Well it’s been a little while since I posted up, and that’s because I’ve been busy shooting some new rides. Fear not. I’d never let a social life get in the way.

I ran into Jay’s stunning black M3 convertible at a meet earlier this spring and knew right away I had to shoot this car. That was as far as I got. His idea was to shoot downtown so the day we met up I figured ok, if he wants to rip his lip off trolling the pothole ridden streets of downtown Toronto, his game. Surprisingly, this car championed its way around.

Rolling on some M5 fitment BBS RS wheels, this car just oozes style wherever you place it. Like any enthusiasts car, to really appreciate this one you have to go back to the start and understand how far it came. How far exactly? Well, this car started life as a 328i and by middle life it’s become a fully fledged M3.

This is possible since the E36 generation 3 series cars were the same chassis (minus bolt ons) as the M3. The only generation of M3 that this is true for is the E36, so E30, E46, E92 fans are all out of luck if they want to do this kind of ‘build your own’ of their favorite generation M3 when they become more affordable.

Although Jay might debate with you on this being the affordable route to get your own M3. In fact his words on the subject were short and consisted mostly of four letters. But the upside to doing your M3 this way is that you have full control over the parts that go into your car. You aren’t buying someone else’s problems if you properly research and look over the components you buy. The wonderful straight six came out of a southern US car and is in predictably great condition.

Perhaps that’s me trying to put a silver lining on it…

Considering it’s riding so low on its Bilstein PSS9 coilovers the front clearance on the Bimmer isn’t that bad allowing Jay to nearly tuck rim and still get in and out of driveways without leaving his bumper behind every time. Somehow zip-ties wouldn’t suit this car…

The interiors of the latest BMW’s are pretty bland affairs in my opinion. The E36 and E30 gen though are much more full of character. The seats are organic and look like they’d welcome a human form like a baseball glove. The worked in leather is warm and the detailing in the leather surfaces is what set these German cars apart from the competition.

Nice touches populate the interior.

There really isn’t a bad angle on this M3, the wheels dominate the car’s presence, but it makes no difference roof up or down, front or rear, it has proper stance all around, and as much attention was paid to what shouldn’t be fiddled with as what should be.

I love how deep the factory chin splitter is on the E36′s, it echo’s the deep dish of the BBS RS’s nicely.

Suitable camber goes along with such a stance, but Jay’s car avoids looking like its had its knees broken.

See what I mean about angles? Front and rear this thing just properly pops at you. The best part is this car may be for sale soon, so unless I grab it up you should get in touch with Jay if this is your dream car. Once it goes on the market, it won’t last long.

Pierre bought his 1997 Arena Red Porsche in 1998 with 3000km on it, and it really was from a little old lady. Ten years on and I’m sure the first owner would barely recognize their old ride. The exterior modifications are so extensive it’s nearly impossible to list them all, but it’s worth trying just to run through some of the most desirable names in Porsche tuning. The substantial and muscular flares, GT2 wing, brake venting sideskirts, and front chin are all Gemballa parts. The front bumper is a true Euro spec GT2 part, while the rear is covered off by a RUF Turbo R piece. Pierre tells me RUF parts are only available to owners of actual RUF cars…

and a RUF VP came up to him once at a SEMA show and asked incredulously how he managed to score that rear bumper cover and RUF carbon fibre hood. Needless to say Pierre keeps it on the downlow where they came from! Stuffed under those fender flares are a set of 18x9F/18×10.5R Kinesis Motorsport 3 piece forged K28R wheels which were custom painted a matte gold colour. 255F/285R Bridgestone Potenza RE050 rubber rounds out the rollers.

Nestled under that big ducted GT2 rear wing is a TPC M90 supercharger kit running a custom 10psi pulley. The supercharger was ported and polished and the engine was blueprinted and balanced by GTek Tuning before they went in and tuned the Unichip piggyback system properly. A thick Spearco (finally a name that should be familiar to Japanese tuner fans) intercooler sits just below the venting and of course it’s fully polished. Rennsport intake and exhaust valves combine with bronze/manganese valve guides on the ported and polished heads. Forged internals are taken care of by way of Pauter con-rods, Mahle 3.8L pistons, and Webs Cams 3.8L cams. Cargraphic EL headers and high flow cats help scavenge the serious exhaust this car generates. As you can imagine 10 years of engine mods makes for an extensive list that carries on.

But what always gets me going most is the suspension, not the power. Roock Racing Super Cup coilovers and sway bars handle the primary cornering duties while TRG spherical links, rear monoballs, rear subframe mounts and sold transmission mounts all keep the driveline nice and stuff. Obviously this power and cornering potential is reigned in by a good set of stoppers. Pierre chose Brembo’s Gran Turismo brake kit front and rear with ubiquitous Goodrich stainless braided lines and Pagid orange compound pads.

Looking at this car you may assume that a tiptronic convertible is really more of a GT/cruising type car but I’m not sure if you could classify it as such any more with the amount of work that’s gone into the performance of this car. It’s truly a one off car with a tremendous amount of thought put into modifying it in all the right ways.

Huge thanks goto Pierre for bringing his car out and sharing some of the hilarious and scary stories this car has given him. It’s always refreshing to see an enthusiast car with some very different types of modifications than what you’re normally exposed to in the scene. I hope to get another chance to shoot this car sometime soon!