Hello jcrane, I am the proud owner of a 1999 323ti, 1 in 4 in the US, imported from Italy. I have been thinking of selling it recently to make room for new purchases, and I think it perfectly fits your description. It is the 5 spd manual, M52 2.5L i6. If your interested to know more about it, I'll be posting it in the classifieds soon, but shoot me a message in the meantime or just reply here!
Thanks, James