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The BMW Roundel carries a lot of stories. Of quaint picnic trips with a 2002 loaded up with wicker baskets and ’60s hairdos; of the maligned but wonderful M1 race car; of the beautiful big coupes that graced roadways and dominated racing circuits the world over. There are many facets to the history of the Bavarian automaker, and it would be an impossible task to sum it all up in a single book, let alone a review of a few of them. Breaking it down into consumable parts is the way to go, and these two books do an excellent job sharing their subject matter.

Both are written by Jackie Jouret, the former editor of Bimmer Magazine, so it’s not like they’re coming from a source that doesn’t care about her material. The photos are all contemporary, shot in-studio, and are supremely detailed, but included with these (in both books) is an extensive repository of historical photographs, sketches, drawings, schematics, ad material, and artwork to flesh out the historical elements. In both Icon and Heroes of Bavaria, Jouret and her associates have crafted thoroughly modern works that don’t skimp on talking about, and illustrating, where the stories came from.

The Icon: 50 Years of the 2002

The 2002 is the car responsible for bringing the brand to America in force. Before this car, the German company was only selling a few hundred cars per year in the States through a handful of importers, but with the Type 114 “roundie,” that all changed. The textual element of the book is a history lesson that moves along briskly without getting bogged down in too much detail, but it doesn’t brush over anything either. It’s easy to read, but not by way of jettisoning all the facts.

If you read through it all, you’ll undoubtedly come out the other end with a better grasp of BMW’s paradigm-shifting sports sedan, and along the way you’ll encounter the personal stories of owners who have restored, preserved, modified, or raced some iteration of the venerable ’02 along the way. Never-before-published design drawings from the company’s archive are presented among studio photography of the 24 cars exhibited by the BMWCCA (the publisher of both books listed in this review), and these artistic elements of the book let it stand as a coffee-table-type, even though there’s plenty of information to complement the prettier parts of the page.

This is a high-quality, weighty softcover book, with a thick, satin cover and superior photographic paper. Page count is 148.

Publisher: BMW Car Club of America Foundation
ISBN: 978-0-9994233-3-2
Size: 12in x 9in
Weight: 2 pounds 13 oz

Heroes of Bavaria: 75 Years of BMW Motorsport

BMW is proud of its sporting image and its association with racing, but it wasn’t always such a strong in the world of motorsport. It’s hard to remember that though, given how much sucess they’ve found over the decades, and having found it across so many disciplines. In 1983 Nelson Piquet became the Formula 1 World Champion in his BMW-powered Brabham BT52B. In 1999 BMW won Le Mans as a constructor with the V12 LMR, after having powered the winning McLaren F1 a few years prior.

F1 and top-class endurance racing honors aside, the brand has always been the most competitive in touring car racing, and between the CSL and the M3 nobody has won more championships than BMW. But even before Jochen Neerpasch and Martin Braungart came over from Ford to start the official Motorsport arm of the manufacturer, the Bavarians had found success in racing at such prestigious events as the Mille Miglia. From these early days of competitive racing to the recent GT efforts, this book does an excellent job of giving each element of the BMW racing story its due. From the well-known M1 Procars and PTG M3s to the more obscure stuff like the time they raced a works M5 four-door against 911s, Heroes of Bavaria explores every corner. Like the 2002s above, high-quality contemporary studio photography is mixed in with historical imagery to tell the story in full.

This is a high-quality, weighty softcover book, with a thick, satin cover and superior photographic paper. Page count is 112.

Publisher: BMW Car Club of America Foundation
ISBN: 978-0-9994233-1-8
Size: 12in x 9in
Weight: 2 pounds 4 oz

Find these two books available for purchase in the Petrolicious Shop