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"Silver
Bullet"
Issue #2
Spring 2005
Ladies & Gentlemen,
The best part of the last four years has been meeting and developing great
relationships. From Iceland to Uruguay, from Turkey to Switzerland, from
Japan to Malta, from the Seychelles Islands to Alaska, and most important
with BMW in Munich, each day brings a new story. The Internet brings the
world to our doorsteps, and us to the world. Supplying BMW Marine parts
while building our Company has kept us very busy.
Last May we shipped our first engine 'Off' North America. 'Suzanne'
traveled by air from our Texas shop to spend the next 10-15 years on Keith
Blankley sail boat in Arabia. In our Waco Texas shop, Bill Boyd, a genuine
Aircraft Engineer, looked after rebuilding Suzanne. Bill has 3 more D12's,
including the ' Ugly Duckling', ready to ship. One is a new D12.
Now the best news ! Described as 'Massive' in Sail magazines
September issue, BMW is again committing to the Marine Industry, The
Bavarians have taken the lead roll in the America's Cup challenger yacht,
'Oracle'. 200 engineers in BMW's R & D department are at the Boat's
disposal. It is going to get very interesting. Will this return the
America's Cup to America in 2007 ? Guess where my money is going ? To
follow the BMW Yacht's progress visit
www.bmworacleracing.com.
Will
the value of your Sailboat begin to rise ? Reversing the trend started in
1988. Will your Power Boat follow the Sail Boats ? Let's hope so. We saw a
big hint last year in the U.K. Chris Courtenay put his gorgeous runabout
'Puddle Duck' up for sale. She sold 'Right Now'.
Price ? Full asking. Time ? In less than 48 hours. Is the 'Pride' in
owning a BMW Marine engine again catching hold ? It surely looks like it
from here on Lake of the Woods.
Our Aussi, Kiwi, South America and African friends are well into their
summer. Up here we had a White Christmas and will soon be driving on 3' [
0.91 metres ] of ice out on the lake.
The spring rush for engines and parts has begun. A good time to consider
getting some maintenance done on 'the Boat' for an enjoyable summer. Many
customers are now doing major overhauls on their engines. Replacement
engine sales will increase significantly this year. We have about 30
engines in stock. We are still looking forward to our first replacement
for a Yanmar. It almost happened with a D50-2 last year. Maybe this year.
The BMW Service Network slowly grows. Worldwide we have over 100 shops
with BMW experience. A few are excellent. We need your help locating BMW
'Quality' Marine Mechanics and Machine shops. Please send us your
recommendations.
We try our best to stock genuine BMW parts. Our inventory of BMW Marine
parts, engines and drives never stops growing. Every 6 months, Bud puts up
more shelves, and then he fills them; so then we can start over again. New
BMW Marine parts are still being made. When N.L.A., no longer available
form BMW or an OEM,, we manufacture them. It is a challenge to match BMW's
quality standards.
For our power boat customers we are pleased to advise we supply brand New
B130 and B635 engines. Two new B635's [ to replace a pair of B220's ]
should be on the way to Norway soon.
Amazingly, we still have the odd new engine or drive showing up. New
engines currently available are a D12 earlier mentioned, a D50-2, a few
D35-1's, two B190's with Mark ll drives and a B220 long block. There's a
new D7 out there as well.
Adding more pleasure to this mix, in the last 4 months, a few rare,
limited edition, BMW Power Boats have shown up. Take a look at Hakan
Nilsson Alpina 31 on our
www.bmwmarine.org
site. No !
It is not for sale. Hakan also drives an M3.
Finally, for the many of you with a passion for owning the best, we are
pleased to introduce Jerry Mitkowski. Jerry Mack Lives and works in the
'Big Apple', He recently rebuilt his D50-1 installed in his Osprey 222. AS
you will see, doing business with Jerry is 'Never Dull'. I hope you his
writing as much as I have. There's something about New Yorkers' humour
that gets me.
The Discovery of a
Marine Legend
by Jerry
Mitkowski
Chapter 1:
' I'm Outta here
'
20
years old. 'I'm outta here'? I
left the tyranny of my father's own personal communist country at 111 Wild
Ave, Staten Island, NY 10314, to examine the probabilities of the free
world. Don't get me wrong, I liked being alive there, I just knew there
was be a better way for me to live, so I left.
It's 1980, I'm on my own. My car is a 1967 VW squareback?.that was the
first year for VW fuel injection I think, perhaps for the Type III
anyway?.what a peach. I secured living quarters in the form of a $250.00
per month 'boatyard-workers' flat on the top floor of an old Victorian
mansion alongside the 'Arthur Kill'. The Arthur Kill was and likely still
is a polluted waterway on the north shore of Staten Island. I liked it.
For starters it had a fine view of both the majestic Bayonne Bridge and
the mighty Polaski Skyway. When the landlord showed me the place, I
looked, from across the room out the kitchen window, and saw nothing but
black steel going 'left' and eventually?.the words 'ANNA MAERSK' scrolled
by. 'This place is cool' I thought?right on this commercial drink with
huge ships going by. To this day, I can identify the sound of the
PIJLGRACHT?.a 370 foot cargo ship of Dutch registration, in my sleep.
Apparently it was at the center of an engine room fire scenario' last
year?.hauling cocoa beans in NY harbor. There's no way to describe the
sound of an engine that size, pushing that kind of weight under that
amount of thrust. I suppose, 'muted thunder without cadence' comes to
mind. Theoretically, there is a Doppler effect involved as the ship moves
by, but that's a stretch (for me anyway).
So, what do I need NOW? I'm free, have a car and an apartment. I had a
couple of very cool girlfriends ?..several. It was the eighties?AIDS
hadn't really set in on us all yet. Hmmmm?ahhh! MOTORCYCLE! Indeed?so I
get the 'Buy Lines' and spot a 1972 BSA Lightening A-25 for sale. $1000. 2
carbs, 650 cc and oil in the frame. A real buzz-bomb, post 1970 British
junk. I bought it. After eliminating the 'Lucas nightmare' by ripping out
the old loom and switches, I ran a few wires for the ignition and lights,
and I then mounted a pair of sticky Continentals to replace the cracked,
waxy old original Dunlops, and I was off. I rode that old BSA into the
ground, and as it turned out, the Beeza was a fine machine for tooling
around. I fell in love with that old twin?..it was a chugger, all bottom
end, sporting a very pleasant whistle that followed the engine speed in
pitch. I don't know what made that sound but it was classic. It sounded
like a little siren in the engine, but it was a healthy sound and it gave
the engine a distinctly 'machined' aura.
One day, I was over at Steve's apartment. Steve was a very strange
character. He had a 1970 Norton Commando, which was a great bike, Lucas
notwithstanding (sorry old chap, but when you suck, you suck). This Norton
was yellow. Steve was like?.7'5 and thin as a flagpole. My friend Brian
Burtner from Moran Towing once said that to observe Steve riding his
yellow Norton was reminiscent of a 'wax bean stuck into a banana'. He was
right. So, Steve, for all of the weirdness (Zappa, Captain Beefheart,
Hatfield and The North blasted on the stereo and garbage cans full of 'paraquot'
which was hideous pot that the US government poisoned in order to halt
imports, and wound up on the US market anyway?because we smoked it anyway)
was funny and really smart. I digress.
We were in the garage, and I spotted bottom half of the rear wheel of
what looked like a dusty old motorcycle covered with heavy canvas painters
tarps. Ever the inquisitive one, I couldn't stand it anymore?.I went on
over and lifted the tarp. I knew we were in the basement/garage of his
landlord's house. I also knew that the landlord was Jacob Greaber, a New
York City Civil Court judge. It was like sneaking a look in the principles
desk at PS26 when I was in 4th grade, which I attempted to do when Mrs.
Larney, his secretary with marvelously smeared lipstick and seemingly
home-made makeup?.busted me and conveniently hollered 'SIT DOWN RIGHT
HERE!!' You see, I was already in the office, so?..there it was?..a black,
strange machine with silver cylinders sticking out horizontally and white
pinstripes adorning it's remarkable jet-black finish. Lifting higher, I
could see that the instruments were built right into the headlamp?.man
this thing was weird?.and looking down I saw that the kickstart pivoted
outward from the lower left side of the gearbox, which was very
unusual?..and the real curiosity was, there was no chain on this thing?.it
had a drive shaft. I had the sudden impression of something profoundly
special and classic. I also felt that gnawing sensation of 'get your hands
out of that desk' but I was unable to comply. Within minutes, the canvas
was thrown aside, crumpled in a large ball about a foot from the side of
the machine, and Steve was yelling 'hey man put that back you can't do
that'. 'Bite me Steve' while slinging a leg over the massive dual seat
with a foot on the left peg, which may have well been a foot plate on an
M1A1 for the solid support it offered. I settled down onto this
glistening, dormant 1971 BMW R-75/5, with the smell of oil and dust
wafting up from it's strange power unit. At the moment the machine was
sustaining my full weight, with both of my hands on the bar, something
happened. Well, a few things happened. I had an epiphany of sorts. I knew
that I had just stepped into my new world, even though it wasn't going to
happen until I could save a bundle of cash to pay for this 'ugly' as Steve
put it, machine. Then again?his mind was soaked in paraquot anyway right?
Right.
I closed my eyes?..I could never imagine feeling so secure on a
motorcycle. OK?.it was on it's stand in the garage, I suppose the secure
feeling was somewhat warranted. Nevertheless, it felt good?this was a very
solid machine. 'Bike' was no longer applicable?..I had entered a new
category of motorcycle. As a 10 year old dreams of owning his first
minibike, I sat on that BMW, simulating in my mind the soft purr of the
ones I has seen humming around Staten Island, being in the Green Mountains
of Vermont. Right there on the dusty old boxer in the garage?.I had an
out-of-garage experience. I knew nothing about BMW motorcycles except that
Germans had been dead-serious about making them for 60 years in Munich and
they were legendary for an extremely refined design and consequently,
flawless performance and reliability. I was doing 60, on route 93?..a
second later I was on route 27 headed for the Hampton Bays with a very
furry female riding 'pillion'?.I love good brakes. Though this machine had
drum brakes, they were remarkably good?the bike stopped hard, and the
harder I went into the lever, the harder the drums jammed my passengers
breasts into my shoulder blades??thank YOU. You could stand on the foot
brake lever?literally. The associated components offered the operator the
assurance that this design could absorb whatever level of energy a human
was capable of issuing, and distribute that energy correctly and
efficiently, with no question of snapping cables or bent
levers?..nope?.this was a remarkable stack of metal, and it wasn't going
to 'give' under the hardest of hits. This was BMW. To say that the machine
inspired safe, sure footed riding is an understatement. Once accustomed to
the machine and it's rear-end torque reactions and strange engine with
cylinders sticking straight out the sides?.the reality set in, 'Jerry you
are NOT wrecking this bike'?it almost became more important than not
wrecking myself !
There in that garage?.in 1982?. The old R-75 was on it's center stand.
I was rocking side to side, back and forth?..this thing was not moving?.it
would not budge?.I thought 'what has this bike feeling like this ?' It
turned out to be 2 flat tires.
I bought it. $2000 for the black one and a white one in baskets, that
his son had dropped at which time the black one went under the tarp. I had
my first BMW, at 22 years old. I knew nothing about it and I didn't have
to know a DAMN thing about it??because the legend was true?.'fill her with
gas, check the oil & rear end and forget it'. Old man Greaber was right. I
rode that R for twenty years with one lapping of the valves somewhere in
the middle?..what a charmer.
To be continued . . . . .
Background Bit's
and pieces from Jerry :
"There's my darlin' Aquasport Osprey [ attached ] the fine girl with
the BMW D-50-1 under the console. Nice ' hunky' coastal fisher. I love my
boat. I love my BMW.
My D-50-1 ran like a champ all summer, and I ran for 7 hours on Sunday.
I cruised for around 40 miles, and for most of that time the throttle was
wide open. That engine just loafs along. The tone of the engine is
divine....it's so healthy and happy. It's really quiet too. It sings in
fact. I ran 5 cases of fresh Valvoline through that baby......you should
hear how it ticks over....simply superb.
I'm delighted to have a BMW diesel marine engine as I've been riding BMW
bikes for 23 years, A 2000 R-1150GS being my current machine.
Of his
work, he is also passionate. Jerry writes on his recent 'project', an
inimitable Steinway Model 'D 9' Concert Grand.
"I love to work with wood. Especially where boats are concerned, and
the piano trade never hurt! I work in a Music College with a huge Opera
Dept.
Steinway, was founded in NYC in around 1855, and is actually still
building these machines down in Queens, NY, USA. The ancestry is 100%
painstakingly GERMAN.....I had the good fortune to be allowed to do a
ground up restoration. This instrument was in the corner filled with
garbage for 15 years. I took her down to nothing. After two years, I'm
getting ready to unveil her staggering power and beauty for the new
semester."
Happy New year to
all, especially to you Jerry Mack, to Bill Chalmers somewhere in the
Caribbean, and you to David Ruby in Paris.
2005. A great year coming at us !
with best regards,
Mit freundlichen Gr?en
Rich Langtry
V12 Engineering
Box 50, Keewatin, Ont. Canada P0X 1C0
Tel : + 807 543 3004
Fax: : + 807 543 2528
www.bmwmarine.net
www.bmwmarine.org
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