Background
Late in the 20th century, BMW was on a roll, as one journalist put it ‘a swashbuckling, manly company’ believing everything was better with 50:50 weight distribution, rear wheel drive and powered by six cylinders in a row or 8 in a V.
This is when BMW’s director of ‘Special Model Series’ Berkhard Goeschel decided that the Z3’s obvious structural weaknesses (due to its lack of roof) could be overcome by simply adding one on. The BMW board members scared that profits would not match development costs refused but being the hairy chested, stubborn figure that personified the brand at the time, Goeschel wouldn’t hear of it and twisted the boards arm. He promised the coupe would share as much as possible with the Z3 and the green light was lit.
Ultimately and rather unfortunately, the board was proved right as sales of the coupe were overshadowed by the convertible. BMW did however try to mitigate this by offering a non-M version, of which this car is a fine example of.
Either way, the Z3 coupe sold in limited numbers which sounds bad but ultimately became its secret weapon as owners realised that it was a rare, special edition BMW. This example has the 3.0L M54 engine which was one step down from the fire breathing M coupe. It’s no slouch though with 228 bhp in a car that weighs about as much as its affectionate nickname of ‘turnschuh’ might suggest.








