Well, it was Monday morning at 4:30am when my trip started. I left Tulsa on a flight to Detroit. Hung out at the Detroit airport (very cool airport at the Northwest Airlines terminal C) for 40 minutes or so and then off to South Bend, Indiana.

The owner of the car picked me up at the airport.

We first went to his mechanics shop (where the PPI was done) Bills Top and Trim. Marty Hostetler is the owner. This is mostly a Porsche shop and for those that are interested, there was some rare stuff there like an old Porsch Disel Tractor and a very rare 1967 911S soft window targa. The big attraction was seeing the sellers 1967 Porsche 911 S race car. OMG, it was gutted and had a motor more powerful than the M Coupe. They fired it up and all I can say is amazing work. Keep in mind, I'm from the Porsch world so this was all very cool for me.

After that, we were off to the sellers home. This I had been anticipating. We pull up and there was a home that was modest and understated. In the garage is his WRX STi. Turn my head right and there is the garage of garages. A 40'x80' fully assembled garage complete with two motor home entrances and two double garage doors. He turned off the alarm and turned on the lights. Just amazing. The walls were adorned with old Porsche Billboards, old dealer signs (and I mean the big ones), posters etc.. Inside was a 1965 911, 1976 911S, 1956 356 Carrara, 1957 Speedster (I think this was the year and is was under restoration), another fifties something Porsche diesel tractor (the one at the shop was his too), 1970 European 914-6, 1989 911 Speedster, 1998 911 C2S and the M Coupe. My jaw hit the floor. Most of these he is the original owner of. I looked and respected each car one by one and worked my way around the garage until I hit the M Coupe.

Alas, the M Coupe. I opened the door and it still smelled new. Just awesome. I really didn't need to look at it as it was exactly as described. A 2001 Estroil Blue over Full black Leather. NO SUNROOF and a factory CD Player. All the books, keys and even the window sticker. At the time, it had 9010 miles on the clock due to the PPI and some service work he agreed to have done. The inside and outside are just incredible. The paint is much deeper and richer than I expected as the car is always stored inside, it has almost never seen the sun. Since I had only ever seen one other MCoupe in person (a 2000 S52) I was pleased to see what the "Curved Badges" were and what color the S54 Rims were in comparison. Personally, I think both set the car off very nicely.

Then seller then offered to show me the inside of his house and it was just adorned with more Porsche Goodies. His collection never seemed to stop. It was just amazing all the things he had. The trip was worth it just to see what I got to see. We talked some more and went back to the garage to see some items I missed in the garage like a cutaway of a real 1968 911 motor that was on a jack stand and a bronze of the 917 race car and other rare stuff. His home was like a museum.

We finaled the paperwork and I hit the road. Having never driven one of these I was very conservative with car. Outside of Chicago I got hung up in 1.5 hours of construction traffic. I loved watching people point. You could read their lips (what is that). After the construction, it was smooth sailing. I found a rabbit that I followe for a good 4 hours at 100mph. That made up for the traffic. I love bliping the throttle and jumping from 80 to 110 in the blink of an eye without a downshift. While the car did average 25 MPG, the 12 gallon tank sucked with fill ups every 300 miles or so. Overall, the ride was enjoyable and went without issue or rain. At 3:30am (almost 24hours later) I pulled into the drive to a wife with a big smile on her face waiting to see me and the car. She had moved the final items in the third stall for the car and helped me back in. What a woman.

In the end, the journey has ended and begun. I usually only hold on to my toys for a year or so, but I don't know that I would sell this car. It is just amazing. BMW did not market this car the right way. I bought the 88 page brochure off of ebay and it does not do the car justice in it's description and selling points. The good news is that means there are less than 700 to enjoy for those of us lucky few.

Finally, I do have some questions.

1) The speedo seems to be about 10MPH off at 80 mph. The owner brought this to my attention and it was confimred when I was radared by a constrution sign. WTF.
2) The drivers seat back seems to have more movement than I would expect for a seat with a mechanical lever seat back. I can feel it rock forward when I apply the brakes hard or back when I accelerate hard. Any input?
3) The gear shifter and drivers seat bolster do not seem to be wearing well. While I'm very picky and the wear is not that bad at all, it is there. Will BMW address this? I've read that they have with the Alcantara Steering Wheels getting hard.

I have about 10 days of warranty left and was going to take it to the dealer to have these itmes addressed. Is this worth my time? Let me know.

I hope you enjoyed the story. I'll have photos up soon. They are still in the camera.