Celebrating your own 50th birthday is really not much fun; for me it was a black-and-white realization that I’m officially older than dirt. Of course, I really wasn’t that old—but I only realized that when I turned 60.
It’s a completely different story when a company turns 50, and on March 14, 2025, BMW of North America reached that half-century milestone. As an employee, it is an honor to help a company celebrate one of its big anniversaries (25, 50, 75, 100 years old, etc.). I’ve been lucky enough to have been around for BMW NA’s 25th birthday (and still have the engraved Fossil watch to prove it). I led the planning and execution of the 100th anniversary of BMW during Monterey Car Week 2016, and now I’m part of the planning-and-execution team for the 50th anniversary of BMW NA (no Fossil watch this time).
In my role as head of BMW Group Classic USA, I have been working closely with BMW expert and historian Jackie Jouret on a project that we call 50 Stories for 50 Years. The Story of BMW of North America. I hope you have seen these stories. Frankly, this has been a labor of love for both Jackie and me; each week throughout 2025, we publish a chapter both internally to BMW NA associates and to the public. You can find all the stories published here.
Earlier this year, we competed in the 2025 running of the 12 Hours of Sebring. If you are not a race fan (I can’t imagine a BMW CCA member who isn’t), you may be wondering why Sebring is such a big deal for us. Allow me to explain. While BMW AG was negotiating with Max Hoffman to hand over the business in the U.S., the precursor to BMW NA was established in New York to prepare for the day when the BMW subsidiary would take over the importation, parts, and service for BMW automobiles. During this time, a Madison Avenue ad agency was hired to help promote and develop the BMW brand in the U.S. That agency, Ammirati and Puris, coined the tag line “The Ultimate Driving Machine” that has served BMW perfectly for 50 years.
Prior to March 15, 1975, while Hoffman Motor Corporation was still the official U.S. importer, BMW NA was not allowed to advertise. However, participation in motorsports was not part of the agreement with Hoffman; as a result, BMW Motorsport personnel were dispatched with two BMW 3.0CSLs to compete in IMSA endurance racing.
The team’s first race was the 24 Hours of Daytona in January. By the time the team arrived in Sebring for the second round, the termination contract with Hoffman had been so recently signed, sealed, and delivered that when the #25 BMW 3.0CSL driven by Brian Redman and Allan Moffat took the victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring, BMW of North America was only six days old.
Here we are 50 years later, and this year the 12 Hours of Sebring took place exactly on the birthday of BMW of North America. In celebration, our great friend, racer, enthusiast, and BMW M design chief Michael Scully and his team developed a fantastic new livery for the BMW M Hybrid V8 GTP race cars. We had OG BMW M boss Jochen Neerpasch, driver Brian Redman, and the 3.0CSL on-site to tie it all together and cheer on the current team.
Alas, it was not to be. After the race began with such great promise, it ended in bitter disappointment for the entire team.
BMW has only achieved overall victories twice at Sebring in the past 50 years, in 1975 with the CSL and in 1999 with the mighty V12 LMR (both pictured at top during the Monterey Motorsports Reunion). It would have been great to add 2025 with the BMW M Hybrid V8 to that list, but that’s racing.
Nevertheless, the GTP livery will stay on both cars for the remainder of the season. It is full of easter eggs that I’m sure you will all discover over time. Here is a short design description by Michael Scully: “Our 2025 GTP livery is a timeline-based homage to 50 years of BMW of North America. Starting with BMW North America’s March 15, 1975, inception, we’ve profiled some of our most formative continental milestones in chronological order, beginning at the front of the car and moving through time toward the rear.
“March of 1975 is also when BMW won the 12 hours of Sebring for the first time with the BMW 3.0CSL, and we commemorate that important first market impression by combining the Sebring track map with the M colors, which traverse the entire front half of the car. Other notable race victories and important BMW M-specific North American moments are profiled throughout, with sequential text callouts.
“In side view, the timeline aspect is also stylistic, with the iconic M stripes starting low and parallel at the front in the original M colors of light blue, purple, and red, then evolving to light blue, dark blue, and red in the mid-1990s, and finally breaking into more fractal bold shapes toward the rear.
“Additionally, coinciding with the GTP car’s electrified BMW M hybrid powertrain, the color purple reemerges in the livery, together with blue, as a signifier of the natural colors of electricity—thereby completing BMW M’s journey in North America: from purple and back in the Ultimate Driving Machine!”
I couldn’t have said it better myself.