Melissa is a dog mom of three beautiful fur babies. She is a middle school Social Studies teacher in Brevard County. 

She was born in Manati, Puerto Rico and grew up in Orlando. Melissa’s has owned a total of two BMW’s. Her first was a 2009 BMW 328i in Montego Blue color. Her current BMW is a 2013 BMW 135i in Carbon Schwarz. It has been tastefully modified with some go fast parts and some nice aesthetics. You can see her build progress on her Instagram @mel_135i 

Melissa has participated in the M Track Day events at Homestead Miami and at Palm Beach International Raceway. She also has enjoyed driving at the BMW Performance Center in South Carolina while accompanying her significant other during Performance Deliveries. She will be prepping her 135i to participate in local SCCA event. 

She has been a Sunshine Bimmers member since January 2018. Her hobbies other than BMWs is giving back to her kids at school, providing them with life lessons to better their futures, spending time with her family and traveling. 

Her personal motto is: “If you ain’t first, your last” – Ricky Bobby

Dennis is a 60+-year-old BMW enthusiast that was born in Waseca, MN. He has been married to his wife Mary for 34 years. He is the Branch Manager at ADI Global Distribution in Melbourne, FL, which is a worldwide supplier of products for low voltage industry. 

Dennis has owned two BMWs, his first BMW was a 1984 E36 325Ci and he currently owns a 2006 E46 325Ci, he has been a member of Sunshine Bimmers since 2016. He has not participated in any track events due to many schedule conflicts but he is hoping to own an M model BMW for track days in the future. 

Some of his other hobbies include woodworking, remodeling, kayaking, bicycle riding and spending time with his wife. 

His personal motto is “Life is too short, embrace the moment.”

Danny will be celebrating his 40^th birthday at the end of this month. He likes to enjoy his time with his girlfriend Dee Le. Danny was born in Kissimmee, FL and he is a Self-Employed General Contractor and he is the owner of Distinctive Builders of Florida, LLC 

Danny is enjoying his first and current BMW which is a beautiful 2018 Mineral Gray BMW M2 which has been very tastefully modified. 

He likes to enjoy his M2 at Autocross events with Martin Sports Car Club and he has also participated in the BMW M track days hosted at Homestead. 

He has been a Sunshine Bimmers Member since February 2018. In addition to enjoying the BMW, some of Danny’s other hobbies are traveling and visiting unique restaurants. 

His personal motto is “Stay humble, keep an open mind, and continuously learn.”

Jayson is 33 years old and was born in West Plains Missouri. He is a Performance Specialist and Lead Technician at Auto Tuning House. He has been a Sunshine Bimmers member since April 2018.

His first BMW ever was a 2013 Jet Black 128i, he has had a total of 3 BMWs (in addition to his first and last he also owned a Space Gray 135i). He currently drives a beautiful and very loud 2008 Black E90 M3, the last of the Naturally Aspirated V8. 

He is an avid track enthusiast and he has raced in local tracks like PBIR for Track Nights, Florida International Rally and Motorsports Park (A Lot), Sebring and also Roebling Road. 

Jayson served our country very proudly in the Army for over 6 years and while in Germany he was able to race his 128i and 135i at the Hockenheimring and Nurburgring, something many enthusiasts only dream about.

Other than BMW’s he enjoys Long Range Shooting, Gun Smithing, Photography, Track Day driving and Instructing, Reading 

Jayson’s motto is “On the path to success, embrace failure. You don’t learn from getting it right every time. Don’t fear failure.”

Our Member Spotlight for January is our new chapter president, Bob Ziegler.

“Greeting to All our Sunshine BMW CCA members. I  have been asked to be January’s member spotlight. So here goes first a little BMW history!

I purchased my first BMW in 1980, since then I have purchased 26 more BMW’s. Presently I have 4 BMW’s, a 1984 Burgundy 633CSi, 1987 Euro 730i, 1998 328i and finally a 2004 330CIC. All run and all drive! Does anyone really have only 1 Bimmer?

I have been in a total of 4 different BMW CCA Chapters; the first was in New York, then Everglades, then Suncoast where I was the President for 6 years and presently the last 3 years in Sunshine where I am currently the President.

I consider myself to be not just a BMW car lover but a true “Car Guy”. I love all cars and have owned many American cars including Muscle Cars. Besides my love of Bimmers I also have a passion for British Sports cars. I am the past President of a British Sports Car Club. I have owned several Italian and Japanese sport and regular cars as well.

I no longer do much in the way of driving event but rather spend my time traveling to car shows. Amelia Island and Euro fest in South Carolina have been some of my recently attended trips.

BUT my favorite event for the past several years has been The Vintage now being held in Hot Springs NC. This is not really a car show but rather a huge gathering (about 650 cars) of classic BMW owners. The venue is great and the people are the best. If you love BMW’s, even if you do not own a classic BMW, you should try to attend this event.

I look forward to attending many Sunshine BMW CCA events and events put on by other groups as I can and meeting as many Sunshine members as possible.

My thoughts have never wavered when it comes to club members, it’s never about the CARS it is all about the PEOPLE!”

Our November Member Spotlight is Sunshine Bimmers Club Member, Michael Calkins who is 72 years young. Mike has been married to his partner of almost 20 years, Keith Proud since July 2014, when same sex marriage finally became legal. He has 2 children, 6 grandchildren and is soon to have his first great granddaughter.

Mike retired in 2011, but he has been quite the Entrepreneur. He owned a chimney sweep business, 2 restaurants & a catering business. Most of his career was in the trucking industry as Director of Transportation for two different food service distributors. His last position was at the Council of Aging running the Meals on Wheels in Daytona Beach & Ormond Beach.

He was born in Cleveland, Ohio and moved to Florida 1982.

His first BMW was a 1999 Z3 Roadster, but he has owned ten in total. He currently has a 2007 M Roadster with 23K miles (shown below) as well as a 2014 535d with the M Sport Package. Vroom! Vroom!

Mike joined Sunshine Bimmers in 1999 and attended M driving school at the BMW Performance Driving School in Greer, South Carolina and is an avid clock collector with over over 80 total in his vast collection which includes a pre-Civil War, 30 hour OG.