Pristine BMWs battle it out for Concours Honours

BMW owners and enthusiasts showed up in droves at Mall of Africa in Gauteng this past weekend to celebrate the best examples of the iconic German brand.

Words: Hannes Oosthuizen

Images: Stefan Kotze

Again sponsored by iTOO, the annual BMW Car Club Gauteng Concours d'Elegance attracted not only club members, but also a large crowd of brand afficionados who could not only ogle the beautiful metal on display, but also choose from a wide variety of BMW branded merchandise. South Africans' love affair with this brand certainly is passionate!

Also on display and receiving a lot of attention (and pre-orders) was the officially endorsed book on BMW's Unique South African Story. The stunningly detailed and comprehensive publication was a labour of love for authors Marek Letowt and Johann Venter, and has now gone to print. Limited quantities remain, so if you would like to add this to your library, the time is now to order!

You can do so here.

In this, the 43rd staging of the Concours since its inception in 1981, 5 major trophies were handed out, with a further three special awards for Best M car, Best 5 Series and Best 325is.

• Find a classic BMW to buy for yourself.

Joining the cars vying for Concours honours was a magnificent display of historically significant BMW production cars, as well as racing machines. Uniquely South African BMWs, such as the E30 333i, E23 745i and very rare 2004 as well as 2000 SA could be viewed. 

Returning as a judge, Cars.co.za's Hannes Oosthuizen was part of the exterior judging team this year (interior, last year). "Though there were fewer cars, the quality of the entrants was certainly of an extremely high standard," he said. "We used a lot of earbuds to find dirt that a casual, or even a keen observer, would not have been able to spot. I was also particularly impressed with the originality of the top-scoring cars - the two E36 M3s looked pretty much brand new!"

Riaan Writes' 1995 E36 325i Convertible took the trophy in the Show and Shine category with a total of 94 points. He even had the car's original hard-top on display.

Andre Alleman's 1988 E30 325i Shadowline emerged victorious in the D'Elegance category with a score of 122.5 points.

In the hotly-contested D'Etat category, only one point separated the winner from the runner-up. In second was Yaseen Cassim's stunning E36 M3 (126 points) with the trophy going to Dhiresh Dewnaryan's beautifully prepped 2012 E92 M3.

In the D'Honneur Preserved category the silverware went to Preenie Pillay for his stunningly original (and mint) E30 325is. It is rare to see an original Evo 2 Gusheshe with its black chin spoiler.

The final big trophy (in the D'Honneur Restored category) went to the '89 E30 318 Coupe belonging to Bilaal Mia.

Dewnaryan's E92 M3 also took the Best M Car award, and Pillay's E30 325is deservedly received the Best 325is trophy. The Best 5 Series award went to the rare red E60 M5 owned by Guy Patron.