The text below appeared in The Foundation Forum issue #3

Earlier this fall, the Foundation Museum had a very generous donation. Dr. Leo Newland, an original founding Trustee of the BMW CCA Foundation, former Foundation President, and current Foundation Trustee, donated a car to our Museum. Before we get into the donation, let us go back in time.

Leo was on the National BMW CCA Board along with Tammi Hull in the mid to late 1990s. Tammi proposed the club create a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization to have a teen defensive driving program as well as a Library and Archives. At the time, a Museum wasn’t really on the agenda for the Foundation. In 2002, the BMW CCA Foundation was created. Leo and Tammi served together on the original Board of Trustees for the Foundation.

After a year or two, Leo stepped up to be the Foundation President. He served in this role for many years before turning it over to Lance White in 2015. Since then, Leo has remained on the Board of Trustees. Leo has seen our organization grow from nothing to Street Survival hosting over 100 schools per year, and the Library and Archives grow into a Museum that has now hosted four extraordinary BMW exhibits.

Leo decided to donate his daily driver 2016 Ferrari California T to the Foundation Museum. Wait, what? He donated a Ferrari to the BMW CCA Foundation…why? Well, there is a good reason for this, and we will explain. Yes, we are the BMW CCA Foundation Museum. Yes, in general, we are only collecting BMWs (cars and motorcycles or BMW-related companies) as well as BMW memorabilia and literature for the Museum.

Over the last 18 years, we have had 15 cars (1 being a 2002 trailer) in our collection. Some of these cars were donated to us to keep in the permanent collection, some acquired for the collection, and some donated for use as the Foundation sees fit. Two early examples that were used as fundraisers were a street/track E36 M3 and another was an E24 M635CSi. See another story in this issue about an E34 M5 recently donated to the Foundation.

So why a Ferrari? Well, for a couple of reasons. First, Leo wanted to support the Foundation as much as he could, and it was time for a new daily driver. Second, Leo wanted to encourage others to ‘think outside the box’ with regard to their support of the Foundation. Cars other than BMWs can be donated for use by the Foundation or they can be sold for financial purposes.  The Foundation is grateful for the support these donations provide for its programs, and donors receive a very nice tax deduction!  We would like to thank Leo for the very generous donation of his Ferrari in 2020.

The Foundation is especially gratified for the dedication and service of the Ambassadors and a big THANK YOU to them.  Your support will help us continue to pursue the Foundation Mission of Saving Lives, Saving History!

If you would like to donate a car to the Foundation Museum for either the permanent collection or to raise funds for the Museum or Street Survival program, please contact the Museum staff.

This car was sold on September 4, 2020.