Bimmerfest is a well known name across the pond – it’s the name of a huge BMW show in the USA which has been going on for years. Bimmerfest Europe is the attempt to create something similar in Europe – in Venlo in the Netherlands, to be precise. For the first attempt, it certainly didn’t disappoint!

The show was open to anything with the BMW roundel – or the Mini badge, as the case may be. Visitors flocked from all neighbouring countries – I spotted cars from Belgium, Germany, France, Switzerland and the UK.

It was great to see that the show offered a great diversity of cars – not only was there a car of pretty much all the major BMW series, but you could find them in lots of varying styles as well. Be it completely stock restored E12s, race ready E30s, comfy E38s or completely mental builts on various chassis.

I quite liked that the show was not overfilled with big money showcar builds that can barely be recognized as the car they started from, but was rather a big meet of BMW enthusiasts of all walks of life.

This E38 was looking clean and was proudly displaying it’s 12 cylinder gas guzzler.

Obviously, people wanted their cars to shine… and this E91 certainly did as it was looking very nice on it’s Röwhe wheels.

This pic gives you a good idea of the diversity of the show, with the stanced E39 in the foreground and the 2002 tii racecar in the background!

These were some of the cleanest cars at the show…!

8 series seem to look great in any color, especially when they’re modified by Alpina!

There were also some vendors displaying some slick wheels… like this BBS with a wood grain center cap… Classy!

This E39 was quite simple but showed that a healthy drop and a set of good looking wheels is all a car needs to stand out!

Don’t be fooled by the rather unassuming exterior of these two E30s…

The one on the left was sporting a Toyota turbo engine…

… while the one on the right was equipped with a BMW V8!

This E30 convertible was really well done – I especially liked the fender work done to it.

This is pretty much as rare as it gets – a genuine Alpina Z1! I guess it was only to be expected that the show would bring out some amazing Alpinas, as it was also host to the annual Alpina meet.

This E21 was a really well done build… especially as you could literally eat off the engine!

See what I mean? Of course, it’s probably a bit over the top, but that makes it even more amazing.

Speaking of over the top – the 6-series next to it was completely MENTAL!

Another really cool build was this motorsports inspired Alpina E23 7-series.

Huge Vossen wheels on a Z4… really makes it look good!

This E34 on it’s big Hartge wheels made me really regret selling mine… the E34 is such a classic timeless car!

Someone even managed to sneak a rather cool 190E Benz into the meet!

I loved this example of clean OEM+ styling. The combination of the British Racing Green paint usually found on M3 GTs with the nice drop and the E39 M5 wheels really looked great.

A bit late to the party, this E30 vert made my jaw drop when it pulled into the show later in the day!

Bimmerfest Europe was a great event! BMW fans in Europe, keep your eyes open for this show, as I’m sure it won’t be the last time it’s happened!

Be sure to check out the whole gallery, either on Flickr or Facebook (don’t forget to tag yourself and your friends if you spot yourself!