In the early 2000s when the E46 M3s started hitting race tracks, I saw a Laguna Seca Blue M3 ripping around Road Atlanta. Shortly thereafter, another one was doing the same at Summit Point. And then another at VIR. For a stock car on street tires, it absolutely blew me away how fast it was on track. Although I wasn’t driving on track at the same time, watching it on track was a sight to behold. That blue M&M colored car was so much fun to watch.
And so began my fascination with LSB and the E46 M3.
Fast forward to 2012, I began my search for an LSB M3. I found and almost bought 2 separate cars. The 2nd one popped up for sale on BMW CCA’s classifieds and I called the day it appeared. I was very close to agreeing on a price when the buyer said he was "flooded with requests over the past week at the $26k listed price" so was going to take the car down for sale and reevaluate his pricing. I never saw it for sale again.
After failing multiple attempts to find an LSB car (which were already fetching $4-6k above comparable non-LSB colored M3s), and after about 8 months of searching, I found a low mileage (35k) and well-cared for 2003 Topaz Blue M3. I started my pre-purchase forensics on the car and determined that I had found a car I couldn’t pass up:
So despite my fascination with LSB, I bought this car. I shortly thereafter took it on a rally (hence the decal):
I’ll create a proper build thread, there is much more to come. Over the past 9 years of ownership, I’ve done a lot to this car. I’ll document that all. The chassis is mint – zero rust, zeros issues.
But for the moment and jumping to current day, here is the decision I’m wrestling with currently. I took these pics yesterday after getting back from a paint shop. I’m doing a full color change of the car. Originally, I was going to respray it LSB, but after some gentle nudges from this community and friends, “Why not paint it a color that you couldn’t buy from BMW” was the suggestion that kept coming up. This makes a whole bunch of sense to me.
The final two colors in the running:
My cell phone has done a miserable job catching the light, but these are the colors in the running. In all of these pics, Voodoo Blue is on the left, Shark Blue is on the right. Both of these are Porsche colors, but only Voodoo Blue is currently offered by BMW (code P7L). My strong preference is Shark Blue, despite not currently being a BMW-offered color.
I’ve spent months (heck, years) agonizing over this decision. I’ve visited dealers. I’ve hit the BMW and Porsche “Individual” color configurator sites. I’ve found nearly every photo Google has indexed for “BMW + blue”. Shark Blue ticks all the right boxes for me.
Shark Blue - dumb name, awesome color (IMHO)
Other blues I considered from the BMW family:
I’ve found a partner in a local shop and will certainly post who that is once this moves forward a little more. I’m confident I found the right partner for this project.
Soooo… much more to come on this build thread. I have parts on the way, although it’s been a bit challenging with the supply chain issues currently facing the world over.
Wish me luck.
-Casa
EDIT: Dec 12, 2022 - just shy of 20 days to one year later and jumping straight to the punchline, here is how the car sits today:
/EDIT: Dec 12, 2022
And so began my fascination with LSB and the E46 M3.
Fast forward to 2012, I began my search for an LSB M3. I found and almost bought 2 separate cars. The 2nd one popped up for sale on BMW CCA’s classifieds and I called the day it appeared. I was very close to agreeing on a price when the buyer said he was "flooded with requests over the past week at the $26k listed price" so was going to take the car down for sale and reevaluate his pricing. I never saw it for sale again.
After failing multiple attempts to find an LSB car (which were already fetching $4-6k above comparable non-LSB colored M3s), and after about 8 months of searching, I found a low mileage (35k) and well-cared for 2003 Topaz Blue M3. I started my pre-purchase forensics on the car and determined that I had found a car I couldn’t pass up:
- The first owner was a woman who sold the car because of hip replacement – she could no longer operate the clutch.
- I had a friend at BMW pull the service records and found the rear diff was replaced under warranty because it was “noisy”.
- Rod bearing were replaced under warranty.
- The 2nd owner had done some mods to the car, including getting the subframe reinforced by Piper Motorsports in NoVa. I knew Piper Motorsports from racing so felt good about the job being done right.
- Camshaft bolts were replaced.
- I had a PPI done by Road Race Technologies/RRT Racing in NoVa that came back extremely positive. “One of the cleanest M3’s we’ve ever seen.”
So despite my fascination with LSB, I bought this car. I shortly thereafter took it on a rally (hence the decal):
I’ll create a proper build thread, there is much more to come. Over the past 9 years of ownership, I’ve done a lot to this car. I’ll document that all. The chassis is mint – zero rust, zeros issues.
But for the moment and jumping to current day, here is the decision I’m wrestling with currently. I took these pics yesterday after getting back from a paint shop. I’m doing a full color change of the car. Originally, I was going to respray it LSB, but after some gentle nudges from this community and friends, “Why not paint it a color that you couldn’t buy from BMW” was the suggestion that kept coming up. This makes a whole bunch of sense to me.
The final two colors in the running:
My cell phone has done a miserable job catching the light, but these are the colors in the running. In all of these pics, Voodoo Blue is on the left, Shark Blue is on the right. Both of these are Porsche colors, but only Voodoo Blue is currently offered by BMW (code P7L). My strong preference is Shark Blue, despite not currently being a BMW-offered color.
I’ve spent months (heck, years) agonizing over this decision. I’ve visited dealers. I’ve hit the BMW and Porsche “Individual” color configurator sites. I’ve found nearly every photo Google has indexed for “BMW + blue”. Shark Blue ticks all the right boxes for me.
Shark Blue - dumb name, awesome color (IMHO)
Other blues I considered from the BMW family:
I’ve found a partner in a local shop and will certainly post who that is once this moves forward a little more. I’m confident I found the right partner for this project.
Soooo… much more to come on this build thread. I have parts on the way, although it’s been a bit challenging with the supply chain issues currently facing the world over.
Wish me luck.
-Casa
EDIT: Dec 12, 2022 - just shy of 20 days to one year later and jumping straight to the punchline, here is how the car sits today:
/EDIT: Dec 12, 2022
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