President’s Page May 2021

BMW CCA E31 Chapter logo

BMW Car Club of America – E31 Chapter May 2021

Greeting E31 Owners

— The Voice of E31 Owners —
May 2021, President’s Update #10 – by Henry Christoff
Hello, Everyone –
Congratulations are in order for one of our E31 Chapter founding members, former Chapter president and long time newsletter editor, Roger Wray. Roger has been awarded the 2020 Outstanding Chapter Officer award by BMW CCA. Look for the announcement and presentation photos in the next issue of BimmerLife magazine!

BMW CCA Chapters will soon be getting an update to their logos and font designs which will reflect the current BMW Clubs worldwide design designations. I’ve seen a draft the E31 Chapter revised logo, and it is very nice. Our original design colors with “E31” remain unchanged. After approval from BMW Classic, we will begin using the new Chapter logo starting January 1, 2022.

I recently participated in a conference call hosted by Jeff Gomon, Central Region VP BMW CCA, who oversees non-geographical Chapters. Topics covered included new BMW CCA executive board members, including the new president, the new club chair of racing and driving events and introduction of the presidents of the non-geographic Chapters attending the conference call. Side note – The E31 Chapter was the first ever non-geographic BMW CCA Chapter. There are now four additional non-geographic Chapters: E30, 2002, X and M Chapters. That’s right; the E31 Chapter pioneered non-geographic Chapters concept! During the conference call it was agreed that the non geo Chapters would/should have their area governors reach out to any local Chapters for partnerships or event opportunities.

Membership – Please note Roger’s write up in the Spring 2021 E31 Chapter Newsletter that election time is approaching and we are asking for nominations for vice president and treasurer. Please read the info provided in our newsletter about these offices and consider putting your name forward. Don’t be shy; it’s ok to nominate yourself! Nominations can be sent to pres@bmwccaE31.com or sec@bmwccaE31.com

In April, we had five renewals and one new member (welcome!) join the E31 Chapter. It’s great that we continue to have folks renewing their E31 Chapter memberships!
Update – Underhood Insulation 51488128709 As I mentioned last month, this item was recently available again from BMW. I received an email from one of our Chapter members that this item was not available when he went to order from his local BMW dealer and also not available from Gault BMW, sponsor of our photo contest in 2020. I reached out to my contact at BMW Classic about this issue. According to their supplier, only a small batch of 80 pieces could be made from the existing tooling, which was already too worn to produce more than this quantity. An investment in costly new tooling coupled with low production volume would make the retail cost of the part extremely expensive. Therefore, the decision by BMW management was not to make new tooling. Unfortunately, this is disappointing news.

From the Web: – “Coming up”…..Sreten at M539 Restorations has posted two new videos on the Calypso Red E31 that he found sitting for years in a French garden. Watch them in order:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp8maTUxE9I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJXyq25pBr4
BMW Group Classic – nice videos on a variety of their cars and topics: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBzzLan-TqZkJGTGXOFrRxg

Finally: A couple E31 Chapter members have reached out to me to advise that they are selling their prized BMW’s. The monthly updates are not specifically a forum for selling cars, however, these two cars are noteworthy and I mention them here. Please reach out to the owners directly. Thanks!
*1994 BMW 850CSi with 42,000 miles – Contact Manny Pinzoni, 973-636-9297 or mjkpinzoni@me.com
*BMW E9 CSL – Contact Jay Proops, 312-218-2480 or jayproops@gmail.com
Until next month – Henry
Henry Christoff- pres@bmwccaE31.com
E31 Chapter Website: https://www.bmwccae31.com/
E31 Chapter Swag Store: https://nmwccae31.qbstores.com