A new coupe model was added to my collection today but not for display. One of my 4 year-old’s favorite activities is playing cars (I started him very young) :). In order to join in, I need to make sure I maintain a respectable fleet of Hotwheels. Hence my long search for an M Coupe to add to my 1:64 scale garage. As Hotwheels, Matchbox, nor any other U.S. brand of toy cars makes an M Coupe, I had to look elsewhere. I eventually discovered the brand Majorette in France. I’ve seen a couple of their cars on Ebay but never in a U.S. store.
It’s listed as a Z3 Coupe, but it’s most definitely a European M Coupe. It has the M front bumper, side grills, quad exhaust, and the Euro license plate on the hatch. I’ve seen them in black, navy blue (?), red, pale mint green, and silver. Being me, I had to seek out the hardest one to find: silver. They also had different style wheels available. Some of the older styles look terrible, so I was after a silver one with the most modern looking wheels. I saw them come up for sale from time to time, but always with overseas shipping costs so ridiculous that I could not justify the expense for what is basically a $1 Hotwheels. Needless to say, it was a multi-year search that only came to fruition today. I must say I’m very happy with my purchase. The quality is pretty decent, and my son was very excited to discover that the hatch opens.
Several years ago, my son was given a pretty amazing, wooden town by a neighbor that he spends hours playing with (and I have as well). After nap time this afternoon, we were excited to take the new coupe for a spin. He recently evicted me from the very spacious fire station into a smaller ranch home with only a single car garage. With the tight quarters, I had no choice but to relegate my Ferraris 288 GTO and FF out to the yard. I think the M Coupe will be my daily driver/around-town car with my FF’s AWD being used in poor weather and my mint, pearl white 288 GTO for Sunday drives and car shows.
Excited to show off my new ride, we put together a little BMW get together at the local mechanic/gas station/Starbucks. Two E90 M3s showed up (one being Todd’s) as well as Colby in his alpine white over imola M Roadster. Everyone seemed to like the new coupe. The meet was interrupted by Mom calling us upstairs for dinner, so the coupe is parked back in the garage until tomorrow. 1:64 scale life is eerily similar to my full size one :).
Almost exactly two years ago, “2000mkoop” on Bimmerforums had a very talented friend of his, and College for Creative Studies graduate, create a painting of his M Coupe. As you could probably guess from the fanatical nature of the M Coupe community, everyone else wanted one too. His friend eventually opened an Ebay store where he sold paintings of many cars including the M Coupe. Eventually there were 5 different M Coupe paintings available. You can view three of the other ones on Jeremy’s Coupe A Day site.
My favorite, and the one my wife bought me for Christmas 2009, is the profile shot. I liked it the best because it looks like it’s steel gray and has stepped-lip wheels which I someday hope to have on my coupe. It has been hanging in my office just to the right of my computer monitor for the past year and a half to inspire me :). You know it’s good because it replaced the McLaren F1 LM poster you see behind me and not many things could do that.
I would have shared this amazing item of “coupe stuff” with everyone earlier, but the painter’s online store was empty for over a year. I didn’t want to flaunt my goods and not tell you where to get your own. The good news is he is back! He currently has two M Coupe paintings listed on Ebay, but I’m pretty sure he would be willing to do the other ones as well. The best part is, each of these paintings is original (not prints) and signed by the artist. The very best part is they cost <$100 (edit: looks like they just went up). I’ve also heard he’s willing to do one-off, commissioned paintings for a little more if you just send him a photo of your car.
When I purchased mine, he had them available as rolled canvas or already box framed. I got the box framed one, so it would be ready for hanging despite the higher cost and additional shipping. It now appears they all come only on rolled canvases.
I think this is a must have item for any coupe fanatic. I’d love to sometime pick up the rear view painting of what also looks like a steel gray coupe to add to my original art collection.
As you know from my recent Winterization article, I’ve been preparing my coupe for the long winter. Obviously the best protection is a garage, but even inside there are a lot of things that can hurt your baby. One of the most important parts of protecting your M Coupe while parked is a quality car cover. It will protect your coupe from dust, dings (important to me with two little kids), and moisture build-up (not as important in CO). If you’re in a situation where you need to leave your coupe parked outside, a quality cover is even more important. You will need a cover that can also protect your coupe from the acid rain, tree sap, and bird droppings.
The BMW M Coupe as I am sure you are well aware has a rather unique shape. Off the shelf and semi-custom covers will not fit well at all. The danger of ill-fitting car covers is the additional movement of the cover against the paint. Covers that fit tightly to the car will have minimal movement even in wind. I quickly came to the conclusion that a custom car cover was the only way to go.
Dust does not seem like it would be a big deal, but some dusts can be more harmful to your clearcoat than others. The primary reason to protect from dust though is to keep you car looking perfect without having to do additional washing or detailing. It is these extra activities on the surface of you car that are most likely to cause swirl marks on your paint.
My garage is full of tools, lawn tools and kids toys; each of which could do some damage to my coupe. Ding protection often comes at the cost of a larger, thicker cover however.
If a material is not breathable, it will trap moisture and could cause rust.
This describes how easily the material is to pack, and how small the final packed cover is. This is an important attribute if you will use your cover often. It also may allow you to wash the cover in a home washing machine if necessary rather than a commercial laundry mat or just rinsing it off while on the car.
If you plan to use your cover frequently, you want to find a cover with optimal softness as it will be less harsh on the paint when putting it on and taking it off.
I look for any excuse I can to go out in the garage and stare at my coupe. If it has to be covered, I at least want something that will fit close enough to still allow me to appreciate the curves and be somewhat exciting to see parked over in the corner.
In a pinch, could I also use it as a temporary outdoor cover?
To cover all bases, I also want to point out some of the attributes to look for in an outdoor cover besides those above.
You absolutely do not want to use a “waterproof” material to cover your coupe. Waterproof materials will trap moisture and could cause rust. You want to find the most water resistant material you can that still maintains good breathability.
The sun’s UV Rays can damage a vehicle’s interior, finish, and also the car cover material. If you live in a climate that could experience extreme sun conditions, this is a very important attribute in cover selection.
Parking your coupe outside leaves it exposed to things such as acid rain, bird droppings, tree sap and many other things that can damage your paint finish.
Here are my car cover finalists and how I ended up with the one I did.
You really cannot go wrong with OEM accessories for a potential collector car. The Noah fabric is also known to be an excellent indoor/outdoor fabric that is good at almost everything listed above but does not specialize in one particular area. It is a taupe cover with BMW printed on the hood and a clear license plate window on the back. Some may not want to advertise that they have a BMW parked under the cover if parked out side. The license plate window could be especially useful though if you plan to park it at an airport or military base where security may go around checking license plates. It will keep them from having to lift the back of your cover to do it. The other nice thing is that you do not have to wait a couple weeks to have your cover custom made. You can go to any BMW dealer and pick one up for $174, and if it’s not in stock it should arrive in 3-5 days.
This cover checks almost all the boxes in the attributes I was looking for including being excellent in dust and ding protection. It’s major markdown came from it only being available in tan. Not very exciting. If you don’t care about the color, it’s a great choice for indoor use. You can find it for ~$190 on Ebay.
Made with the same fabric as the OEM cover, but in a silver-gray color and without BMW printed on the hood nor a license plate window. Typically costs a little more than OEM too at just under $200 on Ebay.
This is one of the newer fabrics out there and it seems to do everything well for a lower price. I read several reviews that they like it better than the Noah. It’s available in tan, gray or blue and is rated highest in ding protection. This extra protection comes at the expense of size as it’s also one of the largest. It’s available for ~$180 on Ebay.
The WeatherShield HP fabric is exclusive to CoverCraft. It’s the ultimate outdoor cover with high protection ratings in just about every category. It also manages to be thin and pack up small. It’s also available in black, red, yellow, blue, green and light blue. The only downside is it’s lack of ding protection and high price. It’s available on Ebay for ~$265. Browsing the CoverCraft website I noticed they still had their previous generation WeatherShield fabric (in black) on clearance which has many of the same benefits of the new generation. They quoted me a price of $190 for an M Coupe.
The Form-Fit covers are made for the garage queens. They are made of the very softest materials and fit like a glove. When you have to specify if you own an M Coupe or Z3 Coupe, you know you’re getting a nice tight cover. They also fold down to next to nothing and are available in black, charcoal gray, blue, silver gray, hunter green, and red. It is the ultimate indoor cover with it’s only drawbacks being lesser ding protection and large price tag. The ones I priced out were around $325.
So which did I decide on? None of the above. My heart has always belonged to the highly sought after BMW OEM Indoor Cover shown above (Part No 032 300 410). This ultimate M Coupe accessory was sold in limited quantity only in Europe. They were produced in Italy very similar to the form-fit cover described above but with an M Coupe logo printed on the hood and came with a storage bag and steering wheel cover also with the M Coupe logo. I remember seeing the first photos of this cover all the way back in 2002 in this Bimmerfest thread and have wanted one every since. The 20 covers that made it to the states were hand carried here by the owner of LeatherZ; and, as I’m sure you could guess, they trade hands at astronomical prices. Was I able to track one of these down? Also a No.
A couple years ago, an Italian Bimmerforums member qpbullet, put together a group buy to have another run of these covers made by the company CoverCar in Italy. These covers are replicas of the originals down to the steering wheel cover. The only difference is the absence of the small white “BMW M” above the right taillight. When qpbullet posted in a thread last week that he had a couple extra ones, I jumped at the opportunity. My cover should be headed my way in the next few days. Thanks again Pia! If you would be interested in one, qpbullet has thrown around the idea of organizing another Group Buy. Leave a comment here or PM him on Bimmerforums to let him know you are interested.
A few people have asked if my cover came with a storage bag and what the interior material is like. It came with a small gray duffle bag. The interior material is a very soft felt or fleece. I’m very careful about what I let touch my paint, and I have not even given a second thought to putting this cover on. The cover itself can pack down pretty small and can even fit in the average home washer and dryer if necessary.
M Coupes are a small market, so it’s not often you come across M Coupe stuff. So when opportunities come along, you need to take them. Ben Carufel of Bimmerforums made these very nice embroidered hats and beanies late last year. He’s got a few left and these will probably be his last batch so act now. He has both fitted caps and beanies and best of all they’re free! Just pay $25 shipping :). Check this Bimmerforums thread to see what’s in stock.
If you want one (or more), email coupehats@gmail.com and you’ll get an automated reply with instructions. M Roadster versions are also available.