First Individual Silverlake M3 Build

[Mark's M]

     Featured on BIMMERPOST.com

Hello all, been waiting for months for this car and it's finally arrived so I thought I'd share the story of how it came to be...and some preliminary pics of course. Here's the first....



Earlier this year I was one of 15 fortunate Canadians to take part in the 2015 Individual M3/M4 Launch Edition Euro Tour. My car of choice was a 2015 M3 in Frozen Brilliant White, Amaro Interior, DCT and every M3 option known to man along with a full suite of M Performance CF stuff. Here's the link to the Tour info but most everyone's seen it....an absolutely brilliant experience and kudos to BMW Canada and BMW M once again!!

http://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1146992

But a funny thing happened on delivery day at the Welt, June 21st, when the big moment arrived. To make a long story very short, I loved the car - and the frozen paint - until I felt it. Yeah, I felt it...the only way to ensure that the paint was perfect. And it wasn't. It was actually quite flawed above the driver's side rear door, the rear sail panel and down to where the steel body met the plastic bumper. It felt like sandpaper compared to the rest of the car which was your typical "frozen" texture but smooth. I was heartbroken. I had all of my Swissvax "Matt" products with me and tried to wax it away but quickly realized it was the paint and not something like a pop can that had burst all over it while it was being prepped...or something like that. Yeah, I was reaching!! Lol, did I say I was heartbroken?? Would love to provide pics but it wasn't visible to the naked eye, as I said the car looked absolutely perfect before the close-up inspection.

Everyone from BMW took a look (and a feel) and the car was put back on the elevator and taken into the Welt basement for further inspection. Meanwhile, everyone else in the group did their victory laps and drove outside to park in preparation for our "going away" lunch and the drive to Austria. I just stood there and wanted to cry lol. Have to admit, I was pretty bummed out but BMW Canada and Germany were on hand to console me.

After lunch came the verdict. Apologies all around from BMW, it was a paint flaw that QC should have caught...and "don't worry, we'll make this right".

Well kudos to BMW Canada and M Div Germany. By the time we left the Welt for Austria about an hour later, Matt Wilson from BMW Canada had e-mailed a request for a duplicate '16 model to Canada. And the M Div Germany guys assured me it would be given a priority build slot seeing as the '16 orders were already in the pipeline. Brilliant! And of course, the "old" car was good to go for the rest of the trip so off we all went. Brillaint again!

An Old Color is New Again - Silverlake

Couple days later we were in Switzerland having cocktails before dinner and I was talking with Joerg Bartels, our head guy from BMW M who was with us, about the car and the colour. I have to be honest...I was a bit concerned with frozen paint all of a sudden and I mentioned my dream colour - one from the 70's - that I'd been fascinated with since my "kid" days. Been a BMW fanboy all my life and started way too young, pulling out magazine ads and pasting them to my wall, etc, etc lol. So I told Joerg about this and asked if BMW could duplicate the colours - Fjord Blue outside, brown inside. Like this.....



A few drinks later, Joerg (who'd been researching BMW colours while we ate God bless him) presented me with the option of Silverlake Blue, a Bentley colour they'd done once before on an early e93 'Vert for a Russian who wanted his wife's BMW to match his Silverlake Bentley Continental. Oh brother...but the colour was right lol.

Anyways...loved it. And loved the possibility. BMW "blues" are my favorites and I've had Estoril, LeMans, Monte Carlo, Carbon Black and Night Blue in the past but I also love their Silvers, Whites...the light stuff that doesn't show the swirl marks. Silverlake was the perfect compromise IMO.

So now to get BMW Canada to agree to this change lol. Matt Wilson to the rescue again and on our farewell party night, on the rooftop disco of the Fairmont Monte Carlo overlooking the bay, he agreed to put the colour forward...at no extra cost to me. I was ecstatic.

A few days later, Matt confirmed that BMW M/Individual had formally approved the new colour and the rest...is history albeit with a very long 4 month wait. First had to contend with a production backlog with Amaro leather on the '16's, then had to wait for BMW to test-paint a panel with the new colour to approve it internally, then....and so on, and so on. I was getting bummed again.

End of August the rest of our Tour groups cars started arriving in Canada for re-delivery but no such luck with me BMW to the rescue once again with a sneak peak at the new colour. It was perfect!!

So fast forward to this week (did I mention 4 months had passed lol) and the car finally arrived at Budds' in Oakville. Here it is but don't mind the Blackberry pics. The car is "boat and rail shipping" dirty at the request of Kevin@GTA in Detail and Marco@Advanced Automotive Films (Mississauga) who wanted to tackle the detailing and clearguard without having the dealership do it beforehand. Budds' has always done a great job on my cars but Kevin and Marco are sort of renowned around the GTA so that's where I chose to bring it this time. It goes this Tuesday after the formal delivery and I promise to post much better pics of the car after they've worked their magic on it. Here it is pre-delivery:





Even dirty, the color is amazing..to me anyways lol. Light blue won't be everyone's cup of tea but this car is a chameleon in the sunlight, showing various shades of silver, blue and darker blue at the same time. It's brilliant. In the overcast it takes on a bit of a monotone look but I still love it. Like nothing I've ever had before. In homage to the inspiration car, the front grill will go back to chrome and the side strakes will remain chrome to match the M3 badging at rear. A huge shout out to Matt Wilson @BMW Canada and Nikolas Schuenemann & Joerg Bartels @BMW M for making it happen!!!

Back in the game...finally!!! Winter tires and OEM Black rims are ready to go unfortunately. Curious to see what the car looks like with these so I'll post them after I run a 2,000 km "errand" to break it in after detailing is done lol.

Detailing is Done!!

Picked the car up today 30 October and it is brilliant!! Couldn't have asked for more from GTA in Detail and Advanced Automotive Films in Mississauga, they are absolute enthusiasts. Kevin applied the CQuartz Finest along with a CQuartz interior leather treatment and Marco applied the 3M Pro Series ppf. Amazing products, amazing pair of guys. The car was absolutely perfect!! And damn they take good pics, here's a couple links from their Instagram page and I hope they don't mind:

https://instagram.com/p/9catASvq1t/?...utomotivefilms
https://instagram.com/p/9d54FuPq6d/?...utomotivefilms
https://instagram.com/p/9d5kjQvq58/?...utomotivefilms

And this last one...I was in GOOD company with this Porsche...it was stunning!!

https://instagram.com/p/9djtAePq9s/?...utomotivefilms

So here's the last set of pics, at the shop, on the road and then finally home. I took the long way of course! Fantastic to drive but you know that already. Performance expectations exceeded which was no surprise!!

































Edit Nov 1st: Thank-you everyone for the kind words, the Bimmerpost community is simply amazing as are our cars. Really proud to be a member here for all these years, there's no better enthusiast group out there!!!

[khanyam4]

Wow I think it look gorgeous.

[robbys3m3]

Beautiful!

[F80_M]

That's stunning

[AlphaOmega4]

Simply AMAZING!!

Beautiful Color

Well done!

anything planned for it or leaving it as is???

[csbear]

A beautiful color and a great choice. Glad things worked out finally.

[Mario_Kart]

Wow... I am so happy for you mark and I am so happy and fortunate to have met you and Mary on the trip. Too bad we are a whole country apart. I would love to meet you guys again in the near future!

[W///]

My goodness, congratulations. Not only is the exterior so unique and beautiful, but Amaro just takes it over the top. Big congrats, I think this car blows away the Frozen White one

[SuckaGDog]

Wow. My jaw literally dropped when I saw the second picture. It is a gorgeous color, absolutely!

[Foggins]

Such a great color, congrats!!!

[HKMP7]

Great story congrats

[Powerbeast]

Love it man, especially the interior!

[Biorin]

Great choice! I'm normally not a light blue fan, but it looks awesome. Glad there was a happy ending.

[Jockey]

Wow, what a fantastic color

[luvmybluesbb]

wow so beautiful!!

[m5 guy]

[pyceasyas123]

Nice car!!! Nice to see some local individual cars here. Great choice with amaro brown...but I might be a bit biased . http://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1101964

[MTHRAR]

Awesome color and Congrats!

[Savory]

The E9 will always be the best but your car is a very close second

[jballs16]

wow.. it looks amazing

[JTO24]

Wow stunning!! Glad it all worked out, OP!

[BwoodBMW]

Good golly that's phenomenal! Probably my favorite individual build I've ever seen. Great combo. My Dad had a Porsche 914 in a similar shade when he was younger and I've always wanted something similar.