For Sale: 1999 M Roadster. Arctic Silver with Black Napa interior, includes hardtop. 67,000 miles. Ohio Previously Rebuilt Salvage title. The car was originally from New York and was issued a salvage title after tree fell on it in 2012. I purchased it in 2012 as salvage and rebuilt it, together with my best friend Jack, who owned and operated a boutique Euro collision repair shop near Cleveland (Welsh’s Auto Body). I ran a thread on the build from start to finish at the time, and it can be found here—it serves as complete documentation of the damage and the rebuild process—I have other photos and all the receipts as well as the Salvage Inspection report.

I bought the car as a gift for Jack, and as a fun project for us to build together—we built many cars together over the years, and had a blast building this one—as it turned out it was our last project together. Jack was diagnosed with esophageal cancer soon after we finished it, and succumbed in April of 2017—he left it to me. I gave it to my wife, but she was diagnosed with cancer herself in 2017, and only drove it a handful of times. The long and the short of it is that it has had a little over a thousand miles put on it since 2012.

It is a garage queen—covered except when exercised (about monthly during the season). It has never seen salt (or rain for that matter) since I bought it in 2012, and there is no corrosion to indicate that it ever had before that. It is in pristine condition, except for the flaws I point out in this listing.

There are no issues with any spot welds in or under the trunk; I include photos of each one in this listing. One weld in the trunk was slightly discolored—like water had pooled on it—and I wasn’t sure, so I took a tiny wire wheel on a Dremel to it to inspect it, and it is solid; photos of that weld are included with all the others. I authored the sticky in the main Z3 section on the subframe/trunk floor/diff mount issue, so I feel comfortable making this analysis and saying the welds are good.

The car is completely bone-stock, except where I replaced the plastic parts in the cooling system with aluminum, the rubber seat bushings with Derlin, upgraded the C33 Business Cassette to a CD43 Business CD player, added Bluetooth integration and car kit (LA Power 1500-BMRB), and installed a USB/3.5mm Aux port. There are no issues either mechanical or cosmetic. There are no indicator lights illuminated, nor have they been reset, and it just passed its annual emissions test—Ohio E-Check. The car is complete, everything works, and the AC blows cold. I had the wheels (Style 40 Roadstars) powder coated last year in the factory Hyper Silver, and had new Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 tires mounted in original sizes front and rear at the same time (highest rated in the Ultra High Performance Summer category by Tire Rack)—there are basically no miles on the tires.

It comes with a cart and ceiling hoist for its hard top. It also comes with the original tonneau, original windscreen, and a Roadster Solutions car cover. I replaced the driveshaft carrier bearing when I built the car, together with lubing the shaft splines, installing a new cap nut and bushing, and installing a new Giubo and hardware. The rear shocks, sub-frame bushings, and rear trailing arm bushings were also replaced at that time. That was just about 1,000 miles ago. Last year (over the Memorial Day weekend—so almost exactly a year ago) I performed a major service and cooling system refresh, consisting of the following:

• Flush the brakes with ATE Type 200 Racing Quality DOT4 brake fluid;
• Change the oil with Mobil 1 0W40 European Car Formula and R+R BMW 11 42 7 833 769 oil filter kit (I have changed it semiannually with this combo since 2012);
• R+R fuel filter with Bosch 0 450 905 905-833;
• R+R air filter with MAHLE LX343 13 72 1 730 946;
• R+R spark plugs with BOSCH FGR-8-KQE;
• R+R Serpentine belt with CONTINENTAL 6 PK 1555, serpentine belt idler pulley TOPAZ BACB12-234001(11281730571), and serpentine belt tensioner pulley SCITOO 11281748131;
• R+R AC belt with CONTINENTAL 5 PK 906, and AC belt tensioner pulley SCITOO 11281748131;
• R+R radiator with VALEO 17111427165;
• R+R water pump HEPU 11517527910;
• R+R water pump pulley with aluminum (OE was plastic) ÜRO 11511730554;
• R+R thermostat and O-ring with MAHLE-BEHR 88ºC 11537511580;
• R+R thermostat housing with aluminum (OE was plastic) ÜRO 11531722531;
• R+R bleeder screw with brass ÜRO 17111712788PRM;
• Drain and refill antifreeze with BMW 82141467704 (blue) coolant mixed with distilled water (50/50) and 1 bottle (12 OZ) WATER WETTER;
• R+R Fan Clutch with MEYLE 314 115 2701;
• R+R upper radiator hose with DAYCO 71664 (new hose clamps);
• R+R lower radiator hose with DAYCO 71663 (new hose clamps);
• R+R seat bushings
• Lucas Fuel Treatment

Aside from this major service and semiannual changes to keep the oil fresh, I haven’t done anything since building it except wash, wax, and keep the leather conditioned. It drives straight, true and hard, and is a pleasure to throw through the curves. I’m selling it, FWIW, because I have five cars now, and only one of me, my other M Roadster is supercharged (and is my real baby), and, because it’s time—it’s a shame to keep it a garage queen—I have my excuses—and they are good ones—but it’s time. Plus, I can use the space in my garage—I have a couple of BMW Motorcycles (an R75/5 and an R60/2) I want to restore.

The flaws (photos included): typical scraping under the splitters on the front bumper and a couple of small chips just above that on the splitters—not bad but there. One small (maybe two inch) scratch in the paint on the rear bumper next to the passenger’s left quarter where my wife backed into something (she said something backed into her—I really do miss her). I have touched these up with factory touch-up paint (included). Other than these, the paint is perfect—not a chip, ding, or scratch. It has the original HK stereo system, with the period correct factory upgrade head unit (CD43 Bluetooth enhanced with car kit) which functions as designed—which was never stellar, as anyone who knows these cars will tell you, and is why I include the correct properly functioning factory Harmon Kardon stereo system as a “flaw.” It has typical hairline cracks in the center console switch surround between the switches. That’s it for flaws.

I am pricing it based upon my analysis of the current market price through the M Roadster Price Guide for an S52 with these miles, which is around $23,500.00, less a 20% discount for the rebuilt salvage title of $4,700.00, so I’m asking $18,800.00. Once again, I have complete documentation of the build, contemporaneously posted at the time in a thread devoted to it on this forum, together with all the paperwork, receipts, service records, photos, etc. Really, it is 100%, but a rebuilt salvage title gets a discount and I think 20% is appropriate for this car.

I am happy to take it to the shop of your choice for an inspection, or to entertain you and put you up if you want to come and test drive it and take it for its inspection yourself (and pick you up and drop you off at the airport). I can work with your shipper to get it loaded if you want to ship it home. If you are driving it home, I can take you to the BMV to get temp tags (they are open Saturdays here). The hard top hoist and the (disassembled) cart will fit in the passenger side (really, with the hoist you don’t need the cart), and the hard top can, of course, be driven away, or be shipped mounted on the car.

PM or email me (replace the hashtag with the “at” symbol): curtis.gray34#yahoo.com

Or phone me at three three zero, three one zero, three one nine zero. Review the build thread, and see it in person if you’re interested. I’m offering it here to the enthusiast community first, as I am, have been, and will remain an active member here. If you’re curious, click on my forum name at the top of the post and read through my posts and the threads I have started to get a sense of who I am—after all, you buy more than just a car when you buy something like this, and the more you know the better.