See Our Visit to BMW's Amazing Vintage Cars in its Classic CenterSee Our Visit to BMW's Amazing Vintage Cars in its Classic Center

The Classic Center refurbishes BMW's most important classic cars both for its own collection and for customers.

Dan Carney, Senior Editor

September 20, 2021

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A 1980 BMW M1 enters the gate at the BMW Classic Center, located at the company's original 1916 headquarters.BMW

BMW opened the restoration services of its in-house vintage car repair shop, the BMW Classic Center, to customers in 2010. That means that owners whose cool vintage Bimmer has seen better days can return the car to Munich to be refurbished by the company that built it, using the best available parts. Perhaps ironically, for cars shipped back for repairs from the U.S., America remains the Classic Center's best source for New Original Stock restoration parts, because most of the cars were sold here during those years, according to the company.

“The great advantage for customers who bring their vehicle back to the original manufacturer is the complete range of services available under one roof. We have the theoretical knowledge of the vehicles, the technical know-how, the original BMW parts and the necessary infrastructure to connect everything up systematically,” says Ralf Vierlein, Head of Sales and Aftersales for BMW Group Classic.

The company can make new replacement parts when needed, and can entirely replace a worn engine with a new one from BMW's Landshut plant that comes with a two-year warranty.

And it is not just repairs or restorations. The Classic Center can perform upgrades to vintage rides too. In one case, the owner of a classic 3.0 CSi wanted to have an automatic transmission in place of the original manual gearbox. Regular repair shops couldn't perform this swap because the car was never built with an automatic transmission. But it turns out that in 1972 BMW did engineering trials in preparation for this option that never materialized. With access to those engineering records, the Classic Center has been able to make this upgrade for owners of two of these cars.

Related:Engineering Solutions by Design News Talks BMW’s Discovery That it Is Possible to Help Users too Much

In 2016, BMW reclaimed a bit of its own history, repurchasing the company's original headquarters building from 1916. It has accumulated a 140,000 square-foot campus around that building now that houses the BMW Classic Center's restoration shops, as well as a storage facility where BMW keeps some of its most interesting classic cars.

During our recent visit to BMW's hometown for the IAA Munich motor show, we had the good fortune to pay a visit to the BMW Classic Center and take a look at its assembled collection. Here are some of our favorites from that visit.

About the Author

Dan Carney

Senior Editor, Design News

Dan’s coverage of the auto industry over three decades has taken him to the racetracks, automotive engineering centers, vehicle simulators, wind tunnels, and crash-test labs of the world.

A member of the North American Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year jury, Dan also contributes car reviews to Popular Science magazine, serves on the International Engine of the Year jury, and has judged the collegiate Formula SAE competition.

Dan is a winner of the International Motor Press Association's Ken Purdy Award for automotive writing, as well as the National Motorsports Press Association's award for magazine writing and the Washington Automotive Press Association's Golden Quill award.

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He has held a Sports Car Club of America racing license since 1991, is an SCCA National race winner, two-time SCCA Runoffs competitor in Formula F, and an Old Dominion Region Driver of the Year award winner. Co-drove a Ford Focus 1.0-liter EcoBoost to 16 Federation Internationale de l’Automobile-accredited world speed records over distances from just under 1km to over 4,104km at the CERAM test circuit in Mortefontaine, France.

He was also a longtime contributor to the Society of Automotive Engineers' Automotive Engineering International magazine.

He specializes in analyzing technical developments, particularly in the areas of motorsports, efficiency, and safety.

He has been published in The New York Times, NBC News, Motor Trend, Popular Mechanics, The Washington Post, Hagerty, AutoTrader.com, Maxim, RaceCar Engineering, AutoWeek, Virginia Living, and others.

Dan has authored books on the Honda S2000 and Dodge Viper sports cars and contributed automotive content to the consumer finance book, Fight For Your Money.

He is a member and past president of the Washington Automotive Press Association and is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers

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