A real, live, on-the-road BMW X-5.
Once on the road, I quickly crossed into North Carolina. Didn't look much different than southern VA, which does seem much different from northern VA. A BMW person called me back to let me know that although both tours this afternoon were full, she'd put me on a walk-in waiting list, and she was quite sure that it wouldn't be any problem getting me in. Good.
Stopped at a rest area for lunch (leftovers from the wedding, which will last me for many more days), and made it to the BMW factory/museum at about 1pm. I had to park the rig way out in the middle of nowhere, but on my walk across the enormous parking lot, I spotted 3 new X-5s (BMW's new SUV ... er, I mean, SAV). The parking lot must have been 50% BMWs, and half of those were Z3s of some flavor or another (not much of a surprise, since this is the only factory in the world for them.)
Went inside and checked on the tour, and yes, I was in. Walked around the museum for a little while to waste time. The museum was very disappointing. It's tiny and adds very little value. But there was a film that started at 1:30, called The Virtual Factory, which was pretty cool. It was a condensed factory tour, with cameras mounted on a car as it traverses its way through the assembly process.
Then the tour began. We each got safety goggles and a neat headset. The guide walks around with a cordless mike, and as long as we all stayed within about 150 feet of him, we could hear him loud and clear, despite the noise of the factory. Good idea.
The factory was very cool. We just walked around directly through all of the action, not in any sort of restricted viewing area or anything. It was amazing for an owner of one of the cars they are building. Just boxes and boxes and crates of parts that fit on my car. I wanted to walk away with one of everything, just in case :-) Especially the huge stack of wheels and tires!
Surprisingly they seemed to be building about as many Z3 coupes as roadsters. Of course, 60% of their production is shipped overseas, and lots and lots of the cars were clearly for other markets. But the differences are subtle -- I ogled over a car just like mine for at least a minute before I noticed that it was right-hand drive!
The various cars they build, including all of the Z3 variants, and the X-5, are all built one after the other. It's not a bunch of one, then a bunch of another. All of the cars they build are already sold (often to a dealer, not to a customer), and so each one is built to spec, based on when the order came in.
Some interesting facts: a Z3 roadster has 25 pounds of paint on it. The Z3 hood is the largest single steel body part in the entire industry -- other large hoods are actually put together from separate pieces. There are something like 200+ different side mirrors for the Z3s, for the Ms and non-Ms, and for all of the different countries they sell to.
Anyway, after the factory tour, I headed south, with the next planned stop at the Kennedy Space Center. Stopped once to take care of some business with work -- had to find a fax machine to deal with some forms -- but otherwise I drove straight through to here, which is Yemassee, SC. Should make it to Cape Canaveral early tomorrow afternoon.