From the Egg to the Ultimate: How BMW Conquered America

I relate this story not to recite BMW history, but to talk about how this maker of fine performance sedans, considered the epitome of dashing good taste, made its mark in America. BMW wasn’t always as you see it now, building what it calls “The ultimate driving machine.”  In fact, BMW started here very humbly, and has come full circle since then. Let me explain:

The first BMW I ever saw came waddling into the Union 76 station where I worked when I was 18-years old, back in the late ’50s. It was tiny—in fact, tiny is an exaggeration, minuscule would be more accurate—and it looked like an egg set on three trouser buttons for wheels. It actually had four of them but the back two were pushed together under the car making them appear to be just one. It also had only one door in front like an old refrigerator.