[Herr Dreier]

This forum needs a bit of BMW , so I was thinking.... What is your first recollection of a BMW?

Mine is seeing a 1st generation BMW 3 series E21 that used to drive past my house regularly. I remember it well as the back had a big black block between the vertical lights and I remember thinking that it was a great design to build out of lego (I was only about 8 at the time!)

I can't remember if I ever built the model, but I can still remember the image of the car driving past the house.

[Herr Dreier]

Originally Posted by Herr Dreier

This forum needs a bit of BMW , so I was thinking.... What is your first recollection of a BMW?

Mine is seeing a 1st generation BMW 3 series E21 that used to drive past my house regularly. I remember it well as the back had a big black block between the vertical lights and I remember thinking that it was a great design to build out of lego (I was only about 8 at the time!)

I can't remember if I ever built the model, but I can still remember the image of the car driving past the house.

And before anyone says, this is in the wrong forum - meant to put it in the off-topic! (Mods, please can you move?)

[kzg1969]

i remember my Dad going on about a 2002 he saw towing a caravan......i was probably 8 at the time and really didnt get what he was going on about!

[Drek]

First one I saw was the first one I bought - an E21 316. Had two more after that including the hallowed 323i (that got towed and crushed by the council. Thank you Essex). I still hanker after one today, love 'em.

[Tengocity]

Aged 4 in 1979 when my dad left the army and we moved from Germany to Perth. He started as an auto-electrician at Grassicks of Perth, then a BMW, Rolls-Royce, and Peugeot dealership.
He took to me in to see where he worked and my first memory was a stunning E24 6 series.
He worked there for 34 years until he retired, during which time I saw many a car I fell in love with.

One that sticks in the mind was the first time I saw an E30 M3. It was up in a ramp and my dad tried to explain from underneath why it was LHD only!

I could barely believe that it could do 140+mph!

[ronime]

Originally Posted by Herr Dreier

Mine is seeing a 1st generation BMW 3 series E21 that used to drive past my house regularly. I remember it well as the back had a big black block between the vertical lights and I remember thinking that it was a great design to build out of lego (I was only about 8 at the time.

Yep, I was about 10 years old in the late 70s and the E21 323i was the car I aspired to owning at the time.

[Goneinsixtyseconds]

Originally Posted by ronime

Yep, I was about 10 years old in the late 70s and the E21 323i was the car I aspired to owning at the time.

I remember my Grandma having a 323i in the 70's, or would it be 80's, hard to remember that far back.

I remember it well because she won it. It was back in the day when every packet in the supermarket had a competition on it. She only entered the ones where you had to think up a slogan, said it shortened the odds, wasn't just a lottery. She had a real knack, winning all sorts, but it is the BMW that I remember the most.

[Racing Teatray]

My father changed his 280SL for a 2002 tii when I was born but I'd be lying if I said I remembered it.

So it was probably when he got one of the first E34 5-series in 1988/9.

[mcoops]

My dad had a bright red E21 320i around '78 I think, when I was 7. Beautiful car. Come to think of it he had a few crackers between the late 70's and mid 80's, including a Triumph Stag, Rover SD1 and a Scimitar GTE. Not the most reliable, but all classics in their way.

[philiper1]

I vaguely remember there used to be a 3ltr CS always parked up where we used to live, barely moved but the shape was always great, white/creamish colour if I remember correctly; then the 2002's which I still love to own one.

[Rev77]

Being a school kid in the 80s and my uncle getting a 5 series (E28), loved the aggressive nose on it, almost like it had a furrowed brow and was staring at you....

[330Stevie]

As a kid being picked up from a r/c race event by my mates dad in a 328 drop head. Bloody lovely on a summers day it was too!

[TouringPleb]

In the early-mid 80s a neighbour across the road had a Orange 635i. He worked on the oil rigs for 6 weeks at a time and for the area we lived in they were very well off. I just remember loving the shape and colour of it. Probably my first car crush!

[AP_75]

Great stuff. Early memories of a neighbours E21 3 series, seem to remember my dad saying they didn't have kids as his excuse.

My nan lived in Wendover next to a doctor with early E30 323i I think and remember thinking it was cool, also had a really old school short private plate.

Then our neighbour over the road bought a brand new D-reg M5, this was very cool and pretty rare at the time. Great era of BMW's when they really were an alternative choice.

[James Lafayette]

BMW M1 in a pack of top trumps. Loved the look of those cars.

[Mr NSB]

My first recollection of noticing a BMW in the flesh was when I were a lad delivering papers in Weston Super Mare. I would deliver to a house that had a BMW Isetta bubble car, a 2002 and a 3.0 CSI on the drive.

[Surturminn]

My dad's E21 320 Y reg 1982 in Lapis Blau .........wine to Munich with him to collect it

No frills back in those days, had electric mirrors, but no stereo and not even the mounting kit for it in the centre console........had to put it into Romans in Farnborough to get it all fitted..........those were the days

[Ajs_435d]

My first recollection of a BMW was following some car with loads of M badges on and it not using indicators.

[MashinBenzin]

Originally Posted by Mr NSB

My first recollection of noticing a BMW in the flesh was when I were a lad delivering papers in Weston Super Mare. I would deliver to a house that had a BMW Isetta bubble car, a 2002 and a 3.0 CSI on the drive.

Funny you should mention Weston, my first memory of BMW is being in a queue in Weston behind a beige-ish E21 and asking my grandad why BMWs were so expensive, but so small compared with his exec Vauxhall (a VX4-90 no less). He explained that it was about quality engineering, not the size of the car

Originally Posted by Surturminn

...
No frills back in those days, had electric mirrors, but no stereo ...

Plus ca change (or whatever that would be in German). The current base-spec stereos don't have a much better rep. I bet decent headlights (for the era) weren't an optional extra on the E21 though

[HighlandPete]

Loved the 2002. Remember seeing one of the first 2002 touring models in Trowbridge and raving about it to my then fiancé. Thought it was a great car. Had the right girl, she has always loved BMW.

In 1972 I was having a phone chat with my father, and he asks, "guess what car I've bought?" "A BMW" I immediately respond. I was disappointed when he said it wasn't the 2002, but a New Class 2000 sedan.

It was the beginning of many BMW models between us.

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by Surturminn

No frills back in those days, had electric mirrors, but no stereo and not even the mounting kit for it in the centre console...

Those were the days, my first BMW was dealer fitted with the BMW Blaupunkt 'Bavaria' Radio Cassette. Like today, there was always the more expensive 'radio' options. The Hamburg was a better bit of kit.

[Surturminn]

Originally Posted by HighlandPete

Those were the days, my first BMW was dealer fitted with the BMW Blaupunkt 'Bavaria' Radio Cassette. Like today, there was always the more expensive 'radio' options. The Hamburg was a better bit of kit.

Yep, it was a Blaupunkt we had fitted - Stockholm maybe