Thread: BMW F30 Laguna Seca Launch

Well it was a little over a month ago I was stumbling along in the E36 zone and came across this little gem
Need SF Bay Area E36 sedan for BMW NA photo shoot - Bimmerforums - The Ultimate BMW Forum
BMW NA Wants To Borrow Your 3 Series! And loan you a brand-new F30 3 Series in exchange.

I thought to myself I have got a clean sedan that is still pretty "stock" and this seems like fun :alright

At first to be honest I wasnt even sure if it was legit
It seemed legit but I decided to contact some BMW people I knew to make sure it was real
Got confirmation that Kelly is indeed legit in the CCA world

So a couple emails go back and worth and its then time to get pictures ready
My Uncle works in the film industry and thus is a real shutterbug
I go up there on Christmas eve and we grab the pelican case,the car and go up to Mulholland
kinda funny to think that the case and its contents I had sitting in my lap were worth more than my little E36

Here is some background info on my E36

Father bought it new from Crevier BMW and drove it for a couple years but he then passed away when I was 3 years old
My mom kept the car to have as an extra car

1993 birth date
currently is at 111,500ish miles
99.9% original paint
zero accidents
original family

Here are some of the pictures from that shoot





here are some interior shots with the typical E36 falling apart :mad
seems like on this stupid car the drivers side rusts and the passenger side falls apart
I have had to fix rust that devolped under the weather stripping on both of the drivers side doors
the passenger side just falls apart :confused






so I got all my pictures ready to go and put them into one large album and got the email ready and sent it off

It was I think 2 weeks ago I finally got the word from BMW NA
I was super excited to hear this but the logistics seemed kinda daunting in the beginning

They did ask that I switch out the DSI's back to my bottle caps,raise my coilovers all the way up, and switch my trim
All stuff that is super easy

Saturday the 14th was arranged for the paint to be going to that next level
a friend and mentor to me who works at Meguiar's volunteered to come over and assist in the paint prep

for those of you who are not detail savvy here is a great article on single stage whites from one of the detailing greats
The Lesson White Paint Teaches Us - Auto Geek Online Auto Detailing Forum

the days before I had spent stripping off all the previous layers of M21 that had been on the paint
dawn washes,then a couple IPA wipedowns, and then a couple wipedowns from this
3M Adhesive & Wax Remover (12 oz aerosol), 3M 03618 : 3M Adhesive Remover

Ok the paint was ready to go
here was the products we used


first pass was with Meguiars D300,5" correction disk,speed 5 on the 7424
then that was followed with M205 on the rotary with a 6" yellow polishing pad
Next was a product I had heard was amazing for the single stage paints and I bought it to try
out came Meguiars M7, this product did absolute wonders for the paint
moisture in and the paint really popped

here are some pictures before any LSP was applied
hack with a point and shoot,dying battery, and a cloudy day




for the LSP I broke out the purple goodness Meguiars M21
This was applied off the DA's finishing pads on speed 3
a total of 2 coats were applied 24hrs apart

On one of those early phone calls with the liaison I have been in contact from corporate
I asked if all of the spots were filled for the cars
I found out that the spot for the E21 was not filled

Like they say its always good to have friends with friends :cool

a couple phone calls later and some pictures later the E21 is ready to go and logistics are all worked out
1979 BMW E21 with 12,XXXmiles, the car is beyond clean

So the E21 and my E36 are going to be going up to the Torrance area later this week
I am driving my car and the E21 is getting hauled up on a flatbed

an auto transporter is going to be picking up the two cars in Torrance and trucking them up to Laguna Seca

When I drop my car off, I am going to be picking up the 1st of 2 press cars
The first press car is going to be a 2012 E92 coupe with a manual trans, color yet to be determined

On Thursday 2/2 two friends and I are making the pilgrimage to one of the best tracks in California
700 miles, 12 hours in the saddle of the 335i

This thread is going to be going under numerous updates :buttrock
E92 update
Laguna Seca update
F30 update
photoshoot picture update

I have people to thank for making all of this a reality
The dedicated staff of Anaheim Hills Autocare
Detailing.com
Kelly Kirkland
Sean Lobosco
my Mom and the rest of my family for putting up with me and the love of my little old german car