in 1964, a buddy agreed to smuggle his pal out of East Berlin... in the back of his Isetta. No, there is no trunk, there is no luggage area... he customized his engine area, removed the fuel tank, spare tire, rerouted the exhaust, and made a space big enough!

And they show how it was done on the new Grand Tour, episode 5. 

this is how much space he had to fit in

By the time the Berlin Wall fell in 1991, a total of nine people were smuggled to freedom curtesy of a BMW Isetta.

He removed the air filter, the heating system, the spare tire and the standard 13-liter fuel tank and replaced it with a tiny 2-liter canister—just enough fuel to cross the border. 

He stripped out t 

In 2019, BMW commemorated this historical event by releasing a cinematic short film about the ordeal titled "The Small Escape."

https://www.pacificbmw.com/the-small-escape-smuggling-passengers-across-the-berlin-wall-in-a-bmw-isetta/

the BMW Motorrad Vision Next 100, a self-balancing concept motorcycle unveiled in 2016 inspired by the historic 1923 BMW R32.

https://robbreport.com/motors/cars/gallery/bmw-motorrads-vision-next-100-motorcycle-concept-takes-the-long-view-251913/bmw-motorrads-vision-next-100-concept-bike/

via 

https://dailytimewaster.blogspot.com/2026/08/ooooh-imagine-driving-that-around-town.html

BMW reported a 51% “recycling rate” from dead cars thanks to new sorting and smelting techniques applied to the brand’s own cars (thank you George!)

51% of BMW materials are of high enough quality to go right back into production with no discernible difference in quality from newly manufactured ones. 

For reference, the current industry figure is just 6% from testing materials from 433 dead cars across 60 different models. 

To achieve the massive increase in recyclability, BMW engineers pushed beyond the industry’s current shredding and bulk material recovery processes. 

Engineers also followed output streams to see which of its recycled materials could begin life anew as BMW parts rather than heading downstream to lower-quality parts or other industries.

https://www.mensjournal.com/auto/bmw-says-it-can-turn-dead-cars-back-into-new-bmw-parts

it is amazing to see the beginning of a car company's run, and compare it to their latest model

a model T Ford and a GT 40, or GTR Mustang, would be another cool comparison

https://dailytimewaster.blogspot.com

Comic Con is coming, July 22-26, and I'll be a bit busy organizing a team for waiting in line for Hall H in the next coming weeks, and that's going to reduce my amount of blogging a bit. Not a lot, but a bit

I saw this BMW when waiting for the gas to pump

 

when getting lunch on Friday, I see this BMW, similar to one I posted a week or two ago. It's Qualcomm's lunch bunch

 

last week they were in a taller version, but still BMW

and at another fast food place I go to. 

seen on today's walk...

This makes the 2nd 914 I've found in this neighborhood... but that's a flat front tire on the passenger side front.

what the hell is the deal with this license plate? Yellow on black would be right for this era, but this sequence isn't the 3 letters followed by 3 numbers that would be proper for this year. Must be one of the new re-issued plates, which are fine for new cars, but, it's all wrong for the cars in the 60s to have the right color plates, without the right alphanumeric sequence

first time I've seen a 80s/90s 1st generation Humvee in nearly 17 years. 

 

this car has been parked so long, the tire dry rotted and went flat, on BOTH SIDES on the back. I think it's a beemer

the Santa Rosa parents of a 16-year-old just discovered the cost of getting their i8 BMW out of impound, and bail for their kid, as that dumbass was arrested for reckless driving, at 130 mph on the 101

This is NOT that actual car, it's the i8 I found last week parked in Mira Mesa. 

https://autos.yahoo.com/people-and-culture/articles/teen-driver-hits-130-mph-133007286.html

spiffy looking BMW... I never thought I'd see one of these parked on the roadside

I met Ron yesterday, and was shocked at what a good deal he got on this BMW... he paid less for it than it cost me to repair my Hyundai's radiator.

the walking for last week was postponed until the temps dropped, and the walking the last 2 days? Very disappointing in cool car results. These two are all there were that even reached the level of old and interesting except for the MG

 

BMW has some clever designer making this latest generation look pretty darn good. This owner took it a step farther, and put the dual air cleaners where they can be noticed

 the blacked out headlight covers help. They help every black vehicle look better

what is this called? Refusing to trade the old beemer in on the new one? Over and over? or waiting to see how mush the old ones depreciate before the won't have any value at all? Just how old can they get before no one will touch a beemer?

Only the one on the right is getting used. 

I think this is the way that the owner of all 3 of these, gets that BMW in the middle protected from theft, and it's license plate from being read and ticketed

I was way off on my guess of what this is supposed to mean, I was on the wrong track, and was thinking it has something to do with BMW, like a name of a German city. Nope.

 lol, well, I went with the BMW thing, and maybe was reading too much into the BMW colors on the plate, and Nürburgring, with the BNG at the end of the plate, and HM B G could be Hamburg... and then I was stuck thinking about German city names

Turns out, it was all California granola instead, because for unknown reasons, this beemer owner wants you to know they are a human being. 

A BMW 5 Series sat in the Hoak's Lakeshore Restaurant parking lot, just south of Buffalo, has become the “coolest” BMW, when it was left with the windows down feet away from Lake Erie last week

The abandoned BMW was reportedly stolen out of nearby Buffalo, NY

https://www.audacy.com/wben/news/local/hamburg-residents-taken-aback-by-frozen-car-along-lake-erie-shoreline

https://www.wkbw.com/news/local-news/southtowns/bmw-that-was-reportedly-stolen-and-abandoned-at-hoaks-in-hamburg-now-covered-in-ice

https://x.com/Bessex_Joshua/status/2006014158970520022/photo/4

How to completely destroy your racing Beemer

https://dailytimewaster.blogspot.com/2025/12/bob-will-never-forget-his-first-trip.html

it's a MIni, built by BMW, to look like a Porsche, so they call it a "Mini Ferrari" concept. What were they drinking?

 
The MINI Superleggera — or, “Minarri” as it’s sometimes called, was originally scheduled as an “i4,” to slot below the i8.

The car was unveiled at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este in 2014  

https://www.bmwblog.com/2025/12/01/mini-superleggera-mini-ferrari-drives-porsche/

https://www.bmwblog.com/2023/12/28/mini-planned-to-build-the-superlegerra-concept/

I had no idea I'd find Larry's car at SEMA