APRIL 2025 – Two BMW 5 Series cars painted as ‘original’ US police vehicles at the Bavaria Filmstadt near Munich, Germany. Photo © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com
The story behind the image
The other day we have been to the Bavaria Film Studios near Munich in Germany to take their guided tour around the studios.
Somewhere on the grounds, these US police cars were parked. They looked terrific despite some serious dust on the paint. Sadly, they were not part of the tour but I liked the look and took this photo. The cars were BMW 5 series (model E60) manufactured between 2003 and 2010. I wondered whether these could be genuine US police vehicles? Would the US police really use BMW 5 series cars? Being on the grounds of a film studio (and having seen some of their tricks and props) I figured that these probably were not real.
A bit of research showed the background of these cars. They had been used as US police vehicles – not in a film, but as part of a stunt show! Since March 2004, Bavaria Filmstadt had presented an action-packed stunt show recreating a gritty American streetscape. This show featured two current BMW 5 Series models which were transformed into American police vehicles. The police logo (“The City of Brooklyn Police Department”) was slightly modified to comply with legal requirements, which did not affect the show which offered visitors an authentic experience of American police operations. Apparently, the use of the cars was limited to the stunt show. Read more about this in the official BMW press release (in German.) Wikipedia can tell you more about the BMW 5 Series (in German.)
Here is a BMW press photo from June 2004 showing one of the cars in action:
So, if you are remotely interested in films and film making, plan for a side trip to the Filmstadt Bavaria. And if you are a fan of BMW cars, the BMW Welt is a must-see.
The high resolution image
| Capture Date & Time | 19-APR-2025, 14:12 |
| Location | Munich, Germany |
| Camera | Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G (SM-G990B2) |
| Exposure | n/a |
| Digital Image Source Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Dimensions | 3771 x 2121 Pixels |
| Copyright | © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com |
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