How to get your date of manufacture from BMW

[JakeF]

I found an old post that gave the BMW archive address and just sent them an email the other day and got a response the next morning from Germany. It still works and was very efficient! With the engine/frame number they gave me the exact date of manufacture, the date it was shipped to the US, and who it was shipped to. It confirmed for me what I had been told about my bike - manufactured in '56 but not shipped to the US until '57. The new info was that it went to BMW importer Butler & Smith in New York before coming to California. The BMW archive people were very helpful. The address is:

info.grouparchiv@bmwgroup.com

[schrader7032]

Jake -

Glad to hear they're still responsive to the request. Whenever I get that sort of information, especially the build/delivery date, I enter that into a spreadsheet and eventually put a copy up on the forum. If you search for your BMW model using the boxes on the left side of the screen, you'll find a PDF file at the bottom of that page. With this information, people can look at the growing list and get a sense of where their bike fits. Of course, it's the best to have it from BMW, but the list gives a reasonable perspective about the model year and build date for each bike. The list is anonymous. If you would like to private message me your info, I'd be glad to include it on the list for a future update.

[schrader7032]

Thanks! I'll make the entries. Do you consider the R50 to be a 1955 model? And the R27, is that a 1964 model?

[wa1nca]

Kurt
Here is info on my 3 bikes
Dear Mr Byrnes,

Thank you for your email.

The BMW R 27 VIN 382468 was manufactured on March 10th, 1964 and delivered on December 18th, 1964 to the BMW importer Butler & Smith in New York City. The bike was equipped with a bench seat.

The BMW R 50 VIN 552459 was manufactured on August 11th, 1955 and delivered on the same day to the BMW dealer Bischof in Cologne.

Unfortunately not all of the delivery books do still exist, or sometimes they are incomplete. This applies to the delivery book of the BMW R 69 (R69US)
S. Therefore, we sadly do not have any data about that vehicle. On the base of the surrounding numbers we can only estimate that the BMW R 69 S (R69US) VIN 664070 was probably manufactured in 1967.

We hope this information is helpful for you.

Yours sincerely,

Julia Oberndörfer


Thanks
Tommy

[wa1nca]

Yes
R27 is 1964
R50 is 1955
R69US built late 1967 before BMW cut off the side car attachments registered as 1968

Tommy