I'm flying down end of next week (Saturday or Friday; waiting to hear back from Shawn). M5Kid hit the nail on the head.

 

Congrats on the new find. Sorry to hear about the tires, but I'd let it go. From a detailer's perspective and what I can make of the pictures, it looks to be a clean car. You'll just have a hell of time wearing down the current ones and enjoying the new toy. You're young, enjoy life and don't worry about the minute things like this. Dealerships are a breed onto their own....things like this happen all the time. If the car is clean, well cared for, and what you want, bite the bullet, take delivery, and enjoy

 

I just want to say thanks to everyone for their thoughts & concern; it's greatly appreciated (and it's part of what makes TS such a great place to visit).

Thanks for your perspective on the car Moe; I enjoyed talking to you on the phone today as well.

I'll be picking it up next Friday morning at 9am sharp .

 

Well, I'm back (with M3 in tow!). Here's the M3 as it was sitting there, waiting for me:



I'll post up a full trip writeup and pictures tomorrow. I'll even through up the step-by-step fully photographed detail thread in the detailing forum.

 

Can't wait to see the writeup Thomas...it seems you picked up a gem

 

I wouldn't let a commute to school deter me from a manual transmission...I drove both my M3 and now the GTO back and forth to school with no problem. But hey, too late now, right?

Congrats. Sorry about the snag. Just don't become another typical M3 snob who thinks he has the greatest car since sliced bread.

NOW...you must tell me what that car is in your avatar! An old Alfa or Ferrari?

 

Well, on Thursday I started out on what was the most anticipated road trip of my life - surpassing even the Disney World trips! Things started out with me doing battle with my alarm clocks in the morning, only to be annoyed into awakening from my slumber by its incessant chirping.

I went to the bank so that I could get an official check for the car, only to deal with a very good looking teller. I apologize for not having pictures of her, but needless to say, I'm going to start going into the bank more often.

We dropped my sister's friend off (she spent the night at the house) at her father's office, and hit the road.

A few hours later, we arrived in Columbus for lunch at Schmidt's Sausage house, which is a German restaurant that has been around since 1886. The shirts are for my chiropractor's benefit (he has a wall of photos of where his shirts have been).



Pretzel Bites



Sauerkraut Balls



Bratwurst & Potato Pancakes (I had two )



We went through Kentucky (saw lots of traffic and construction around half-way through which forced us onto back-country words; the best driving experience of Thursday - tons of beautiful farms, horses, and architecture).



Back on the road, we managed to get to Knoxville at around ten o'clock (we hit Cincinnatti for Rush Hour, saw John McCain's "Straight Talk Express" heading the opposite way, and saw a few Porsches sitting around in agony waiting for an open stretch of road so that they could stretch their rubber). We stayed at the Marriott of Knoxville (the in-hotel food sucked), which was a very, very cool building.



Construction on I-40 sent us for a loop. Don't listen to hotel staff when in need of a detour; they end up making you waste forty-five minutes (and on this trip, those forty-five minutes were very, very valuable).

But all is not lost! We got there! The exit:



The dealer:



And, of course, the car. She was sitting right out front, all shined up, proclaiming to the world that she was sold and ready for a trip to a magnificent new home (complete with snow, rain, and putrid weather). When I saw her, I kind of forgot to go inside.

The deal was from Prebul Infiniti & Volvo in Chattanooga, and I talked to Shawn Meade. Great bunch of guys, really took care of us. I'm glad I didn't worry about the tires - it was worth it. I just wish that dealers up her had the same attitude they had there - I felt welcomed and at home.

 

Why would I be excited about filling it up the first time (topped it off at a BP station right before the interstate ramp from hell)?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3072/...a705d9.jpg?v=0



A BMW M5 waved to me a few miles later:



Around forty miles south of Knoxville on the interstate, it was raining cats and dogs (actually, it was a hurricane that followed us all the way to Washington, PA). But a bright blue (either Gulf of Mexico blue; I was too busy trying to see past horrible wiper blades to get a glimpse) 911 Targa passed me and brought a smile to my face. Very nice car; I apologize for not taking a picture, but here's a picture of the crap we had to fight through (this was taken in the eye of our own personal hurricane up in WV):



We visited Mayfield Dairy Farm in Athens, Tennessee:



Shot with my sister (both of us wearing my chiropractor's shirts since he wanted some photographs, ignore the stupid pose):



Anyhow, we stopped at Bojangles to take a photo and buy biscuits for my dad (LONG story short, he lived down south for a year while supervising some changes at one of the parks and there was a Bojangles a bit down the road... he's since elevated the chain that gave me food poisoning in the fall of 2006 to a level you wouldn't believe).



Had some fun in tunnel shortly after visiting Bojangles (Virginia):



Due to heavy fog & rain (combined with my lack of visibility through a rain-etched windscreen & horrible wiper blades), we had to pull over and spend the night in the middle of nowhere. Regrettably, after going to Advance Auto Parts, I found out that wiper blades were a dealer-only part. What in the world? I ended up buying a can of Invisible Glass & RainX, went outside to do some work, and hoped for the best.

The morning after was an AMAZING driving experience - once in a lifetime type stuff. We had I-79 completely to ourselves, and took advantage of it. Great, great stuff (and the M3 was quite a delight).

Later, we ended up in Washington, PA for a lunch at Texas Roadhouse. I knew the steak wouldn't be the greatest (but they're decent for the area if you don't want to head into Pittsburgh and are sometimes pretty good even) but this was horrid - it was colder than my Uncle's heart.



On the flipside, I got a good laugh out of a sign on the wall behind us:

 

What you're all waiting for (more pictures in the detailing thread I'm writing up now). The first picture is our garage, the floor will be epoxied shortly and the cabinets either refinished with an ebony stain & silver hardware or ripped down and Snap-On units brought in (besides Bojangles, my dad has a love affair with Snap-On - sometime I'll post pics of his workshop):







More to come in the detail thread later tonight. I apologize for the speck on my sensor (right-hand corner); I have to send the D200 out for a good cleaning.

 

Great looking M and nice write-up!
Enjoy it in good health.