BMW Car Club Gauteng Concours d'Elegance 2023 (with video)

With BMW celebrating its 50th anniversary in South Africa, the BMW Car Club Gauteng made sure that the 42nd staging of its annual Concours d'Elegance, sponsored by iTOO, was truly special. 

Overall, the event saw 70 club members participate, with 21 cars vying for the impressive trophies across four categories. The BMW Car Club Gauteng has around 670 members and has been active since 1981, with the first Concours taking place in 1982. 

The 21 cars entered this year spanned from a beautiful silver 1968 BMW 2000 CS to a relatively new 2012 E92-generation BMW M3 Competition. The four categories were; Show & Shine, d’Elegance, d’Etat and d’Honneurs Preserved.

Cars.co.za and SentiMETAL’s Hannes Oosthuizen was a judge this year. “It’s been an eye-opener for me,” Oosthuizen said. “As a first-time judge in this type of competition it’s quite something to witness the detail that goes into judging. We were peeling back rubbers to look for dust, and using earbuds to check in the most intricate of places!”

In a field alongside the participating vehicles visitors could stroll between some of the most important models in BMW’s illustrious history, including the M1, 333i, 2004 SA and even an achingly beautiful 1937 327, belonging to Clive Winterstein, which received a special “Judges’ Choice” Award.

• Pre-order your exclusive 1/18 scale model of BMW South Africa's iconic BMW (E30) 333i here.

Even the undercarriage of the vehicles were inspected closely, and mileage and service history were important factors, too.

The winners in the four categories were;

• Show & Shine: Dhiresh Dewnaryan (BMW E92 M3)
• d’Etat: Preenie Pillay (BMW E30 325is)
• d’Elegance: Ian Fisher (BMW E23 728i)
• d’Honneur Preserved: Ross Cornelson (BMW E46 330 Ci Cabriolet)