Quote:
Originally Posted by wolferj  This looks very interesting... Is this car in the states? |
Short answer, yes it is, it was currently just sold and purchased in Jupiter, Florida.
Long answer, it looks like this car was a very frequent guest on this forum over the years and had generated a lot of interest, and the main question on most of the member’s mind was, is it "federalized"?
Here is a quick time line history for those that would be interested if it ever goes up for sale again.
10/4/2003
Vehicle exported from Italy and imported to Baltimore, MD.
7/2005
2nd owner (323ti) getting ready to purchase 323ti and stated that the car has been "federalized".
http://www.318ti.org/forum/showthread.php?t=6254 06/2006
2nd owner put the 323ti up for sale and sold it to a "family friend".
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?p=6742127 http://www.318ti.org/forum/showthread.php?t=10972 02/2007
Good discussion about this 323ti here.
http://www.318ti.org/forum/showthread.php?p=108432 12/2011
3rd owner put the 323ti up for sale.
http://www.318ti.org/forum/showthread.php?t=34862 08/2012
The current for sale ad in Roadfly says the vin# is "not in US system", so I am guessing it is not "federalized".
http://www.roadfly.com/bmw/classifie...php?view=46654 01/2013
The 4th and current owner recently purchased in Jupiter, Florida.
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1946229 So I had a few questions about this car and I emailed the 2nd owner and basically asked one question. Does this car have any copies of any paperwork from Customs and has it been "federalized"? Does it have an OBDII port? Does it have a copy of the EPA Form 3520-1? Response: Silence... crickets chirping.
I also email the 3rd owner some time ago and asked the same question. Does this car have any copies of any paperwork from US Customs? Response: Silence... crickets chirping.
So it is safe to say that this is one cool car and that it has not been "federalized", so you could buy it and drive it and probably never have any problems since it has been titled and registered before, and since this car is in Florida which currently has no emissions requirements and/or emissions testing as I understand it, that is definitely a plus for the new owner.
The only other item of interest is that it has the European M52 Nikasil-coated aluminum cylinder block, and it is noted that BMW did not import the aluminum cylinder block here because of the high sulfur content in our US gasoline caused premature cylinder bore wear, but it looks like it has gone 150,000 miles and still running strong!