From Munich to Stuttgart

I never thought this day would come.

I’ve owned 5 BMWs. I owned an M3 for heaven’s sake. This is not me bragging, but a mere statement of fact to illustrate what a huge departure this is. While my dad was off toying with his Porsches (he really hated when I would casually refer to his 911 as a “VW Super-Beetle”) and my pals Sean and Jeremy were convinced that Audis were where the German auto market was at (“It’s AWD, Justin!”), I was a fiercely loyal BMW guy.

I know all about the history of Bayerische Motoren Worke (that’s Bavarian Motor Works to you), that the “roundel” (that’s the blue and white emblem) had actually begun as a graphic representation of a spinning propeller blade back when they built aeroplane engines, I can tell you what the difference is between a Bimmer and a Beemer (that’s a car and BMW motorcycle, respectively), the wins of legendary racer Hans Stuck, have competed in auto-crossing events through BMW Car Club of America (San Francisco: Golden Gate Chapter, thank you very much), convinced my sister to purchase an X5, tinkered with limited run 320is models and Euro spec quasi-illegal 323i models of the E21 chassis variety, can tell you the difference between the “ti” and “tii” designation, was on a first name basis with the guys at Bavarian Autosport in Portsmouth, New Hampshire (even visited the shop once during a business trip, my buddy Jeremy setting the land speed record from Logan International Airport, through rush hour Boston traffic, across the border into New Hampshire before they closed, all in a hooptie rental car), have stood in the garage at aftermarket tuner Dinan Engineering, lusted after my M3 partially because it was “Dakar” yellow, named after the fabled Paris-Dakar rally, and had lofty dreams of one day restoring a 1974 3.0 Csi in "Polaris" silver. The list goes on…

After the recent accident that totaled my car, I really had the impulse to try something new. I suppose in order to truly appreciate my 2007 Mercedes-Benz C230 Sport, it’s DOHC V6, and all of the AMG add-ons, I’m going to have to learn all about Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz, who is credited as the inventor of the world’s first “true” automobile, coupling it with an internal combustion engine in 1885 and…