Overview
- The corroded coral‑red BMW 316 (E21, 1978) was found submerged in the Lech and recovered by Feuerwehr Bernbeuren, Wasserwacht and partner agencies in mid‑August.
- Investigators found a sealed OAL‑XU‑55 licence plate and an AU (emissions) sticker that expired in August 1990 and used AI to generate an image of how the car once looked.
- Police say those clues point to a likely theft and deliberate sinking around 1988–1990, but they emphasise any related offences are statute‑barred and not subject to prosecution.
- The car was promised to collector Peter Wirsching but was mistakenly crushed at a scrapyard; it now sits as a damaged wreck on the Oldtimerfabrik/Oldtimerwerk site in Neu‑Ulm.
- The find is part of a wider pattern of vintage vehicles surfacing this summer because low river levels exposed submerged wrecks, and police continue to ask witnesses from the late 1980s to come forward to help identify the car.