UPDATE #10

09.06.2008

Saturday, more fun and friends........

 "You know, it's dangerous for you to be here in the frozen food section." 
"Because you could melt all this stuff..."

Chris Bangle held court with his admirers and detractors alike......

And off he went, the Pied Piper of car geeks......

Mr B was very up front discussing a plethora of different design ideas,

"I meant to say "your" butt is to big....."

Red Je... errr....  mz.386 has a certain effect on people...  Sometimes good sometimes welll........

First function I've been to that had a designated beer guard....

May have been the fact that a certain WI person was within striking range of the trailer....

One of the highlights of a night filled with them, was the auctioning off of Carter Lee's solid 14K Z3 Roadster bracelet.

It was purchased by the young lady above for $6K...  Sorry Leslie you'll have to be happy with some sweet tea....

And then there were three.....

Clemens Schmitz-Justen, BMW Mfg. President

 Chris Bangle, BMW AG Chief of Design

and

Burkhard Goeschel, Father of the Z3 Roadster*

* Spellings and titles stolen, hmm.. a pattern, from Karen O.  

Have to get this in for Betty from the bimmer.org message board.....

"Blaine,

 You did not even mention Dr. Burkhard Goeschel, (Now I have) *wink*, Father of the Z3 who was also there from Munich for a repeat performance! He was also featured speaker at the 1999 HC. I really enjoyed hearing him talk, particularly about the joys of driving the Z3 and how it makes a bad day at the office into a good one. We can all identify with that! His story about running off and leaving the P-911 on the autobahn was great and the way he giggled when he described it. This man loves our little cars as much as we do; it is not just a job for him. I felt very honored to have him autograph the book they gave us this year as well as my car's owner's manual.

The company gift this year was actually a threesome: 1)A lovely pictoral history of the BMW roadster, 2)a lucite rectangle containing a full size roundel from the actual production line, and 3)a heavy weight chrome license plate frame imprinted "BMW Roadster Homecoming 10th Anniversary".

BTW Chris Bangle and Kenn arrived late for the lunch at the very elegant Grays Inn today (Sunday). I figured they came late to avoid the crowd and indeed the room was about 2/3 empty. As Bangle walked to his table, I had to ask who had the honor of driving the twisties to get there. Bangle pretended to be hesitating to answer,then pointed his finger into his chest and grinning, admitted he did. No surprise there! I commented that I was sure he did not drive very fast and the threw his head back and laughed loudly.

However, Dr. Goeschel is the one I would loved to have had the opportunity to spend time with and ask him numerous questions about his love affair with our cars, but did not want to interrupt his lunch. "

All three plus one stayed after the program conclusion for a quick chat, didn't seem so quick in line, and signings of the great gifts bestowed upon the attendees.

Was able to have my gifts signed by the trio with a little extra sig for my book.

WTH???  What are the chances two Z3's parked side by side with backward luggage racks?

Back to the Wingate to talk to Dr. Phil and friends before hitting the sack..

Click on Doc Phil to see his buds....

In the morning Drew and I were off in a blur...  This Z4 was getting a ride to it's new home.

Don't know what this is but I'm sure the two Fred's and bmv will know exactly it's pedigree.....

End of the day found us driving into a TX sunset.......

Home tonight!!!!!!