I purchased my 2000 BMW Z3 2.3 in October, 1999 and took delivery right before Thanksgiving. The color is Topaz Blue, my wife Maxine's choice. After owning 2 red RX-7's over the years, she told me that "I was no longer a teenager" and a red sports car was out. White, silver and black did not appeal to me. There was a Topaz Blue 323 on the lot that just jumped out at both of us. Maxine pointed, said "that's the color", and the die was cast...

Here is my Z3 during December 1999, shortly after I took delivery. It's hard to tell from this picture, but the hardtop came installed from the factory. Before driving the car off the lot, I had the dealer install a set of Pirelli Winter 210 Asimmetrico snow tires that I purchased from the TireRack mounted on 15" steel rims.

Oh, and by the way, that is the same driveway as the picture to the right. Our driveway faces north and becomes a skating rink during the winter.

Fast-forward 8 months and we are in August, 2000. The sun is shining, the hardtop is off, and my wee-little bald spot is getting nice and red from all the top-down driving fun I am having. You can notice that the factory 16" wheels are back on the car. I have also applied a set of Chrom-Design front grill inserts that I purchased from HMS Motorsport.

(click on the picture to see a bigger view)