2002 Z8 (#61871) - Sold

[Scott Pettit]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cars-Trucks___2002-BMW-Z8-Brilliant-Silver-Red-Leather-James-Bond_W0QQitemZ160301234281QQddnZCarsQ20Q26Q20TrucksQQddiZ2282QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Cars_Trucks?hash=item160301234281&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245&_trkparms=72%3A727%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318#ht_500wt_0

[macfly]

Could be a great car for rallies, events etc, but I'd want to run a full history on the VIN, and also see some close ups of the shock tower crowns and soft top.

[briandilley]

Is the economy hitting this market? Within the last week we have seen 3 museum pieces come out of some collection, and now an affordable semi-low mileage car for $80K.

I hope this will shake out the Z8 market, break some hidden jewels out of the garages, and let the high mileage cars actually turn into dailies. I believe that after nearly 10 years this market is still saturated with lot of low mileage cars and potentially quite a few cars like the 3 museaum pieces we saw this week. It would be nice to start separating these Z8's into distinct categories - museum pieces (1s), garage queens (1-2s), drivers (2-3s), dailies (4s), and wrecks (5s).

[macfly]

I like the idea of the guide numbers, but you need some pretty strict criteria to get a uniform result. The 1's & 5's are easy, but putting a number to a perfect 20k car that is mint against an 5k car that has been sitting unloved under a tarp in a shed, and thus has some failed seals, fogged headlamps, pitted chrome etc could be hard.

I think the economy may well shake out a bunch more beauties, and if we get into this deflationary cycle (http://www.rgemonitor.com/roubini-monitor/254515/the_deadly_dirty_d-words__deflation_debt_deflation_and_defaults__and_how_central_banks_will_have_to_resort_to_crazy_policies_as_we_have_reached_such_bermuda_triangle_of_a_liquidity_trap) it could break the market for everything, Z8's included. Personally I'd sit on cash right now, and wait at least year before buying anything, except maybe gold.

[briandilley]

Oh, I agree that a 'well cared' for car with mileage, maintenance, and care is always better than a car with perfect paint but is all dried up inside. I never understood how a car with 95 miles after 7-10 years could be a bargain by the time you got all the seals replaced :). My car has 6700 well cared for miles on it, more wax than anything, and the underneath (since I bought it) is starting to rival a showroom car. But I believe in a spirited run on any perfect day (East Coast limitations apply during Nov-May - have got to wait to get rid of the winter salt and sand) for at least two hours. But I must admit I love the photos when I log on the website and I look forward to all those great pics as much to everything.

As far as the bottom, I have been sitting on the sidelies since July and now that it appears that we are violently bouncing on the bottom at 50% of the DJI, that I am now going to start dollar cost averaging back into the beaten blue chips over the next six months. Can't wait till the DJI is back to 14K and realized I was on the Nantucket sled ride up!

[macfly]

Can't wait till the DJI is back to 14K and realized I was on the Nantucket sled ride up!
I love your optimism! Sadly I think we'll see the 4,000's before we'll see the 14,000 again, even this little countertrend rally won't get far beyond the mid 9's before normal service resumes, looking for the next down leg to reach 7200.

[macfly]

Some pix sent in by Andrew on the ground in NC....

[redz8]

The rear bumper is missing the sticker. This car may have been in an accident.

[macfly]

and the left hand shock tower dome means it'll never be highly valued collector's car. I don't think it is domed enough to alter the handling in any way, I tracked a Z8 with badly distorted shock towers (http://www.bmwz8.us/vbb/showthread.php?t=400&referrerid=2) twice, and had Craig Stanton (http://www.bmwz8.us/htmlL/test1.php?GalleryID=118) drive the car as fast as he could make it go for a bunch of laps. At the speeds he drove it was unflapable, totally stable, able and an absolute joy to drive. He loved it, and I really loved being the passenger in a Z8 being driven faster than I could ever dream of driving! Anyhow, thats a long way of saying a little doming won't spoil the driving, just put on the PP and it'll make a fine car to do 100,000 miles with without a worry in the world.

[briandilley]

Uncle, I am lost on the 'sticker' on the rear bumper. My car has not sticker, only 6700 miles, and no wrecks. So, what am I missing?

Also, has anyone noticed that ebay currently has 10 cars listed for sale. The inventory of Z8's for sale is climbing.

[macfly]

Under the numberplate there should always be a VIN coded sticker if the car is all stock and original, you can just make it out as thin stripe in this shot (http://www.bmwz8.us/htmlL/test1.php?GalleryID=192&ImgID=1145).

[briandilley]

Well, this is a little disconcerning. I do not have this VIN sticker, the trunklid does, but the bumper doesn't. The carfax report showed no repairs or accidents, BMW of Beverly Hills inspection reported no discrepancies to the body. The paint is all perfect on this car, no color differences, proper egg shell, and no overspray anywhere.

Hmmmm??????

[redz8]

look at every body panel. They should all have the sticker. Carfax is not perfect and minor repairs that bypass insurance claims don't get recorded. Having said that, it's likely that the previous owner removed the sticker not knowing it's importance.

[briandilley]

I hope so, as the third owner it has had several license plates on it. I checked all other panels and everyone has the VIN sticker, I hope it was taken off by accident or during one of its many washes over the years. Not much I can do about it now unfortunately.

[macfly]

I wouldn't worry about it, your car sounds perfect, it could well have been peeled off by one of the number plate attachers who didn't realize it's worth. The inventory of Z8's on EBay and Autotrader is always fluctuating, sometimes with as many as fifteen on EBay and thirty five on Autotrader. There are always a few dozen on Mobile.de (http://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/searchresults.html?pageNumber=1&scopeId=C&sortOption.sortBy=price.consumerGrossEuro&sortOption.sortOrder=ASCENDING&makeModelVariant1.makeId=3500&makeModelVariant1.modelId=54&makeModelVariant1.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant2.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant3.searchInFreetext=false&vehicleCategory=Car&segment=Car&siteId=GERMANY&negativeFeatures=EXPORT&damageUnrepaired=NO_DAMAGE_UNREPAIRED&customerIdsAsString=&lang=en) in Germany, and some of those cars have been on there for over a year without any price reductions. This month they have 87 Z8's and Alpinas, one with 250,000k's on the clock, those Germans sure do like to drive!
:thumbsup::driving::driving::driving:

[briandilley]

Thanks guys, it is always good to hear an encouraging word. I am pretty sure that is was 'detailed' off somewhere along the way. It is in a vulnerable spot.

I can't wait till I pay this baby off and buy a beater like the one in NC to rack up the miles on, customize whatever, and paint it any color. My original dream was to have a white Z with an all red interior. Didn't make one from what I see.

[macfly]

This is the only white/red (http://www.bmwz8.us/htmlL/galleryclr.php?kwd=indi&ImgID=259&page=1) I've seen. Beware buying a beater, that one I linked to above was my 'beater' but there ended up being so much wrong with it that I've learnt with Z8's the better the better so to speak.

[briandilley]

I've seen that one before, but it is customized to the max. I don't think too much on that car is original. Thank God for the Germans and their love to drive these cars. Soon all those Zs will be beaten to death and they will want want we have protected. Start collecting!

[macfly]

Back to the start of the thread, this car is for sale at a reserve price of $77,000 making it a pretty good deal as an all round user for rallies etc.

[Scott Pettit]

It looks like the VIN sticker was air brushed / photo shopped out.