derBayerische November/December 2024 - 3

TheSteeringColumn
The bulk of my summer was spent in Europe: Sweden, Norway,
Estonia, England. But mostly Sweden. Where mercifully we
have had what we call the " green winter " versus what I heard
was a scorchingly hot summer in the DMV. Most of June it
rained and was in the 50's and 60's. We had a lot of windy,
blustery days. At night it got really cold, and I wished I had
heating, but Swedish houses are built to keep in the heat, so it
was ok. I turned on the heated towel racks in the bathrooms for
extra warmth.
I was pretty sure my summer would be largely bereft of
cars, and indeed, for most of the time spent in Europe I was
car-less - relying on my Swedish-made Skeppshult bike to
ferry me around and run errands. For about three weeks I drove
a Mercedes C300 EST plug-in hybrid diesel. Don't be mad at
me, but I unexpectedly loved it. It was heavy, sporty and drove
smoothly and well. Plus, it looked great and was comfortable
and luxurious. I especially liked the big Mercedes emblem
that illuminated the floor of the garage when you opened the
driver's door.
I did indulge in a BMW-related event at the end of June to
attend a cars and coffee event at the local BMW dealership in
our medium-sized Swedish town. For a not very big town, the
dealership is surprisingly cosmopolitan and large, with a great
array of BMW offerings, new and used. The owner, Magnus
Gustafsson, is a through-and-through car buff and collector.
As soon as I pulled into the Cars and Coffee location on my
trusty bike I noticed his black on black Defender and realized
this guy was serious.
I had a great conversation with him and his wife and
two daughters who were manning the Isetta bar, a Citroen bus
converted to a rolling refreshment stand. Magnus has owned
the Autowax Karlstad BMW dealership for 23 years, and
relentlessly collected interesting BMWs.
Some of the notable cars in his collection are a red 1991
Z1 which was presented as a concept car in 1987 in Frankfurt,
and made its way to Stockholm in 2000. A cream colored 635
Sean Connery car, which is reputed to have been in Connery's
possession at his summer house in Puerto Banus in Marbella,
Spain. A silver 2000 Z8 which was to have appeared in
the 1999 James Bond film " The World is Not Enough " .
A beautifully kept red 1991 E30 M3. A black third-generation
1990 M5 (it's hard to believe we are in the 8th generation of
M5s). A burgundy 850 which when new was the most
expensive of BMWs. A white 2012 1M Coupe, which we know
was only manufactured during two years for a total of 6,300
builds. A silver 1974 3.0 CSL - this lightweight variant
and a homologation special had only 1,265 total builds.
And finally, a white 3.0 CSL " Batmobile " with the distinctive
BMW Motorsport blue and red racing stripes that could go from
0-100 km/h in 7 seconds.
I had a great time perusing these cars and some newer
variants inside the showroom; and chatting with the other cars
and coffee participants. Magnus kindly gave me a copy of
the Swedish 'dB': the Bayerisches Blatt, a quarterly magazine
produced by the BMW Club of Sweden. They have their headquarters
in a suburb of Stockholm and I can become a member
of the club for about $45 per annum. I'm thinking about doing
just that so stay tuned for more BMW adventures in Sweden.
In the meantime, I wish you happy driving and happy
reading of the dB wherever you happen to be in the world.
I look forward to seeing you all at one of our great NCC
DMV events.
Anna Maripuu, Co-Editor
Correction: A sentence in the second paragraph of Brad Will's Wheel
Detailing article which appeared in the September-October 2024 edition
of der Bayerische should read " Modern BMW wheels are cast or forged
aluminum alloy " .
Hi Anna- Hope you are well. I just received my printed copy of der
Bayerische with the wheel article I wrote. Unfortunately, a typo made its
way into the published version. I checked, and it was not in the file I sent
over. I feel this is important, because as printed, it is not accurate. Thanks
in advance.
Regards,
Brad- Reflections Auto Salon
November I December 2024
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derBayerische November/December 2024

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