I grew up in Hanover PA - it used to be a hotbed of old BMW activity. But, all the 02s in Hanover rusted away years ago, except for mine. It moved to West Chester PA after two years of body restoration by the old guy who remembered doing collision work on them when they were new. Back in the day, there were several people around town that had 1600s, 2002s, and Bavarias. We all knew each other, flashed lights, honked horns, stopped and chatted. You don't have that experience with new BMWs. When I was a kid, there was a two-car BMW showroom in Hanover. It was called B&W sales. Basically, you had to buy the car they had in stock if you wanted one, or wait for Hoffman motors to get some more in. That's how my dad ended up with the florida 1600. BMW dealers had a completely different vibe back them - much, much more low key and down to earth - too bad they couldn't stay that way. I still have a set of plastic toy keys on a big BMW roundel keyring that they gave out to keep kids occupied in the showroom. Randy Homan was the "independent" BMW wrench in town when I was a kid - he took training classes from BMW in Germany. Lots of interesting cars over there when I would go over to his shop with my father in the 70s and 80s. His shop is where I first started to learn about working on cars. There were also some cool old import car junkyards in and around New Oxford, York, and Dover - but they're probably just rust piles and housing developments now.
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If your life is dull, perhaps your car is too new and you're not driving far enough...

1969 1600 florida (Moonglow)
1990 325i brilliantrot (Lola)
2003 325xiT orientblau (Ursula)
2003 F-150 4x4 (Ganesh)