BMW Zentrum, Spartanburg South Carolina

People tend to think of BMW as a German brand (obviously), but like most brands the Bavarian maker has long since diversified production. Many of today's BMW's do not come out of a plant in Southern Germany, but rather from a plant nestled back in the middle of nowhere, South Carolina.  Since it opened in 1994, the BMW Manufacturing Plant in Spartanburg, SC has produced all of BMW's "X" models (X3, X5 first and second generation, X6) as well as the Z3 and Z4 Roadsters/Coupes, and for a while the 318i and 318is.  It's a huge, modern facility that sits on 1,150 acres of land off of highway I-85, and these days it spits out around 160,000 new BMW's a year.

While the plant itself is interesting (it's pretty cool to see robots welding body panels onto an X5 frame!) it's the "Zentrum" that is really fascinating.  It's an ever-changing exhibit that's a tour through BMW's past and present, with cars, motorcycles, engines, and all sorts of goodies on display.  This post will cover all the cool stuff I saw while I was there, but chances are if you went to visit the Zentrum in 6 months it would be completely different.

One corner of the display covers BMW roadsters past and present, and within two steps I caught a glimpse of two cars I've never laid eyes on before in my life.  Front and center in the display was this classic pre-war BMW 328 Roadster, which is dramatically tiny by today's standards, but still bears some of the styling hallmarks that make BMW's recognizable today - like the long double-kidney radiator grille.  Looks like fun!

Behind that sat something a little more modern and recognizable - at least to BMW or James Bond aficionados.  The Z8 has all but faded from the easily jaded collective memory of sports-car lovers, but the virtues of an E39 M5 V8 in a lightweight 2-seat roadster body are still hard to ignore.  And it's still a gorgeous car, in my eyes - with obvious hints of Albrecht von Goertz' timeless 507 Roadster to it.

On the wall opposing the Z8 was a line of old BMW engines, which was pretty interesting in it's own right.  There were the usual suspects - the 507's overhead-valve V8, and classic things like this 2002ti's twin-carburetted slant-four.

Then there were some more unusual things glued to the wall.  How about a tiny little BMW turbine engine that generated a rather shocking 110bhp, considering it was small enough to stuff in a backpack?  Not bad for 1952!

Far more imposing was this air-cooled BMW aircraft V12.  Absolutely massive engine here - when's someone going to put one of these in a rat-rod?  C'mon, guys.

And a somewhat more imposing view, down the cylinder bank of this giant aircraft motor.

Now, the observant among you will surely have noticed the little red roadster in the background of this shot is an exceedingly rare vehicle, especially considering it was never sold in North America.  This was another first for me - gotta say, I've never seen a BMW Z1 before.

The Z1 was the first production vehicle to come out of BMW Technik, a division of BMW that began in the early 80's to allow a little more open, lateral thinking.  It used a tubular space-frame chassis with composite panels and the engine out of the 325is, and it was where BMW's Z-link rear suspension debuted.  Undoubtedly it's paryt trick were those doors - they didn't open, heavens no.  They retracted into the body.

Sitting in the back corner was another super-rare BMW - an Alpina/BMW Z4 3.4S.  It was the first Alpina to be partially assembled in the US, in addition to being a delightful little hot-rod.  It used a stroked-out version of the BMW 3.0L I6 (thus the 3.4 S designation) with 300bhp, and it's easily the best-looking of the original Z4's.

There were a ton of BMW Motorcycles on display, which I'm not going to claim to be my area of expertise - I'm more of a four-wheeled kind of guy.  Still, a wall of flying BMW motorcycles is quite a site to behold.

Moving further back into the Zentrum revealed some truly fascinating specimens.  Sorry for the picture overload on this one, but one image just isn't enough: this is the engine from a 1982 BMW Formula 1 car.

It may have only displaced a tiny 1.5L, but the BMW F1 engine from this era wasn't lacking in power: in race form it created over 1,100bhp - which seems like enough - but in qualifying trim it was closer to 1,400.  No one knows for sure since the dynomometer peaked at 1,280bhp.  Where'd it all come from?

Why, just a little bit of turbocharger, of course!  Isn't that the most beautiful manifold you've ever laid eyes on?  I can't say I understand what's with the wastegate with a fuel-line and two exhaust branches from the collector running to it - perhaps it's an anti-lag device?

It's interesting to see that the intercooler (left) and radiator (right) were both larger than the block itself.  Speaking of blocks, the F1 car used a basic BMW 2002 unit (obviously with much stronger internals to cope with the gazillion pounds of boost this setup was running) out of a production car with 100,000+km on it.  Why?  Who knows?  It is cool to see an engine making almost 1 horsepower per cubic centimeter (that'd be 1000bhp/l to you Honda nerds) that uses distributor-ignition, though.

Speaking of BMW engines, here's one that's a bit newer but impressive in it's own right.  It's the 3.0L twin-turbocharged diesel I6 that powers the 335d and X5 diesel here in the US.  It's cool not only for the flippity-flop sequential turbo setup (that's all that stuff crammed in on the left side) but for the urea injection, diesel particulate filter, and all the stuff that makes it both nasty-powerful (hellooo, 400lb-ft of torque!) and clean as a whistle.  Nice intercooler, too!

Some more BMW racing glory here.  A BMW big-six powered Formula 3 race car, an E30 M3 Touring Car, and a Paris-Dakar race bike, all within spitting distance.  You have gotta see the Zentrum, kids!  Oh, and you may notice some strange looking vehicles in the background of this shot...

An Isetta.  Pulling a camper.  What more can you really say here?  The mind boggles.  This is crazy on a whole new level.  Continuing on the classic BMW theme, there was plenty more to be seen.  How about this 501?  The 501 was the first post-war BMW (which replaced the 340), and used an inline six-cylinder engine, while the later 502 models had a small V8 in the same body - making them the first post-war German cars to have V8 engines.  Not exactly a common site.

Even more interesting is what's parked next to it: a BMW 503 Coupe.  These were produced in tiny numbers (413 built between 1956-1959) as a more sedate sibling to the classic 507 roadster.  Simply gorgeous vehicles.

And how about that interior?  Stunning.

The 503 used BMW's 3.2L overhead-valve V8, which made a stout 140bhp (again, 1956 standards.)  With the 4-speed manual, it could accelerate the 503 to 100km/h in around 13 seconds and on to a top speed of 120mph - supercar numbers by the standards of the time.  Wonder what that sounds like?  Wonder no more - while we were walking around, the people that run the Zentrum fired up the 501 and 503 to move them out so they could clean under them.  Hearing a 503 running has got to be a once in a lifetime experience, and thankfully I had my camera ready!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FrCrVaO_Y4

The final display in the Zentrum was called "8 @ 20", referring to the 20th Anniversary of BMW's shark-in-a-suit 8-series supercoupe.  I have to say, for an old girl it's still quite a looker.  This 850Ci definitely looks like a child of the 90's, but in the best way possible.

And tucked in the very back corner, perhaps as a token admission of how M has lost the plot these days, an X6 M.  Even with a 556bhp twin-turbo V8 (the most powerful engine ever put in a road-going BMW,) I still don't get this one.  Perhaps it's just not for me.

The Zentrum is certainly the best BMW museum in North America, and for anyone on the Eastern seaboard, it's worth the trip, or at least a quick visit if you're passing through.  While it's hard to argue that BMW hasn't lost the plot these days with a lot of their cars - apparently there will be front-wheel-drive small BMW's in the near future, and you can't even get a BMW with a friggin' dipstick these days - the Zentrum is a reminder that BMW's history runs strong and deep.  For more information, you can visit the Zentrum's website.  Who knows what they'll have next time around!