While not technically an official "Project Coupe", this coupe has been treated as such, and I thought it deserved an article of its own. Unlike our last couple project coupes, this one did not take much to get it fully sorted.
The story started when a woman in the Denver-area emailed me saying it was finally time to let her coupe go. She had purchased it new with her husband from Weatherford BMW in Berkeley, CA in January 2000. It had always been garaged and given regular maintenance at dealerships or well known independent shops. She had every piece of documentation including dealer brochures and online articles she had printed out prior to purchase. It also only had 45,000 miles.
She had found my site looking for sales comps and was very excited when she noticed I lived only 50 miles away in Fort Collins, CO. A few days later we met in person at the Denver-area Cars and Coffee and hatched a plan to find a new home for her coupe. I spotted a couple things needing attention, and she said she didn't really have the time to take care of them and get it listed. I'm not one to turn down having an extra coupe parked at my house, so a couple days later my wife and I drove down to Denver and picked it up.
Driving home, the first thing I noticed was how tight it felt. It was apparent that it had never really been driven hard, and there were no rattles (other than a minor one in the sligtly sagging glovebox). The driver seat bolster showed very little wear and just a couple minor creases. The center console was free of cracks, and the normally worn AC button looked like new.
It is also probably the easiest to drive coupe I've had the pleasure of driving. The clutch and shifter are incredibly smooth. The 1-2 shift that took me so long to master in my own coupe was completely natural, and rev-matched downshifts were done with ease. The engine felt strong and sounded great with no modifications.
While sitting in some unfortunate stop-and-go traffic, I noticed the headlights were on. It confused me at first because I didn't remember turning them on. It turns out, I hadn't turned them on; it has the daytime running lights module installed. Because it spent its first years in the fog of the Bay Area, they had had them installed for a little extra safety. Aside from that, the OEM ///M floor mats are the only difference from how it left the factory.
In the past couple weeks, I've been working to get it ready for a deserving new owner. I went through the service records to confirm everything is up-to-date. The tires are relatively new with just a year and a half and 3,500 miles on them. It's had the fluids flushed and new battery the past few years as well as an Inspection I. For my part, I fixed the delaminated rearview mirror, sagging glovebox, faded ///M badges, dead hatch struts, and the SRS airbag fault. I replaced a couple missing trim pieces and had the front bumper resprayed to perfection. While at the bodyshop, I also had them adjust the hood as the passenger side didn't sit as flush as I wanted.
Now it's time for its first new home in 15.5 years. Click here for all the details and feel free to contact me for more information.
