Mike Gardner writes:
I would be honored to be in the "Z3 Guys".


I came home from work one day, (Actually early enough to have dinner with my family), and started talking about a sports car that I had seen. My wife and I talked for about 15 minutes about the possibility of actually buying one, when my 14 year old son looked at me and told me I was nuts. My wife looked at him, and said "Notice we have been talking about it for a while, and I haven't said no". Surprised me! This was in March or April '99. next weekend we drove down to the BMW Store in Cincinnati, just to look. We spent the next 8 months or so "looking". I had sort of pushed the whole idea out of my mind, when I was going to lunch with a co-worker, and drove by the Porsche dealer on the way to the restaurant. I saw out of the corner of my eye a splash of this absolutely gorgeous blue up by the showroom window (where they keep the Boxsters). At lunch that color, and the idea that Porsche had actually made a Boxster in that color, was all I could talk about. On the way back to work, I talked him into stopping to look. Unbelievable! it was an Estoril blue M roadster traded in earlier that day. I drove it, went back to work and called my wife, and made arrangements to meet her there after work. I got there a little late, and as I drove in, I caught her getting out of the car. Grinfluenza had her too. We drove it, both liked it, she wanted to either buy new, or BMW Certified. Imagine my frustration by this point! dealer offered a great price, and I couldn't buy it. He was kind enough to tell us where it was going next (BMW dealer up the road). I called the BMW dealer, and talked to a salesman we had talked to months earlier, described the car, "Yes it's here"
Will it be certified? Discussion ensued, price not quite as great, bought the car over the phone.
I think she bought the car for her too, although she won't drive it, because no matter what kind of day I have at work, or how many hours I work, by the time I get home I am smiling and in a good mood.
These pictures came from the day I picked up the car (Dec 11) The grin is still there, My 2 year old son and I still wash the car at every opportunity, and he has already claimed it. I took him for a ride in it with the top down this spring, and every time I asked him what he thought, he would throw his hands up in the air, and say "Top Down" After about three times, he reached over, patted the center console, looked at me and said "My car". Not much of a surprise, that March day at the BMW Store, he (not quite 1 yet) said his first recognizable sentence, "Car Go Go Go" as he was sitting in the drivers seat of that little red 2.3 Z3....

Esmerelda's Home Page