wasnt m3

Last from the trip home, I've been recovering lol. I noticed this lighthouse on Google Maps and wanted to visit. Turns out its on private property but the valet at the Castle Hill Inn was happy to instruct us on how to get there and if we didn't have prior dinner arrangements we would've loved to have eaten there. Its just a short hike from their parking lot.

Thursday I made the trek from Newport to Lake Placid once again racing against a snow storm. Interstate was just starting to get bad, The wrangler unlimited I drove up with was loosing traction in 2wd. He switched over to 4wd as we got off and then it was all mountain roads for 45min after that which this handled flawlessly. This was when we got to the house we stayed at. Friday morning there ended up being a 3ft + pile of snow at the end of the driveway from the plows. 

I couldn't have picked a better day to get back into skiing though. It was around 7* windchill when we got to Whiteface at 8am but the runs were all covered in 5"+ of fresh powder. It was an incredible day. Went to the summit twice in the afternoon. The building on the left is the where the lift ends up and the start of the Men's Olympic Runs. I did end up going down Skyward at the end of the day and it was awesome except for that near vertical drop in. The rest of the run was actually easier because more trafficked runs had iced over at that point vs still being more powder. 

Saturday was more brutal at -18* windchill when we got there but still a blast. Everything was groomed overnight so better overall conditions for me still looking to gain my skills back. Same photo at the summit just before we dropped in Skyward on a way colder but clearer day. It was a lot more challenging to go down even first thing in the morning because of the ice build up hence "ice face" as the resorts nickname.
 
Managed to keep warm and didn't get my lips stuck to a beer can so win win 😂 I gained a lot of confidence and we ran another full day. This is looking up at the summit late afternoon. Skyward is the the run on the right of those 3. 

The worst thing I could've done for recovery though was spend 19 hours in a car but I did so in relatively good comfort. My hamstrings didn't want to stretch out for one of the rest breaks. It's also been a long time since I drove with good modern headlights, which were great to have driving through the woods in the dark for the first 3hrs of the trip. I ended up getting 26.45 and 26.59mpg on the 2 full tanks that I used coming back and that's with a good headwind too so I'm happy to have that as a starting base.
Made it home around 9:30pm Sunday night, threw the awaiting Weathertech seat cover and floor mats in and had the wife and dog out for a short drive. She's very happy with the purchase and figured out the controls quickly too. It was bittersweet too as our dog Maggie has been having kidney issues since before Christmas so I was so glad she was still around when I got home and she's very much been enjoying her favorite activity of going on car rides. 

Best part was showing up to his place, beating on the m3 and then leaving with the engine all in the same morning 😁

Making progress tonight. Rears needed a little clearancing at a 4 degree angle to fit inside the new lips. A friend that dabbles in machining got me set up and was able to try my hand at it. Brand new center caps should be here tomorrow. Then, off for coating.

Making progress tonight. Rears needed a little clearancing at a 4 degree angle to fit inside the new lips. A friend that dabbles in machining got me set up and was able to try my hand at it. Brand new center caps should be here tomorrow. Then, off for coating.

Making progress tonight. Rears needed a little clearancing at a 4 degree angle to fit inside the new lips. A friend that dabbles in machining got me set up and was able to try my hand at it. Brand new center caps should be here tomorrow. Then, off for coating.

Making progress tonight. Rears needed a little clearancing at a 4 degree angle to fit inside the new lips. A friend that dabbles in machining got me set up and was able to try my hand at it. Brand new center caps should be here tomorrow. Then, off for coating.

Nice progress, TJ! Can’t wait to see this on the new wheels this summer.

Making progress tonight. Rears needed a little clearancing at a 4 degree angle to fit inside the new lips. A friend that dabbles in machining got me set up and was able to try my hand at it. Brand new center caps should be here tomorrow. Then, off for coating.

Started working on a set of wheels that I've had laying around for a little over a year. Had some custom Radinox lips made by Felgenfuchs in Germany. The wheels are 18" AC Schnitzer Type 2 Racing, made by Ronal. I had to buy an entire e36 M3 to get them.... Thankfully, everything came apart without breaking any of the unobtainable titanium hardware. I need to have a friend machine the faces before powder coating. Can't wait to get these together!

Oh hell yeah! 

Started working on a set of wheels that I've had laying around for a little over a year. Had some custom Radinox lips made by Felgenfuchs in Germany. The wheels are 18" AC Schnitzer Type 2 Racing, made by Ronal. I had to buy an entire e36 M3 to get them.... Thankfully, everything came apart without breaking any of the unobtainable titanium hardware. I need to have a friend machine the faces before powder coating. Can't wait to get these together!

Started working on a set of wheels that I've had laying around for a little over a year. Had some custom Radinox lips made by Felgenfuchs in Germany. The wheels are 18" AC Schnitzer Type 2 Racing, made by Ronal. I had to buy an entire e36 M3 to get them.... Thankfully, everything came apart without breaking any of the unobtainable titanium hardware. I need to have a friend machine the faces before powder coating. Can't wait to get these together!

Started working on a set of wheels that I've had laying around for a little over a year. Had some custom Radinox lips made by Felgenfuchs in Germany. The wheels are 18" AC Schnitzer Type 2 Racing, made by Ronal. I had to buy an entire e36 M3 to get them.... Thankfully, everything came apart without breaking any of the unobtainable titanium hardware. I need to have a friend machine the faces before powder coating. Can't wait to get these together!

Engine bay cleaned up pretty nicely with some simple green and a pressure washer. I really wish the white cars didn't have yellow cosmoline. I would be tempted to not paint it but the yellow kills it so badly. 

The time has come to replace my wife's W body Impala and we both wanted a SUV as a replacement. I kept in mind that I wanted to go used BMW over newer economy because while I find the interiors nice in newer economy cars the road noise still speaks to the quality underneath.  It's the curse of growing up with these fine used automobiles knowing how things could be. The goals for this vehicle were really for long trips on vacations or at least day trips. After being impressed with that F10's condition I rented off Turo and @timmer's diesel thread, a E70 35d was the only vehicle we considered looking at. The desire also formed long ago when I worked at the dealership too, I loved driving the E90 and E70 diesels when they were new. They were my go-to errand runners when I had the choice. Father @andyhundley also told me they regularly service 10 of these at his job with no major issues after the EGR is "fixed".
I know its a pretty crazy car market right now but I don't feel like the prices on these have inflated much if any. The v8 X5's are the bottom because of their reliability and the diesels are just above that because its different. I saw many 80-120k examples for $12-15k on the market. CoPart auctions were often going for $8-10k as well for clean titled vehicles. Cinnamon Brown Nevada Leather interior was a must for me so that narrowed my search by quite a bit though. I initially looked in November and prices were a little lower on average then but I didn't see any winners at the time. Around the holidays this popped up in New Jersey though and after a week of contemplation I finally made the call. 
Being a 1 owner, clean carfax with recent service and being at a Euro specific car dealership really sweetened the deal. I'm really glad I looked back on @suspenceful's E70 thread as well because he mentioned using Lemon Squad for a PPI. Jeff at Torch Light Motors was happy to have them come out and inspect the vehicle and I was impressed with their report. I've attached it for those interested, really detailed and 94 pictures all around and under along with 3 short videos. 
Timing worked out pretty perfectly too as @BMWben is currently stationed out in Newport, RI for training before he moves to Japan. Along with a few other things out east I wanted to do, I figured why rent when I can buy? That and along with the Impala giving my wife some more trouble we decide to pull the trigger. Im flying out to Newark, NJ on the 28th and I'll spend a week out east and drive home on the 6th after a weekend of skiing in upstate New York at Whiteface. 
2013 BMW X5 xDrive35D
Deep Sea Blue Metalic
Cinnamon Brown Nevada Leather
Convenience Package (ZCV) - Comfort Access was a must for me
Cold Weather Package (ZCW) - Same with heated seats, heated rears was a bonus. 
Premium Package (ZPP) - All included in ZCV - The Rear view camera with top view I always loved using. 
Option 300 Space Saver Spare, not originally equipped but it has it! Thrilled this doesn't have run flats anymore. 
New Continental ExtremeContact DWS tires

LemonSquad460341.pdf

Just waiting on more parts to install the fully ported Partee Racing Heads and 272 Dbilas cams!  Bye bye burning oil, hello horsepower!!

As @wasnt m3 will tell you - if it will make it around the block it will make it around the world. 
 
last time I went down there in the e30 we put on like 3400 miles. Err, 7.3 if you counted from my odometer 

haven't had any sightings for a while! Forgot to post the other day but when I was on the over pass on HWY 26 to head north on 41 and a green E36 sedan passed on the other side. It had a silver hood with some particular black stripes on it. Pretty sure it was the @The Full Banana @rampelsauce dukes of hazard M3 hood which gave me a good laugh.

Kind of forgot to post this, but anyways my secret Santa found me an old German m coupe dealer brochure, AutoWeek magazine from 98 featuring the m coupe, and a CCA beanie. Love it all!

The package made it safe without issue in what I'd assume was within a day or two. Kind of crazy to think that people at the local post office aren't familiar with the format of addresses in this area. Pretty much everyone out this way has an address with the west and south coordinates. Anyway...I love my gifts!

Glad it made it! USPS folks working the counter were a bit confused about the mailing address. In the time it took to explain that yes it was an actual street address, I felt I could have almost driven out and left it on your porch.  

I was using the West Allis office at Oakland and HWY 100 so different players. But I do know who you are talking about at the New Berlin post office. That one does have its share of characters working the counter.
The lady behind the counter at West Allis kept saying I needed a correct street address and I kept trying to explain to her the street layouts in Dousman and that the necessary information was already on the label. After a while she tweaked the address in computer and marked "Highway 67" in ink on the mailer and said OK we're good.  I figured if worse came to worse the actual delivery person who does the route daily would figure it out. 
Crazy world. Hope all of you folks get your deliveries without drama!

Kind of forgot to post this, but anyways my secret Santa found me an old German m coupe dealer brochure, AutoWeek magazine from 98 featuring the m coupe, and a CCA beanie. Love it all!

Kind of forgot to post this, but anyways my secret Santa found me an old German m coupe dealer brochure, AutoWeek magazine from 98 featuring the m coupe, and a CCA beanie. Love it all!

Kind of forgot to post this, but anyways my secret Santa found me an old German m coupe dealer brochure, AutoWeek magazine from 98 featuring the m coupe, and a CCA beanie. Love it all!