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Club’s President Column


Hello, my name is David Brighton, and I am your new President. You probably want to know how I got involved with the Iowa Chapter of the BMW CCA, so here is my story. My first ride in a BMW happened in a friend’s 1995 325iC during sometime early in 1997. I had never ridden in a BMW before, as I had owned American classics. I had always thought BMW’s were for “rich guys” and had never really pursued any interest in owning one. I liked to go fast, but always in a straight line.

Our first ride as a family in a BMW was in a brand new dark green 1997 318i that I was allowed to take home for the weekend to Indianola to show my wife. We drove the 318i to Ames on Sunday to attend a tumbling meet for Katie. After some persuasion and stating the obvious advantages of owning a BMW, I started shopping for a car that I could afford. In a few weeks, a 1994 325i in all black with only 40,000 miles on the clock appeared at the Dave Ostrem BMW used lot in Clive. A couple of days later, a shiny black CPO 1994 325i was sitting in my garage. That was in 1997, but I did not discover that there was a group called the BMW CCA until 1999. I became a member of the BMW CCA in early 2000 and was first elected to Iowa BMW CCA Board of Directors in February of 2005. I served as an at-large director for one year and then was elected to the position of vice-president in February of 2006.

I hope you have had a chance to visit our new redesigned website that went live at the beginning of April. It is a tremendous advantage for the club and has many new features. The Board of Directors has undergone a transformation this year with many new and younger members. The Board is in the process of creating an environment of new events that will be mixed in with our tried and true favorites that should provide an inviting attitude to our current and potential new members. We have also filled a couple of new positions on the Board that should make communications more timely and relevant to our members.

I wish to thank Fred Bell for his hard work as President of the Board of Directors and his enlightenment and leadership for the past three years. I am looking forward to meeting any of our members that I have not met yet and hope to see you at an event soon.


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