Explore BMW Cars at BMW Car Club of America Foundation Museum

Explore BMW Cars at BMW Car Club of America Foundation Museum

BMW enthusiasts are a special breed. BMW is one of the world’s most popular car manufacturers and its cars have been in production since 1916! BMW has always been about passion, innovation, performance, and safety. BMW Car Club of America Foundation Museum features a collection of some of the most well preserved BMW vehicles, both life-size and miniature vehicles. Founded in Boston in 1969 by a like-minded group of 2002 aficionados, the club has grown into a 75,000-member organization that lays claim to being “The world’s largest owner-supported car club.” As BMW’s most active and vibrant enthusiasts organization, the club represents our true passion behind the wheel and the brand.

Visitors to the museum can explore the different types of cars from all over the world 

BMW Car Club of America Foundation Museum is home to a collection of BMWs from many different eras, including those by BMW’s most famous designers. The museum also houses numerous models, like the BMW E26 M535i and BMW Z45 LSA Visitors can explore more than 400 vehicles that span from 1952 all the way up to the present day.

The Foundation's Mission

The BMW Car Club of America Foundation is an enthusiast-powered nonprofit, working in partnership with our donors, corporate partners, and the 70,000+ members of the BMW Car Club of America. They are not a subsidiary or program of BMW AG or BMW North America, although they are strong partners with both.

Their shared mission is to help young drivers learn car control in real-world situations (Street Survival), and celebrate the heritage of BMW Motorcars through our Museum, Archive, and Preservation programs.

Street Survival

The Foundation has been providing avenues for encouraging the preservation and restoration of vehicles, and BMWs in particular. A national archive and library have been established in Greer, SC, which receives memorabilia related to, but by no means limited to, BMW and provides public access to this collection. Since 2003 the Foundation has offered subsidized car control training to teenagers across the United States through its Street Survival program expanding this critical human services program to more communities and more teens each year. 

Street Survival is an intensive, day-long clinic with each teenager trained one-on-one by a highly skilled instructor. Teenagers drive their own car in the exercises and learn how to control it in emergency situations. This is the kind of training that saves young lives, and our corporate partners and donors make it possible.

Foundation Library & Archive

Across the country, people are entrusting their BMW treasures to the Foundation. Their current building is bursting at the seams with remarkable memorabilia—some 50,000 individual items. They have the finest archive of technical manuals in the country. Back issues of key car magazines. original advertising, marketing posters, and brochures that go back to the 1930s. Signed racing car prints, custom artwork, model cars, driver uniforms—the list is endless, and getting bigger every day.

While the Foundation is sorting and organizing these priceless materials as best they can, these are overwhelming on their limited office and warehouse space. Irreplaceable paper-based archives require humidity-controlled storage if they are to be preserved and organized in a way that can be accessed and enjoyed—in person and online—by anyone with an interest in BMW and their heritage.

Museum, Archive & Preservation

The BMW CCA Foundation operates the world’s second-largest BMW museum & archive, on seven acres next door to the BMW Performance Center in Greer, South Carolina. The Museum belongs to the 70,000+ members of the BMW Car Club of America, although it is open to all visitors.

The Museum & Archive celebrates the 100-year history of the BMW brand, along with the nearly 50-year history of the BMW Car Club of America and its members.

Explore the Greer City Park for Fun Activities

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