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It is sometimes hard to find the actual beginnings of a company after it has been around for nearly a century, and Bayerische Motoren Werke GmbH which came into being in 1917 is no different. Before then BMW was a small concern whose strategy was to build more powerful aircraft engines for military use. But then with the ending of the First World War, Germany was banned from making aero engines of any type and BMW had to look around for other activities. Thus they began to build engines for trucks, boats, and stationary use. The first motorcycles then appeared in 1923 and in 1924 the international community once again allowed the manufacture of aircraft engines. It was not until 1928 though when BMW acquired the Dixi Company that had been building cars since 1889, that its road to car manufacture was set in place. Dixi’s greatest asset was that it had a licence to build Austin Sevens, and in that year alone production was 6,120. The rest they say is history, but with another world war to survive and their eastern factories ending up in East Germany out of reach, and their western factories bombed, and then all remaining facilities confiscated as "war reparations" it has hardly been a easy road! In fact it was only in 1960 that BMW started to make real gains with production increasing year by year.
In BMW style, the first Z3 owners only had one engine to choose from, but then as time went by more and more engine options became available. Firstly it came only with the 4cyl 1.8l 118bhp engine and was widely slated for its lack of performance, BMW answered the criticism by releasing the 1.9l 140bhp in early 1996. This slashed a full second off the 1.8’s 0-60mph time and increased top speed to 127mph. Then in late 1996 BMW really turned the frowns into smiles with the release of the 6cyl 2.8l 192bhp 135mph model, and this is the model we have managed to secure here at Classic Car Experience. It is somewhat of a rare beast here in New Zealand, as most Z3’s are of second hand Japanese import origin, and so are fitted with automatic transmissions. Our New Zealand new 5 speed manual transmission model is only the second one to come on the New Zealand market in 6 months of looking (the other one being in rather rough condition), so is very rare indeed. If there is one thing Lee (Classic Car Experiences owner) does not understand, it’s the term "sports car" and "automatic transmission" in the same sentence!
A small list as to what to expect from our "modern classic"
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Jump forward to 1995 and BMW decide its time to join the resurgence of the affordable convertible sports car with the Z3, and what a launch with BMW securing the car rights for the new James Bond movie Golden Eye with the Z3. So convinced were BMW about the car being a success in North America that they even built a new factory in Spartanburg South Carolina (America’s first) to handle world production. Although only 2,060 cars were built in 1995, by the end of 1997 nearly 110,000 had been produced, and once again BMW had got it right!
One Classic lines up against another!
So is this a real Classic? that’s the big question I suppose. Ok so its not that old being 1997, but Lee feels its going to line up to be a great classic in the future, if in fact the 2.8l model is not already. Plus if you are used to your modern everyday car, there is not the big adjustment needed with the Z3 as in hiring any of our other 3 cars, especially if doing a longer trip.
Sounds like a great car to us! So come experience a classic in the making and make the judgment yourself. 
