BMW MOTORRAD MADE MY LIFE A RIDE
The year was 1973. My father Peter bought a 1962 BMW R27 from the original owner, Mr. Westerdijk in Johannesburg. Reason was that the public transport in Johannesburg closed down at 19:00 in the evening and he wanted independent transport. He wanted freedom and the seed for my lifelong passion for motorbikes was planted.
In 1974 we saw the launch of the R90S at the Rand Easter Show in Johannesburg. An icon! I was so impressed that I painted the BMW roundel and the letters R90S” on my school rucksack. It was at 14 where I met the boys from the family Ludwig, owners from Club Motors who were the BMW importers in South Africa at the time.
1975 arrived and I used to take my dads R27 to school when my parents were on holiday. I was 15 at the time and the king amongst my school mates when I would pitch up on a BMW motorbike. Of course it was highly illegal but those were the days. I was 48 years old when my dad confided that he knew all the time. He said that our neighbours weren’t blind.
Even though the R27 belonged to my dad, it was my pride and joy to clean, polish, service and repair it. I must have caught the bug then. I was soon repairing other BMW motorcycles as a hobby for other people.
Later that year disaster struck. The R27 was stolen outside the Guild Hall in Johannesburg where my dad used to park it every day.
My Dad got a phone call from the police at John Vorster Square in 1977. His R27 was found two years after it was stolen. He thought that someone was pulling his leg but it was true. A water reservoir somewhere near the township Soweto, was drained for repairs. Literally hundreds of bicycles, motorcycles, cars, shopping trolleys etc. came to light.
The R27 was in a pitiful condition and my father lost interest in it. He gave it to me as a present to restore. My passion became reality.
I had saved up some money and my sister Ilka and I flew to Europe for 3 months. I used this opportunity to visit the BMW museum and the BMW dealership Schorsch Meier where I bought an original orange BMW parts catalogue for the R26; R27, R50 to R69S models as well as a whole list of parts for my R27.
On my return to South Africa, the restoration of the R27 started in my Dads workshop. The assembly took place in my bedroom.
I completed the restoration shortly before my 18th birthday. Took my motorcycle test and got my license on the R27. Now it was legal to drive it in public. Instead of waiting until Dad had gone travelling.
I bought a second hand R12 in Brakpan and actually went to the Standard Bank in Randburg for a three month credit so as to finance it.
Went to university in Pretoria where I completed a degree in Ceramic Engineering. It was financed by the Ceramic industry with a German Engineer and squashed into 3 years with practicals.
In 1981 I went to Europe again for 10 months, hitch hiking and working my way around. I also travelled up north where I bought PAGUSA saddle covers.
I visited the BMW archives where I met the head, Hans Fleischmann and his co-worker Peter Zollner. I had bought both of them a bottle of Glenfiddich Whisky at the Johannesburg Duty Free before I left South Africa. Hans Fleischmann retired later but I have kept up the tradition of bringing Peter Zollner a bottle of Glenfiddich every time I visit him. This is when I was able to date my R12 from the original delivery records.
Well, money became short pretty quickly and I landed up as a waiter at the Drei Löwen Hotel in the Schiller Strasse in Munich.
3 months later, I thought that I had saved enough and moved on to visit friends in Switzerland. The money did not last long either and I soon landed up as a labourer on a farm in Kanton Bern……where I learnt my first Swiss German and how to swear.
Back to South Africa.
BMW motorcycles became an obsession. Networking seemed to happen by itself. Being a member of the Vintage Motorcycle Club, I was asked to join the BMW Club of South Africa as a committee member. Soon after, the club restructured into cars and bikes where I became the chairman as well as editor of the club magazine “Beemer”.
I somehow managed to upkeep all these activities and was soon also rebuilding motors and gearboxes for many official BMW dealers around Johannesburg and Pretoria. I was also buying up BMW motorcycle parts from old BMW dealers as well as importing from Germany and selling them amongst the BMW Motorcycle fraternity in South Africa.
In 1982, I visited Edenvale Electroplaters with a box of R12 parts for Cadmium plating. I noticed an older gentleman, customer, wearing blue overhauls, waiting at the counter. For some reason, I emptied my box of parts on the counter so that he could see them (sixth sense?). Without a hesitation, he asked me what BMW motorcycle I had (as he recognised the parts). And that is how I met my mentor Al Gibson, almost a second father to me and from whom I learnt so much. From that day on, I spent many hours with him in his small workshop, learned how to perform wonders on an antiquated Myford 7 lathe, drooled over his R5SS which he had since the 1950ies. I was soon christened “the tea boy” as I became responsible for making the tea for the two of us and his many other guests and friends.
All this and somehow I held down a job as Sales Manager for a large ceramic concern.
In May 1986 I left family and friends in South Africa and flew to Zürich. My first job was on the farm in Bern, followed by a job as export manager for light and laser equipment for the show industry followed by a job in the construction chemicals industry in Schlieren in 1989.
Here I met Esther in 1994, who worked in the same company as a financial controller. I had no idea that this would change my life in a significant way.
I started my BMW hobby again and imported my 3 BMW motorcycles into Switzerland namely my Dads R27; R25/3 and my R12 (still in boxes) as well as all the parts that I had accumulated. The hobby soon dominated my spare time in Switzerland. It was not long before I became involved in the vintage motorcycle scene and was regular participating and selling parts on flea markets.
Woman power makes my dreams possible
1994 was the turning point. Due to unfortunate circumstances, I lost my job. With Esther's encouragement and vision in 1995, we turned my hobby into a profession. It was clear from the first moment that Esthi would become the CEO of our company, because I, as a passionate nerd, would soon have lost the overview.
In October 1995, we travelled to Munich with the obligatory bottle of Glenfiddich and met with Peter Zollner at newly founded BMW Mobile Tradition.
Christian Eich enthusiastically told me about their new division and car projects that they were doing as well as new production of long obsolete parts for example for the Isetta and 2002. I suggested that he should also consider the same for BMW motorcycle parts as there was clearly a demand for quality parts on the market. He replied that was his intention, as an avid R68 owner he shared the same passion. Only problem was that he had nobody in house who had the knowledge to start this up. Esthi and I offered our expertise to do certain groundwork namely the EPC (Electronic Parts Catalogue) as well as the definition of an initial product pallet of motorcycle parts. Shortly afterwards, we received our first contract with BMW Mobile Tradition to fullfil.
At the time, we lived in a farmhouse out in the countryside of canton Zürich named «Säuliamt». In the office right next to the bedroom, a fax, Macintosh and two workstations were set up. While I was still writing invoices by hand, Esther set to work building an "automated" work solution. Shortly afterwards, we were able to put the first software developed by Esther herself into operation. An extended version of this software is still in use today.
As early as 1997, our first homepage with ordering facilities was put online. Fax, telephone and online orders were humming, so that American customers were regularly tearing our sleep away by fax. On weekends we also served customers at flea markets all over Switzerland.
At that time Esthi created the graphics for the BMW EPC with the help of one of our first employees, while I was in Munich at BMW for 3 months. It was an extreme hectic and hard period where we grew from strength to strength.
The small shop with a farmhouse feeling became smaller and smaller, so that in 2000 we moved into a commercial building in Holderbank, Aargau. While we were setting up our new parts warehouse in Holderbank (Remember, Esther was 100% employed externally and was the bread winner from 1995 till 2004. She would come home in the evening, change her working hats and set up and sort out our storage system till the early hours of the morning. This carried on for months before all was completed. Even our company software was written and programmed by Esther as there was no commercially available solution on the market which was affordable for us.
In 2003 we got the call to implement the BMW Classic CI on our building. We are still very proud of this today.
In 2013 came the last big step in our journey. We expanded again and after an intensive construction period of the current building, we moved overnight with our usual power.
Our product pallet increases constantly as well as our local and export markets. Our product range is for models from the 1920’s pre-war, through to current BMW motorcycle models. We are very proud to be able to supply BMW Motorrad enthusiasts all over the world with spare parts. A dream has come true and can now be lived every day. And it fills me with joy and pride to be able to help save, restore and bring back to life motorbikes that are eternal in design, beauty and performance.
I still have all three of my BMW motorbikes today. With the R12, I really wanted to start
bringing her back to life.
BMW Motorrad - You made my life a ride - I make your story complete
Mark Huggett
passion to preserve
