BMW Z3 Introduction

Mazda RX8 with Rotary Engine. It was fast and I still love this car to this day. By all accounts and going by it's performance, a 1300 rotary is the equivalent to a 3 Litre. Great interior and exterior design and a performance that left a smile on one's face. That's when it worked! It was not practical for every day roads and traffic, expensive to run and sadly a manufacturing scam. The British Government wanted them OFF the Roads! And they mostly got their way.... it seems. 12 month tax was £500 a year and one needed a fuel taker behind it and an oil tanker in front of it, as it was prone to starting issues and cut-outs...

It was back to basics for me, at least. A simple renovation job, cheap purchase and plenty of time to put things right. Initially a car with very low mileage, around 48K, just needed TLC, a good clean, a new bonnet, some panelwork dents knocked out or filled, some new paintwork and the electrics sorting out, it also needed a new soft-top and plenty of time! Did I just say that? The list goes on... Three years on, today, this car has become another favourite of mine, perhaps not to the level of my Mazda RX8, on engine performance but close on other aspects of design and reliability; the latter being the bonus. It is in it's own catagory of a classic car concerning the design and bodyshape. Our relationship continues and this one even has a name, 'Kate', (named due to the number plate letter combination). The improvements have slowly been realised and will continue until I am satisfied. So it looks like we will be together for a while.....

I still do have great regrets to parting with this car, as it had great potential, this was a favourite, even with all it's mechanical design problems that goes with the Rotary engine, with the engine's average lifespan of around 62K miles before an engine rebuild is required. My son took it onboard. he was older (so I thought....) and he showed an interest, into the mechanics and maintenance of vehicles by this time, replacing and fitting the two offending oil pipes, he solved a number of problems concerning it's reliability and he sorted out the hot and cold starting problems. The biggest problem proved to be in the costs of running the vehicle. It was understandable to a point why he eventually sold it, however, totally underpriced the sale in my opinion, however, we have our swings and round-a-bouts concerning common sense issues at times.... and ok....he needed a cheap run-a-bout car. (Note: I had no financial return on the sale, as with the previous BMW).

as well as conking out during driving. This car was designed for the track, not roads. I did have problems with two oil connecting pipes and the starter motor was replaced with a high performance one and the car then stayed in my garage for near enough twelve months, mainly due to it's unreliability.