derBayerische May/June 2023 - 8

BMWs
at The Amelia 2023
By Matt Anderson | Photos by Paul Seto
P
aul Seto, Scott Hughes, and I
had the pleasure of attending
the 28th Annual Amelia
Concours d'Elegance from March 35
at the Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island in
northeastern Florida. Having attended
in previous years, Paul returned
this year to volunteer on Saturday for
Cars & Community and to spectate
on Sunday. Last year he was part
of the crew that organized '50 Ms
for the 50 Years of M Celebration'.
On Saturday, The Amelia Cars
& Community presented by Griot's
Garage had over 500 vehicles on the
same field as the Sunday Concours
d'Elegance and featured three
segments.
Cars & Caffeine had 350
curated vehicles from across the
country. Forty classic and contemporary
BMWs were presented in front
8
of the BMW stand. BMW of North
America (BMW NA) showed special
vehicles from its own US classic
collection: the last Z4 M Coupe
produced, a 2003 X5 4.6is in Imola
Red, and one of fifty 2001 X5 4.4is
produced for the Neiman Marcus
Christmas catalog. The other BMWs
were presented by BMW CCA
members spanning the era from a
1973 BMW 3.0 CS to a 2021 BMW
M3 Competition, with a unique 1974
BMW 2002 Touring in the mix as
well!
Esteban Valentin, M Chapter
President, displayed his 2019 BMW
F87 M2 Competition at the Griot's
Garage display. It's always great to
see his car with its many performance
modifications, from front lip spoiler to
exhaust and everything in between.
RADwood, featured 150 awesome
vehicles from the '80s and '90s
and a costume contest for the
coveted " raddest " dressed award.
Here there were terrific BMWs including
many imported E30 wagons and
super rare E34 M5 wagons.
Concours d'Lemons, a fan
favorite feature, had about fifty oddball
and unexceptional cars. There
weren't any BMWs but there was an
AMC Pacer.
BMW NA and BMW Group
Classic (BMW Classic) had a display
focused on major celebrations. The
first was the 50 Years of the BMW 3.0
CSL 'Batmobile' with two cars owned
by Scott Hughes. He displayed his
1972 BMW CSL FIA Group 2 race
car, campaigned under the direction
of Jochen Neerpasch in the German
Touring Car Championship as well
as in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in
1973. The BMW Motorsport CSL
factory team included drivers Hans
Stuck, Chris Amon, Dieter Quester,
and Toine Hezemans. One of nineteen
original racing CSLs produced,
this car, chassis number 997, was the
fourth CSL race car built and has an
extensive race history both in Europe
and North America.
Scott's exceptional 1973 BMW
3.0 CSL was parked alongside the
display in the forty car collection as
the second CSL. The road version of
the 3.0 CSL provided BMW M with a
homologation special with which to
go racing. " L " in this case meant
" Leicht " , or " Lightweight " . Almost
every component of the 3.0 CS
foundation vehicle was weighed and
measured and, wherever possible,
replaced with a lighter version. The
doors, trunk lid, and hood were made
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