I mentioned in my last post that the pricing of the M4 limited editions might be expensive, but it was far from the most expensive of the smaller Ms. Case in point; today’s M3 Lime Rock Edition. What did that get you? Individual Fire Orange paint is the most obvious item, but this was otherwise a loaded Competition Package car with some M Performance goodies and a sticker showing a track map of Lime Rock Park in Connecticut. Only 200 were made, and though they’re essentially just an appearance package – like most of the special E9xs were – they command a premium. How premium?
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We have 15 years of archives. Links older than a year may have been updated to point to similar cars available to bid on eBay.Tag: Fire Orange
Another model missing from the ‘EAG Legends Collection‘ was undoubtedly the 2002. What really should have been there was another early cutting of the Motorsport division teeth – the 2002 Turbo. Like the 3.0CSL, this was an engineering exercise to flex their muscles. The 2002 Turbo was one of the first turbocharged production cars, and while it was a full decade behind GM’s ‘Jetfire’ turbo V8, it produced nearly as much power as the much larger 3.5 liter V8. Slapping a KKK turbocharger to the Kugelfischer-injected 2.0 M10 yielded 170 horsepower and 180 lb.ft of torque making the 2002 turbo a bit of a giant killer.
With only 1,672 Turbos produced, you’re not likely to come across one today. If you do, you’re also not likely to be able to afford it. So today’s 2002 is, like yesterday, a resto-mod rather than an original. This one takes the equation to 11 though, and adds a dose of “M” dna into this beefed-up E10. Ever wonder where all the S14s from M50/52 swapped M3s went? Well, one went right here:
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1976 BMW 2002 on eBay
2 CommentsWhile the twin Individual Gran Coupes from this morning were certainly a good start, if I were seriously contemplating special ordering a car and paying extra for it, it would probably be a full-fledged M model. BMW’s obviously made a habit of offering limited-run M models, and it seems – generally – that those models plus the regular run of options resulted in less people turning towards BMW Individual to spec out their cars. But thankfully, some did – and we end up with some pretty cool color combinations, such as the Java Green hued 2013 I looked at last year.
One of my biggest gripes with some special editions is that they don’t seem to be particularly special at all; generally, just a different than normal color combination. All of the manufacturers are guilty of this, not just BMW; but the Lime Rock Park Edition is one that really makes me cross. I’m not even sure why; it is, indeed, a special car – a fully loaded Competition Package car, limited to 200 examples in Fire Orange, with a unique exhaust and a track map indicating the etymology of the name. It was also the end of the legendary 2-door M3 (for now). But since you could special order Fire Orange from BMW’s Individual department and have, theoretically, a 1 of 1 example for about the same money, I just was never sure why the Lime Rock Park Edition was so special. One thing is for certain, though – the color stands out on this exceptional package and if you were clever, you beat BMW to the market: