Jim Proffit, arguably the king of the pre-war BMW chasers, passed away on April 2, 2018, from an apparent heart attack.
For many decades, Jim successfully ran his Long Beach, California-based business, Racing Restorations. Jim pursued and located many of the pre-war BMWs that had been lost. He chased, found and restored many significant BMW racecars before BMW AG had any real interest in the company’s history. It is not an exaggeration to say that Jim did more to preserve BMW’s history than perhaps any other person.
He is probably best known for finding and restoring the most famous and valuable of all BMWs, the 1940 Mille Miglia-winning 328 Touring Coupe. The car participated in the 1990 Mille Miglia on the 50thanniversary of its historic victory. Jim continued to participate in historic racing events until selling the car to BMW Mobile Tradition (now BMW Group Classic) in 2003.
To those who knew Jim Proffit, he was a character. Some thought he was difficult and certainly he had some battles with BMW that illustrate that point. But most knew him as extremely knowledgeable and generous with his time and invaluable advice. The truth about the man is that he had a heart of gold.
Jim Proffit was a giant in BMW history and the preservation of that history. He will be missed and can’t be replaced. But his legacy is the preservation of many historic BMWs that might otherwise have been lost.
