Parys (Free State) and my 1st visit to Kyalami, early 1964. Moved to Paarl and my regular visits to Killarney, from 1966 !!!. Annual trips to Kyalami i.e. South African GP’s, 9 Hrs and Wynns 1000 km Races. | ||
Jaybee also owns one these coupes that we see next. You can see it here . 3.0CS & E36 325 Coupe Couple
If ever there was a car i could give 100% to for styling, this would surely be one of them.
Beauty in standard form and a Beast on the race-track
The 7-series before the 7-series
Luxury & Power. Strong in the BMW bloodline.
A familiar face on SABeemer
You can see more details on this South African icon.
BMW MOTORSPORT knew they were developing something big here so they decided to name their first project- M1- to always remind us where all the ///Magic started.
A true classic beauty.
Next is a real favourite of mine. The E30 333i
The Gentlemans’ Tourer
Open Lug 16″ Alpina wheels – A very rare item these days
And lastly, a car – in its day – was ahead of its time
I’d much prefer the standard wheels or even period-correct wheels for this 850i instead of the wheels currently on the car.
These 11 cars are simply outstanding. Its always lovely being in the company of such legendary cars.
For me it was an afternoon therapy session 
