Original and restored 1928 BMW motorcycles on display at The Reboli Center.
Collector Peter Nettesheim and his daughter, Kate, with their BMW motorcycles
The Reboli Center for Art & History is keeping on track with its current exhibit, Shifting Gears, which focuses on the “art” of transportation by selecting Peter Nettesheim as its Artisan for the Month of May. Nettesheim was chosen because the exhibit features both an original 1928 BMW motorcycle and a refurbished one from his private collection, and he is known for his extraordinary collection and knowledge, said Lois Reboli and BJ Intini, founders of the Reboli Center.
Collecting and restoring cars runs in his family. His father was a Mercedes Benz collector, which spurred Peter’s interest in collecting, but he took a different route by going with BMW motorcycles and cars as he thought the Mercedes was more of an old man’s car and the BMW sportier. Peter bought his first bike in 1979, and he has since created the world’s largest collection of BMW motorcycles. According to Peter, he has virtually every regular production model from 1923 through 1970 and another 35 or so of them after that date. He has now amassed a collection of more than 120 BMW cycles, including 10 cars. His passion is to collect and refurbish old and classic BMW motorcycles and cars. He has about 90 that are in perfect running condition. His massive collection of bikes, cars, artifacts and BMW memorabilia are displayed in a museum at his home in Huntington.
Musician and motorcycle enthusiast Billy Joel at the Nettesheim Museum
Peter Nettesheim and his collection are well known throughout the world and both are highly respected by those in the industry. Celebrities and motorcycle enthusiasts like Billy Joel, Jay Leno, Ryan Reynolds and Lyle Lovett have visited his home/museum. The Nettesheim Museum is only open by prior arrangement, and if you have any questions regarding the history of the BMW brand, please contact Peter Nettesheim at [email protected]
Located at 64 Main Street in Stony Brook, The Reboli Center is free, and open Tuesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. For more information on the Artisan of the Month, please call the Center at 631-751-7707.
A view of the inside of Peter Nettesheim’s Huntington home. Photo by Victoria Espinoza
Peter Nettesheim embodies the idiom “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Step inside his Huntington Town home and it’s nothing like it seems from the outside.
Picture this: You walk through an ordinary front door, expecting a small foyer or hallway to meet you. But as your eyes adjust from the natural light, all you see are warm wood and soft lights reflecting off of dozens of different pieces of metal. No side table or closet for jackets. You become more confused before you begin to understand what you’re looking at. A second ago you were on a residential road, listening to someone’s leaf blower start up. The next second all you hear is a model train driving by overhead and The Jackson 5 playing softly in the background.
Nettesheim is the proud owner of more than 100 BMW vehicles. Although many are in storage, his home boasts an impressive portion of the collection. Motorcycles cover most of the floor space, along with trophies, antique gas dispensers and even a few vintage cars.
A view of the inside of Peter Nettesheim’s Huntington home. Photo by Victoria Espinoza
Jay Leno and Billy Joel have visited Nettesheim’s home, as well as more than 100 other private visitors each year. He calls it “his little sanctuary.”
Hints of Germany linger everywhere. A German greeting hangs from the ceiling and a mannequin named Elka stands in traditional German clothing sporting a dirndl, which is like an apron. Nettesheim explained that according to German tradition, the cloth signifies whether a girl is single or spoken for, depending on whether it is tied with a knot to the left or right. Elka is currently single.
In one corner sits the oldest BMW motorcycle to date, with a confirmation from BMW hanging above it. Across from it is a fully stocked bar, with several glass bottles of Coca-Cola personalized with Nettesheim’s name.
“My wife found those for me,” Nettesheim said.
This space is intimate, so it fights the feeling one gets at famous places like the American Museum of Natural History. One can literally sit at the bar and have a drink while gazing at relics. In one corner stands the oldest BMW bike in history, in another, a couch sporting pillows adorned with phrases like “man cave.”
Still, there are touches that make it feel like an established museum. Several motorcycles have backdrops behind them that display information about the particular model standing in front of it. Historic black-and-white photos of people riding old BMW bikes are also featured on the walls.
Nettesheim said the American Motorcyclist Association asked him to curate a BMW exhibit for its Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum in Ohio in 2010. His backdrops are straight out of that exhibit. Nettesheim chose all of the information and photos on the backdrops when he designed the show.
A view of the inside of Peter Nettesheim’s Huntington home. Photo by Victoria Espinoza
He said he didn’t take any money for the curation.
“I do this for fun,” he said. “This is strictly my hobby.”
Nettesheim is driven about his pastime and expressed surprise that many who visited his museum didn’t share the same kind of enthusiasm for a hobby — especially the younger generation.
“I never really understood that,” Nettesheim said.
The bike collector said that in conversations with his visitors he was caught off guard to learn that many had no hobbies of their own.
“There’s nothing that engages them, there’s nothing that they see and want to know how this works and how it’s made.”
He said he worried that his own hobby, shared by mostly the older generation, would eventually die out. “Most people you meet at biker clubs are not young guys.”
Despite the future of motorcycle collecting, Nettesheim remains driven by his passion. His father, a Mercedes-Benz car collector, has greatly influenced him. Nettesheim purchased his first BMW motorcycle when he was about 20 years old and fell in love with bikes ever since.
“I wake up in the morning and I think about the collection,” Nettesheim said. “There’s something I want to do. Every day I want to get home and get next to the bike and take something off it or fix a tire. It’s in me. I have a passion for it.”
