We meet in a modernist house from the late 1940s and early 1950s. It is a family heirloom, full of unique items; every one of them remembers a time before World War II. Each could tell us fascinating stories that we rarely hear today.
The history of the house is no less turbulent than the fate of the BMWs gathered in the Bonaventura Classic Collection. Suffice it to say, because of a confluence of events, the family sold the house and the purchaser remodelled it, changing its shape completely and destroying its architectural style and beauty.
The founder of the Collection promised himself that the day would come when he would buy the house back. This is where his grandfather lived, this is where the BMW was once parked in the driveway, thanks to which you now hold this album in your hands. The promise he made has finally come through. Painstaking work undertaken to restore the previous form of the building has resulted in its present look – the same as its gifted architect intended in the 1940s. So, the house has once again become an elegant villa, worthy of having a conversation about dream cars in it.
Car collecting is a disease. It starts innocently enough with one thing – the fulfilment of a dream. The host-collector tells me a personal story about the rise of his fascination.
In my case, first there was a specific idea: I wanted my grandfather’s car. It was a 1969 BMW 2000, which I liked very much. I was only a couple of years old in the early 1970s, but I remember that this car attracted so much attention, as if it were a space vehicle.
In early 1970s Poland, seeing a Fiat 125p was an event, and a new BMW caused a sensation wherever it appeared. I remember that it was a perfectly normal thing anywhere in Poland in that period.
Wherever we stopped there were a high number of people gathering around the car. Today, cars do not attract such interest. I remember the questions: ‘Sir, what’s the speed it could reach?‘ and ‘Sir, how much does it pull?‘ People were convinced that if the speedometer was calibrated to 200 km/h, the car was really going that much. It was a 100-horsepower carburetted version that maxed out at 190 km/h.
Unfortunately, in 1973, Grandpa passed away, and his son, the Bonaventura Classic Collection owner’s uncle, inherited the BMW. A few years later, the uncle sold the BMW and bought a Fiat 126p. The BMW was too expensive to maintain especially as there were small children in the family – priorities had to change. Thus, all trace of that first BMW was inevitably lost.
My grandfather was an enthusiastic car lover. A true pre-war self-driver. Before World War II, he used to ride a motorcycle from Warsaw to Vilnius on weekends. Five hundred kilometres on a pre-war motorcycle – it really is an achievement! Although he had a Fiat 518 company car, for private trips he used a motorcycle. In 1948 he bought a Lambretta, and then got his first BMW. It was a BMW 321 from 1938. In 1960, a law went into effect in Poland mandating the installation of turning lights. This model came from a time when they did not install such amenities. He said he would not chop his car and preferred to sell it. He sold the BMW and bought a five-year-old Fiat 1400 from an Italian embassy employee and drove it until he purchased the BMW 2000.
I remember a conversation with collector, Zbyszek Mikiciuk, who told me that the BMW 2000 is not that interesting. The BMW 6 Series, an E24 model, which would cost the same to maintain and repair, giving much more driving pleasure, is a much better choice. This convinced me. From the early 1990s I began to dream of getting a car of the BMW 6 Series. And after that there were further fascinations.
In 2014, however, I bought a 2000 BMW, just like the one my grandfather drove. The only difference is in the engine – here is a 130 hp unit, no longer carburetted, but injected. I imported it from France, it was in good condition, but I had to do the body work. After the overhaul, I took a picture with it next to the house. I have a framed photo of my grandfather standing next to his BMW parked in the same place.