If you are interested in buying the best 2001 M Roadster available and likely a true low mileage example that is a documented concourse winner for a fair price, please take the time to read on. If you are looking for a used driver quality, multiple owner car with nor records or history, you can probably save your time as this car is probably not what you are looking for.
In 1998 as I was nearing retirement and I decided I wanted to buy myself a new sports car. I had several Corvettes in the mid 60's and early 70’s but the current ones just didn’t appeal to me. I then saw the Z3 and its Cobraesque styling and have to have one. I special ordered my 1999 Z3 and waited for my ship (literally) to come in. It arrived and we loved it. It was our sunny day car. Then, I unretired and got drawn back to a new job. Well, I got a very nice new job and my wife inherited a very nice, new Z3. A few years passed and I started looking again. I was all set on a new Lotus Elise until I started reading about their mediocre A/C. No way can you have a car in South Florida without good A/C. So I then started looking at M Roadsters. I had looked at the M Roadster in 99 but couldn’t see spending the extra $15K for only 50 horsepower. But now there were the S54 cars with its 315 horsepower and I was hooked. I looked for over a year and found an almost perfect, original owner, 2001 Estoril Blue car in Connecticut and after talking with the owner I bought it unseen. When it arrived, it was even better than described. For the next three years I perfected it with my detailing skills only replacing its original battery. Then the bad part of owning an M Roadster came upon me. Once I got it almost perfect, there was nothing else I could fiddle with. I added DINAN software but that was about all there was I was willing to do to this already perfect car. So, after 3 years and 700 miles of ownership, I sold it to another old guy a couple states away and he added to his small fleet of mint sports cars. That one had 13,455 miles on it when I sold it and looked new. The moment he drove it away, I knew I had made a mistake but lived with it.
Three years passed and I got the itch again. The new Jag XK looked interesting, the current Corvette had nice horsepower and the Boxster and 911’s were calling. But every time I’d see a Z3 or M Roadster, I knew I still loved the shape and its performance. The problem was that it was now 2014 and low mile mint cars were being bought and kept by intelligent collectors like the man that had bought mine. After looking for another year, I happen to find #877. It looked exceptional in its pictures and only had 13K summer miles on it by its original owner. I had extensive conversations with the owner and with the BMW dealer who sold it new to him and had serviced it every time since new. The original owner told me this was he and his wife’s summer car and it never been driven in ANY inclement weather and was stored in winter and always slept in his heated garage. He said they loved the car and had named it “Little Red.”They also provided me with the complete service history records and every bit of original material they had for the car. Five days later, this 1 of 64 Imola Red/Black/Black masterpieces arrived in Tampa and went into my garage. Remarkable it was built the same day as was my Estoril Blue car, September 24, 2001 the next to last day of 2001 production. The old owner called to see that it had arrived OK and I told him it did and thanked him for the obvious care and love he had show for it. He said his wife was sad to see it leave but that their new downtown condo had only two spots and there was no way he was going to let it set in a garage he didn’t control.
As I set about examining it I realized that although I again had bought a car sight unseen, it was clearly better than described and with only 13K miles and obvious meticulous care it was even better than my first one. After replacing its original tires with new design Michelin Super Sports, having a complete “Service 2+” completed by my BMW dealer and the DINAN software installed, I set about perfecting the amazing Imola Red paint and flawless interior. I even drove it a bit. I entered my first BMWCCA concourse thinking I had a pretty nice looking car in its Imola Red and I knew that its paint, interior and engine compartment looked identical or better than new. My class was filled with several other Z3s, M Roadsters and Coupes. When the winners were announced, I realized I had won, 1st in class. I was obviously proud of my accomplishment on my first try. #897 would go on to win another Concourse and car show in the next 12 months. Since I’ve now “been there and done that” and to give some other Z’s a chance, I have now stopped competing as a judged class car and just do exhibitions. Two local BMW dealers have used my car in some of their media advertising and in area new car shows.
Well, this story has to end. It’s now come to the point where I need to sell my S54 or start driving it as I’m not getting any younger and there are too many road and curves I want to explore and drive while I can. This spring I want to do an old Route 66. California/NW US, high desert of the SW US and Rocky Mountains bucket list trip that will probably take me 2 months and 15,000 to 20,000 miles. Although #897 is well equipped and ready and willing to do that for me, I just didn’t want to put all these “pleasure” miles on a car whose collector status is just being recognized. So my decision it to sell my low mile, near perfect M now when it’s value as a collector car is still accessible to a new collector rather than start driving it all over the US accepting that in the next 18 months it will become a near perfect 30K mile M Roadster.
So if you want the absolute best M Roadster currently available (I’ll compare it to any and show them up) and you want it in Imola Red/Black interior and black top, you should buy this car. Plus this car is an actual documented concourse level winning car not just "extra clean" or whatever the current used car lingo is.
The M Roadster and particularly the 2001 and 2002 S54 versions are named as one of the fastest appreciating newer classics and now that the Z8 has doubled in the past 12 months, the even lower production S54 M Roadster is on its way up. Try even finding a S54 Roadster anymore and you will see even a very limited choice of lesser examples. A representative of a large national auction house recently saw my car at one of the Concourse and solicited it for one of their upcoming auctions estimating its sale price of $48,000 to $52,000. He said they needed more entry level newer collector cars that are guaranteed to appreciate now that the Ford GT’s, Porsche Turbos and Z8s have gone up so much. He told me that two of the “experts” in future classic car pricing picked the M Roadster as one of the current top ten cars in the “underpriced, sure to appreciate” cars with an expected appreciation of 5% to 7% annually. He added they think it will be more like the Z8 recent major appreciation.
I suggest you go to the EAG website in Cincinnati. They are a superb dealer and specialize in clean low mileage, well kept M cars that are fairly priced as they are normally very high quality examples. When I look at low mileage cars that are in almost as new condition, one litmus test for me are the seats. Most M Roadsters will eventually get wear on the outer driver’s edge. However when you get to the exceptional level cars, I look at the actual seat bottoms and backs for wrinkles. Every one of the roughly 150 S54 Roadsters I have seen in my 8 years of searching, show some wrinkles or "lumps" rather they have 2,000 miles or 20,000 miles, rather they cost $40,000 or $80,000. My car lacks those wrinkles or lumps showing just another example of how well this car was cared for by the original owner. Even as I prepared it for concourse, I could see that the engine compartment has never been or needed any cleaning. I dusted off the black engine cover and that was it for show preparation.
Another factor that shows high level condition is something car restorers are now going back and doing because of the high level of competition for "originality" and that is the chassis markings. Those marks, dabs of paint, chalk marks, etc that were put on the car during assembly. On the M Roadster, some are in pretty safe spots but others are in exposed areas like the calipers and chassis. ALL my original chassis marks are in place. Try finding that on a car that’s been traded around.
Included with my car are:
Complete service records from original selling BMW Dealer and my Dealer (they reflect oil and filter services, brake fluid flushes, coolant flushed, etc beyond BMW recommendations even though this was a low mileage car)
PDF file of all Service, purchases, etc of car since new.
BMW Window Sticker showing its original $ 46,835.00 MSRP
Original Owners manual, leather case (with the original business cards of the Salesman and the General manager and the original plastic Van’s Roadside Service Card,, Radio Manual, Owner’s Manual, Warranty Book, BMW Center Directory book, BMW Accident Guidelines and Checklist Booklet (unopened), Service and Warranty Information Book, plastic Z3 Roadster Safety Tips card, BMW OBD light pamphlet, Radiopass radio Code Card, and an original Heckscheiben-Reiniger Rear Window Cleaner Packet. Try finding another M Roadster with ALL these ORIGINAL items still there!
Original Perfect OEM Rear Window Protective “blanket” in its case.
Original Keys plus the plastic Emergency Key (Yes they had 3 key, try finding another car with all of them!
New design Michelin Super Sports with less than 300 miles on them
Recent Schedule 2+ Full service and Safety Service Inspection on all wear items by my BMW Dealer including all lubricants, coolant and brake fluid flush and refills.
The electro chromatic mirror was restored by the only BMW authorized company in the world. These usually fail after w years and people don’t get them fixed because they don’t know they can and it’s not inexpensive.
Custom body colored plugs to fill the original front license plate bolt holes
DINAN Stage 1 software for a 15 horsepower increase but a broader and smother midrange, 200 RPM higher redline and no top speed limiter.
The Shadow Chrome wheels have absolutely no rash or scratch marks.
BMW OEM Roll bar Windscreen (a $250 accessory)
Extremely Rare, early issue 2001 M Roadster brochure. The only year for S54 M Roadster specific brochure as other years were included in the general Z3 or M Cars brochure. Only available at introduction of 2001 S54.
New Custom Fit Covercraft, Ultra Soft Lined Car cover. This top line item is a $550 cover.
Every item on this car is either original or NOS BMW replacement/service parts such as lubricants and filters.
The car has no wax product on the paint. I have only used my professional grade Menzerna polishes, Lake County pads and Menzerna sealants on painted surfaces and stainless.
The top has twice been treated with Raggtopp Fabric Top maintainer which is the only approved protectant product by Haartz cloth, the maker of the top fabric. The rear window is excellent.
The original “hard” tonneau was still in its original plastic wrap when I bought the car since it had never been used. Since the wrap was a bit disintegrated I took it off but the tonneau has remained wrapped in my closet since I received it.
There are no modifications, changes or additions to this original car not noted above.
EVERY mechanical, Electrical, cooling, heating, etc function on this car performs as new. The car is ready at any time for a 10 mile jaunt or a 5,000 mile trip. It needs nothing and its service records are current requiring nothing.
I will gladly personally deliver this vehicle to any lower 48 state for only my fuel and delivery travel expenses. As long as you can get me to an airport to fly home, I will pay my own return costs.
I do not have the time or patience to deal with non enthusiasts or non qualifiers so if you are the winning bidder, your deposit in nonrefundable, unless you personally come to buy the car and it is not exactly as I have described. So if you have any questions I strongly recommend you email me first and we can follow up via phone or Facetime with the car if you wish. This will guarantee that you are getting a car that will meet or exceed your expectations. A $500 non refundable deposit is required and full payment is required within 7 days unless I agree to other arrangements PRIOR to your BID.
This is an original, excellent no excuses car that drives better than new and looks at least as good as new. But this car is not one that has set in a garage for the past 15 years hooked up to a battery charger. Both the previous owner and I love to exercise this car. Living in Florida, I get the opportunity much more often. Both of us are fortunate to have climate controlled garages and this car has never spent a night outside. The car has also never seen the inside of a car wash as both the original owner and I can attest to. I also can state that since I have owned the car, it has never even experienced rain. The previous owner told me however, that he did get caught in the rain one day while driving with his wife.
Being the owner of a couple of mint 2001 M Roadsters to go with my new Z3 and a lifetime “car guy” that dwells on originality and production numbers, about 8 years ago I also began maintaining a database of EVERY North American M Roadster by VIN containing ownership, location, color, interior, top, hardtop, modifications, advertised and selling prices, accidents, repair, service, etc. I have tapped into all public records databases, Carfax, M Registry, EBay, as well as help from BMW itself as well as the “M” community in an attempt to document every 2001 M Roadster. Remember there were only 922 of these built and they have their own unique ascending serial number system. There is some particularly interesting BMW history with many of the early cars and their use by BMW as well as some special cars they built. Since this information does contain a lot of personal information, I only provide it to the actual current owner of the car or to a verified prospective buyer of a specific car. Due to the amount of data and updating/additions I do, I limited this only to 2001 M Roadster as I still have a life to live and other things to do
However I can tell you that over the last 8 years as these 922 cars are obviously driven, change hands, reported new mileage or location, or get wrecked or serviced there are a few interesting observations that can be made. Of the 922 production 2001 M Roadsters, 9 have been wrecked / salvaged and have never reappeared or been titled for more than 5 years meaning they are gone forever. There are at least 6 cars that were exported to foreign countries. At least 78 have been involved in a reported/recorded accident of some degree. There are currently 26 cars reporting over 100,000 miles. There are currently 14 cars whose last mileage report was less than 9,000 miles. However 9 of those cars are in states where mileage isn’t reported and for at least 5 years there has been registration and service reported so the cars likely have continued to be driven and now possess at least 25,000 miles base on their pervious history. Since I was interested in the cars between 9,000 and 15,000 miles like mine, I searched that criteria and found that there exist only 15 cars in that range with 6 of those not reporting mileage for over 3 years although they appeared to be regularly driven. This would likely mean that there are likely only 14 (5 +9) 2001 M roadsters in existence with less than 15,000 miles. Of those 15 at least 8 are in the possession of their original owners or a second owner and because of a current mileage reports, they are either being locked up or operated sparingly like mine. So there are others out there with my mileage, but when was the last time you saw one for sale? Or in Imola Red? Anyway, that was just another tidbit if you feel like waiting for a “better” car or if you would rather take your $42K and buy a new Camry or used Boxster that will depreciate every day versus an M Roadster where the truly collectible examples have bottomed out and have already started appreciating and will do so every year as low mileage examples are no longer even offered for sale. If it wasn’t my age and my need to get on with my bucket list trip and my respect for this quality example and that it belongs to owned by another somebody that will appreciate this, IT WOULDN’T BE FOR SALE EITHER.
So I hope you now understand what this car was, what it is and what it will be and I hope you are smart enough to realize this is a rare chance to get such a car and that this chance will likely never come again at this price and, I doubt at this quality of condition and preservation. If you missed your chance in 2001 to buy one and want that rare second opportunity to have that chance again, this is your chance. Thanks for reading and good luck rather you buy or not. Please note that the Florida personalized tag stays with me.