Blog Post No. 24 - BMW Motorrad - A Bavarian Soulstory

We’re back with Episode 5 of A Bavarian Soul Story.

Big Man little car

In Episode 5 we find ourselves stateside in Long Island New York Visiting Peter and Kate Nettesheim.

sidecar

Peter Nettesheim has been collecting BMW motorcycles for over 42 years and his daughter Kate has been along for the journey since she was a small child. Peter and Kate were kind enough to invite myself and the Motorrad team out to their home / museum while we were in attendance to the Barber Vintage show.

Now lets a take a minute to focus on a few things here. Peter has amassed a collection of motorcycles that has made him world renowned. Peter is not only a collector, but a historian and a restorer. Peter himself has painstakingly preserved, restored and cataloged all of his bikes he has collected over the years. A collection that is estimated in the almost 1000 bikes.

Peek-a-boo

His collection is 100% museum fit and finish quality and I can whole heartedly say this brief 10 minute youtube video will not capture the aww and beauty within the walls at the Nettesheim Meusem. Furthermore in this video you are only seeing about 1/3 of the entire collection.

But how do you get to such a place? Well that's just it, you really can’t. Peter’s collection is both personal and private. The museum is actually an extension of Peters home and well this is a place for him to restore and enjoy. But lets get one thing straight this isn’t your average man cave or spiced up garage this is a legit museum quality display and for the lucky few invite only.Peter was gracious enough to let us bring the cameras though a place that the likes of Jay Leno and other VIP people have only seen. This was one of the VERY few times Peter has openly talked about his collection and let people through the doors to feast upon this treasured and priceless collections of rarities and beautiful bikes.

Peter and Roland

Now I’m sure you might be asking ok but who is Peter Nettersheim? Well Peter is a man who has dedicated his life to history of BMW Motorrad. He is someone who even Motorrad themselves has called upon from time to time for help looking for parts or even identifying bikes and parts of history for the preservation of the rich history of Motorrad.

(Remember Fred from episode 1? Yeah he and Peter are texting buddies!)

Peter also comes into play in the R18 story line because he was part of the small team of people who helped consult on the creation and overall design of what the R18 concept would eventually be and some of the key elements that were not only the style icons but the identity of this new Cruiser.

R18

I have to say though there was so much footage from our 3-4 days of shooting in Long Island that was left on the cutting room floor. Peters knowledge is as vast as his collection and this man dropped so much knowledge on us that our minds should have exploded. I was able to shoot some of my only personal images and behind the scenes photos for you all to enjoy to just try and show case how incredible this collection and experience truly is. As mentioned we have so much footage and imagery that unfortunately did not make the cut something things I’m sure I’m not legally allowed to discuss here but other things like peter’s garage and his original Porsche 911 up on the lift, or that Complete second story annex of parts Peter has amassed over the years he had to actually create his own MS-DOS program to serial number and organize it all. Yes, the man has his own parts department with full blown computer system to basically build any bike from scratch. His collection has some of the rarest bikes on the planet and some so rare that Motorrad doesn't have in their own collection.

MS-Dos

Peter’s hospitality and allowing us access to the museum was an honor and I want to say thank you to Peter and his family for allowing myself and the Motorrad team full access to their home for 3 days while we captured a story of what could be described as a tall tale it was almost too good to be true.

Round em up