The ultimate online museum?

Guess who has gone online to bring you up to speed with models dating right back to the late 20s when it first started building cars? 

The answer, as you’ve probably guessed, was in the heading and images. BMW has an official museum in its Munich headquarters. But for those saving carbon credits, the automaker now has an online museum. It contains detailed information and photos of models dating back almost 100 years.

The online museum, or ‘product catalog’, lists 424 models. And if you add in Mini and BMW Motorrad there are considerably more. Both of those brands have had their own product catalogs since 2021.

Vehicles are organized by model series, decade, and body type. There’s also a search bar allowing users to go directly to a specific model they might be researching. Each entry includes photos and specifications. In some cases, there are links to additional publications like brochures, workshop literature, and specialist books.

If you choose 3-Series, it narrows the decades to the 1970s, ’80s, ’90s, and 2000s. Body types include Compact, Convertible, Coupe, Sedan, and Touring. Choosing the 2000s brings up the E46 generation, and selecting the Coupe body style further refines the list to 12 distinct models. Unusual variants include the M3 CSL and M3 GTR.

BMW fans and classic car enthusiasts will likely discover vehicles they never knew existed.

Most of the information comes from BMW’s archives. The firm plans to continue updating the catalog with future vehicle generations.

For more, see here.