Background History

• Single-owner M-Coupe since 1999
• Purchased from Fred Brown BMW in Bryan, TX as a lightly used car, after Fred Brown, the dealership owner, had been driving it himself for almost a year because nobody wanted to buy such an “ugly” BMW back then
• Luckily a few of us future 368s Coupe Cartel members recognized that the beauty was in the driving, and nowadays the “clownshoe” is widely recognized as a modern classic 
• Daily-driven around Austin between 1999 and 2003, including a few track days and numerous autocrosses, including winning the Spokes club “Street Tire” class annual championship in 2002 
• In 2003, we moved into a motorhome full-time, and the car began a new life as one of the world’s coolest “RV toads” (aka towed vehicle) at which it excelled as our only car for over twenty years of traveling all over the US and Canada
• It proved to be an amazing vehicle to tow around– just hook it up, throw it in neutral, and the big motorhome hardly knows it’s back there. The towed miles do wear the tires and suspension a bit, but they’re mostly just gentle, straight rolling miles, and the impact has been minimal. There was worry from some on the internet that certain transmissions can suffer from a lack of oiling, even in neutral, but that was believed to not be a problem with this particular transmission design and that proved to be true. In fact, I’m happy to say that it’s actually shifting even better than new these days, courtesy of the DSSR linkage upgrade installed a few years back
• It has been a surprisingly practical everyday vehicle for two people. Between the uniquely tall hatchback space and the roof rack, it can actually haul a lot of stuff, while still being a ridiculously fun to drive “M” sports car at heart. While M-Coupes are quite rare in general, as far as I know, this is the only one that’s ever served as an RV toad, which makes it even more special
• It has been well-maintained mechanically and kept in generally stock form, with a few upgrades for practicality and reliability but nothing specifically for performance. Full service history since 1999 is available (see below)
• As a basically stock car, it is a little “soft” in actual track use, but is still a blast as long as you don’t mind drifting around a little (and who doesn’t!). But it absolutely excels at real-world curvy-road driving and day-to-day hooning around town. BMW nailed the perfect balance of fun and function with this thing. Has that old-school “analog” feel that I am really gonna miss…
• Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. The mighty shoe would be great to keep around as a second (or third, or Nth) car, but it has just become too challenging to keep a 27-year-old car reliable enough to daily drive as our only car
• The straw that finally broke the camel’s back and caused us to buy a new toad is a small but serious head gasket leak, that you can read more about in a section below
• So it’s finally time to let it go to a new owner who has the time and money to keep it running strong, and possibly spruce up the cosmetics or modify other things and make it their own
• It’s still absolutely wonderful to drive, and should be a lot of fun for somebody for many years to come. It would be really cool if somebody else would take advantage of the setup and actually use it as an RV toad, but that’s obviously not required 

Facts and Figures

• Clean Texas title in my name
• Accident-free history
• Miles driven: 261,747 (odometer as of May 19, 2026)
• Additional miles towed behind motorhome: 110,000 (approximate, between 2003 and 2026)
• Currently located in the Austin, TX metro area
• 5-Speed manual transmission
• S52 3.2 liter inline six-cylinder engine rated at 240 HP
• Recent compression test results:
  #1 191, 193, 195 psi
  #2 192, 191, 194 psi
  #3 191, 195, 194 psi
  #4 190, 191, 191 psi
  #5 190, 192, 193 psi
  #6 190, 190, 188 psi

M-Coupe Buyers Guide and Pricing

By far the best resource on the internet about the clownshoe is Jon Martin’s amazing website, which includes breakdowns of all the options along with pricing data from both current listings and recent sales.

Prices of M-Coupes sold in the last few years range from the mid-teens for high-mileage “driver” class cars like mine, to $20-50k for clean examples with average miles, to over $100k for the true garage-queens that have rarely seen the light of day.

Of the 79 M-Coupes that have sold in the last 6 months, the lowest was $14,500, the highest was $111,300, and the average was $48,821. Here’s a link to the cars recently sold, sorted by lowest price first:
https://www.mcoupebuyersguide.com/sold?pageid=110&SortBy=Price%252cListings.LastUpdated%2bdesc

Of the 27 M-Coupes for sale at the moment, the lowest is $27,900, the highest is $109,000, and the average is $49,092. Here’s a link to the cars currently for sale, sorted by lowest price first:
https://www.mcoupebuyersguide.com/listings?SortBy=Price%2cListings.LastUpdated+desc

Although my car has many good things going for it, between the high mileage and modest cosmetic condition, I would expect it to sell near the low end of the price range even without the head gasket issue. But since that gasket will need a proper fix at some point (even though the car is currently drivable and running strongly thanks to Blue Devil sealant), I figure a further price adjustment of around $5k is appropriate for that.

So, by starting around the lowest of all recent M-Coupes sales with $14k, and deducting $5k for the head gasket, gives me an asking price of $9000, making it by far the lowest priced M-Coupe either currently available or recently sold.

And of course, if you do have the time and ability to fix that problem yourself, you could save many thousand dollars of labor and make this even more of a bargain, as clownshoes go.

Relatively-Recent Service Highlights

• Subframe/trunkfloor reinforcement by TC Design (2018)
• New transmission shifter detents, linkage bushings, DSSR upgrade, and clutch (2018)
• New windshield (2021)
• New Spyder projector headlights (2022)
• Vanos unit rebuilt by DrVanos (2024)
• Refinished the original M Roadstar wheels (2024)
• Reworked rear subframe with new bushings and Ireland Engineering camber and toe adjusters (2024)
• New rear trailing arm bushings (2024)
• New front control arms (2024)
• New alternator and battery (2025)
• New brake rotors and pads (2025)
• New tires; Continental ExtremeContact DWS06+ (2025)
• Rogue Engineering billet aluminum exhaust hangers (2025)
• New driver-side window regulator (2026)
• New radiator, expansion tank, hoses, brass bleeder plug (2026)
• Garagistic billet aluminum radiator mounting brackets (2026)

Full Service Records

• I’ve kept paper receipts and a spreadsheet of virtually everything done to this car since new.
• You can find a copy of the full spreadsheet below, and paper folders of paper receipts and paper information will be included along with the bonus items pictured later.
• General maintenance totaling $28,733
• Accessories and Upgrades totaling $933
• RV Towing Modifications totaling $1,617
• Oil Changes totaling $1,154
• Tires totaling $7,154

Things That Work

• Air conditioning
• Heater
• Rear window defroster
• Wipers
• Lights (see note about reverse lights below)
• Gauges (including voltmeter and still-accurate analog clock)
• Cruise control
• Keyless entry / Alarm system
• Power mirrors
• Power windows (driver side is new and fast, passenger side is old and slow)
• Power sunroof
• Power seats (driver side switch is a bit finicky)
• Seat heaters
• Stereo system (albeit with poor radio reception due to a missing antenna, and could use some fresh speakers, but does now support bluetooth audio via an included adapter, which is pretty cool for a head unit built in 1998)

Major Mechanical Issue

• Head gasket leak between cylinder 4 and the cooling system
• Originally manifested as a repeatedly-fouling #4 spark plug, along with excessive cooling-system pressure buildup in the form of swollen hoses and a cracked plastic expansion tank
• Compression measures good across all cylinders, but combustion gasses were confirmed in the cooling system with a test kit
• I initially tried using K-Seal Ultimate Head Gasket Sealer, an easy to use, benign, but relatively un-aggressive miracle-in-a-bottle type formula. This actually worked surprisingly well (it’s what was in place during the driving video above), but proved prone to “blowing out” periodically. Before I flushed the system, the remaining K-Seal would re-seal such leaks eventually, but after I flushed the system and had no more sealant circulating, the leak returned to about how it was originally.
• Encouraged that such potions could actually do some good for my particular leak however, I next tried a more aggressive formula, of Blue Devil Head Gasket Sealer. Installed the stuff by the book, by removing the thermostat, flushing and filling with tap water, adding the appropriate amount of sealant (about 16 Oz in this case), letting it warm at idle for 50 minutes, then letting it cool overnight to harden thoroughly. Not being in a hurry, I actually did this ritual twice for good measure, but it was apparent after the first cycle that the sealer had actually found and plugged the leak.
• The resulting “liquid glass” seal has actually proven to be holding well over several weeks now, even after flushing the sealant. I’ve made multiple drives around town on hot days with no excessive pressure buildup or plug fouling anymore. However, I have not pushed the engine very hard or driven for multiple hours non-stop, as I’m hoping to not blow out the seal, knowing this is not really a robust, permanent solution despite what it says on the bottle.
• Currently still running 100% distilled water with no thermostat installed. Note that I did buy a new thermostat and will include such in the spares collection to be installed when a proper fix is made.
• Upshot is, the car is actually driving remarkably like normal again, albeit with a slow warmup and running temps measuring in the 180-190F range (monitored via OBD2 scanner) at highway speeds, due to intentionally not re-installing the thermostat yet. That’s a bit cool for optimal economy and emissions, but I’ll take that trade for lower temps at the moment. The cooling system itself is confirmed to have plenty of capacity, as long as the seal holds and it doesn’t get compression gas blown into it…

Minor Mechanical Issues

• Check Engine code P0141 — O2 Sensor Heater Circuit Bank 1 Sensor 2 (a shop used an air-hammer to loosen the exhaust and cracked one of the ceramic sensors a few years ago, and I didn’t notice until we were long gone elsewhere. In Texas this car is now old enough to not require emissions inspection so I’ve let it slide, but if you’re not so lucky, it wouldn’t be a huge job to change the sensor)
• Check Engine code P0446 — Evaporative Emission System Vent Control Circuit (this one has been coming and going for years, seemingly an intermittently sticking valve to the vent tank that causes no noticeable problems, so I’ve just let it be)
• Steering column “squeaks” a bit sometimes, especially when it’s cold outside
• Reverse lights sometimes don’t illuminate (bulbs are okay, so suspect a flaky sensor on the transmission)
• No rooftop radio antenna due to a broken connector

Cosmetic Issues

• Peeling clearcoat, especially on the more horizontal surfaces. This thing has lived outdoors most of its life, and there’s only so much one can do against the sun…
• A good-sized dent right on the nose of the hood, along with a smaller dent, a deep scratch, some wrinkled “chrome”, and some missing blue basecoat, all from when a random idiot in a pickup truck backed into it with an extended trailer hitch
• Small dent in the roof above the right-rear window where a different idiot (me, in this case) let a bicycle fall over and its handlebar hit the roof
• Several small spots of surface rust on the roof between the windshield and sunroof
• Typical assortment of small door dings and rock chips expected from almost 30 years of real-world driving
• Front “grill” and associated plastic pieces are somewhat cracked up, between the towing modifications and aforementioned real-world driving
• Both seats have significant tears and general leather wear (note that ridies.com sells some remarkably good-looking replacement covers for the “M” seats for a remarkably reasonable cost: https://ridies.com/Product/26161/1996-2002-BMW-Z3-OEM-Replacement-Leather-Seat-Covers )
• Various scuffed, cracked, or missing plastic bits around the interior; In particular, some of the clips that hold the door panels and rear hatch panel in place have broken off and those are now held in place with assorted screws, tapes, and zip ties
• Headliner has fallen in several areas; it’s been periodically spray-glued back into place but could use a proper repair sometime
• Black “M” floor mats are worn, but since these are no longer sold, I’ve kept them as is because the generic ones are pretty lame

Bonus Items

• LeatherZ Mk1 armrest / cupholder
• Glove box reinforcement kit
• BMW Z3 Coupe sunshade cover for the glass sunroof
• Eclipse accordion-style sunshades for the windshield
• Bluetooth A2DP adapter that feeds music from a phone into the original BMW “Business Audio” head unit
• Dual “lighter style” 12V power connector module mounted under the passenger seat
• Magnetic phone holder that fits nicely into the cassette deck opening
• Compact rectangular rear-view mirror with Z3 Adapter installed (original oval-shaped “M” mirror in a box)
• Thule 753 roof rack, the rare version for the M-Coupe (will not include the bike tray seen in the pics)
• RV towing components, including Roadmaster crossbar with custom risers, welded-on plates, bolted-on receivers, and taillight wiring
• BMW Genuine “M” embroidered floor mats
• SCC Z-Chains for the rear tires
• Bentley Z3 Service Manual
• BMW Owners Manual in original leather case
• BMW Introduction, on cassette tape!?!
• BMW toolkit and “M Mobility System” (tire inflator)
• Half a can of Estoril Blue touch up paint
• A pair of “Tranny Mount Enforcers” (stiffer transmission mounting bushings I decided were needlessly harsh and swapped back to the stock ones)
• Variety of other random spare parts
• Four keys and two keyless-entry fobs
• Items shown but NOT included are my 368s Coupe Cartel T-Shirt, BMW ball cap, and the various auto magazines from back in the day