Cruizin’Cruizin’ NewzNewz

The Official Magazine of the Z Series Car Club of America SPRING 2019 President’s Message! - Eric Peck

www.zscca.org Things are happening at ZSCCA, so I thought I’d use my space to do a deep ZSCCA Board of Directors & Staff dive on them. Change can be both scary and exciting. It’s also necessary, even for us Eric Peck • President at ZSCCA. Keeping everything exactly the Huntersville, NC [email protected] same year after year is a recipe for slow 309-214-2753 decline. Even BMW gives us a new Z de- Jon Moorhead • Vice President sign every few years. So, let me tell you Salida, CO about what’s going on. [email protected] 719-221-1891 Change #1 - Many of you have seen our Robert Van Zandt • Secretary new website at ZSCCA.org. Early last bership system debuted. The process has Yorktown, VA spring, with the debut of the new G29 Z4 admittedly been a bit bumpy so I want [email protected] looming, we knew we had to update our you all to know why we did it this way. Chuck Krblich • Treasurer online presence. We felt it important to The membership database from the old Fort Lauderdale, FL put our best foot forward as BMW and website was not accurate. So, rather than [email protected] migrate all of it over to the new site, we 954.295.0277 many new Z owners would begin to look at us. Our old website was functional and opted to start from scratch. This is why Nico Valentijn • Membership Liaison comfortable, but it had a very dated look we’ve asked everyone to login with fresh Bristol, IN [email protected] and some content was difficult to manage. credentials. If you haven’t gone through We were also having issues with some that process, you probably aren’t read- Chris Wootten • Strategic of the automated functions, like renewal ing this right now. Please- ask your fellow Relationships Ambassador reminder emails. Besides that, a lot has member-friends to get connected. Easton, MD changed on the digital landscape, and we Reenie Paley Marshall • Special were significantly behind the times. What’s next? By the time you read this, Projects Manager ZFEST.com will be gone. We will be shar- Midlothian, VA Although we had been discussing it for ing all ZFEST information and processing [email protected] some time, we restarted the process of registration via ZSCCA.org. No more sep- Brian Roces • Technology & finding affordable options for develop- arate website logins. We have leaned heav- Social Media Director ing a new site. Let me tell you, we had a ily on Facebook for distribution of club and New York, NY huge wish list of what we wanted from a event information. We are not giving up on [email protected] 202.867.5309 new website. The options of just paying a social media. In fact, we aren’t using that to company to produce a site, or buy into a its full potential either. However, we would Mark Bigelow • Member-at-Large like to leverage the website more for shar- Petersburg, PA packaged solution were evaluated. There [email protected] are some amazing options out there to be ing local group information and even regis- sure, but most are cost-prohibitive for an tering for local and regional events online. Brian Bednar - Area Rep Manager Cleveland, OH organization of our size. [email protected] Change #2 - Your ZSCCA Board of Direc- 216.287.5563 We opted to begin work internally on a tors. It’s healthy for an organization to ro- Andy Hartwell • Editor new site using WordPress as our develop- tate leadership duties and bring fresh faces Selden, NY ment platform. WordPress powers literally and ideas to the table. I’m happy to an- [email protected] millions of websites, so we are not coding nounce these recent board appointments: Ric Genthe • Creative/Production Director a one-of-a-kind custom site that only a few -Brian Bednar has been appointed to the Madison, WI people are able to manage. The availability position of Area Rep Manager. Brian will [email protected] of “plug-in” applications means we can eas- be responsible for supporting our Area 608.575.9285 ily add capability with tech support readily Reps and recruiting new reps. Brian’s’ Ainsley Jacobs • Web Master available. This also allows us to accept pay- background in sales will help us continue Alpharetta, GA ments directly instead of using PayPal. to grow. He takes over from Jay Parnes, 267.738.2134 who has served in the position for the last Wayne & Amy Lester • Founders Emeritus As luck would have it, a talented web pro- 3 years. Nebo, NC [email protected] grammer came into our midst at just the right time to help. Ainsley Jacobs bought • Ainsley Jacobs has been appointed to a Z4M Roadster and was very excited the position of Web Manager. Ainsley has ZFEST, ZSCCA and their graphic representations are about finding our community. Ainsley does been instrumental in the rollout of our registered trademarks of the Z Series Car Club of America. business as a web programmer focused new website, and will continue the effort Reproduction of them requires written approval. on Motorsports clients, so she fits right in of expanding our content and digital pres- here. She happily joined our tech team and ence. She takes over from Robin Blair, who began helping us immediately. was long serving in this capacity. Many of you have interacted with Ainsley • Andy Hartwell has been appointed to (and Brian) via email since the new mem- the position of Cruizin Newz Editor. As you cover photo by Jon Moorhead know, Andy is a powerhouse writer. He back photo, ZFEST 2018, by Meri Johnston continued on page 8 new editor! 1 Andrew Hartwell from the Editor! - Andy Hartwell

Hello everyone, my name is Andy Hartwell and I want to wel- professional level procrastinator. I could elaborate but, maybe later. come you to the spring 2019 issue of Cruizin’ Newz, my first issue serving (in transition with Meri Johnston) as your new Editor. The ‘real job’, the one that paid the bills, was with the Estee Lauder Companies. In 2012, at the end of 38 years, I retired from the I am stepping into some big shoes, replacing Meri. Before I tell you position of Director of Human Resources. anything about me, I want to take a minute to thank Meri for her dedication and energy to the job as Editor. She delivered so many My wife, Shirley and I have been married since May 20, 1972, and quality issues of this magazine to all of us in this amazing club. She we are lifelong Long Islanders (NY). We have one son, Christo- kept all the contributors on track each month, and freely solic- pher, born in 1973. Chris, his wife, Kristen, and our only grandchild, ited ideas and potential stories and articles from everyone. Her Magnus Tadeusz Hartwell, live in Bournemouth, England. Chris is a leadership was the driver for what has made CN the wonderful full professor at two colleges, one in England (undergrad students) magazine it has become. and one in Poland (graduate students). Magnus, at age 3.5, seems to have inherited the brains that both his parents and my wife Meri didn’t work alone, of course. People like Eric Peck and Ric were blessed with. No help from grandpa, that’s for sure! Genthe and Chris Wooten, and Ed McKernan and so many other contributors, all played key roles. Thankfully, we all had Meri at the We own a 1998 1.9 Atlanta Blue roadster. We bought it on April masthead, steering us all in one direction. My complete thanks go 15, 2003 and I smiled all the way home from the dealer’s that day! to Meri and the whole CN team for everything they have done Here we are 16 years later and that car still makes me smile. We and we all wish her the best in life to come. brought her into the family when she was just 40,000 miles young. Today, our car – Z LUVBUG – is approaching nearly 137,000 By the way, did you know everyone on the CN team is a volun- miles. We keep her in the garage every night and take her out teer? Everyone. More on that in a minute. whenever the weather cooperates. That means those of us living in the northeast perhaps appreciate spring’s arrival a tad more OK, so who am I? Some of you know me from the one on one in- than folks further south of us. terviews we did together for the ‘’Meet Z Members” column here in CN. Aside from that, and despite what you might have heard, Did I mention I love driving that car? It’s not the fastest; I some- I’m really just an old guy who used to cover sports car racing times wish I had another 50 horsepower, but it is just so much fun for websites and magazines, as a photographer and journalist. For to be behind the wheel, tooling around back roads. many years I wrote a column called ‘Through The Esses”, where I interviewed a good number of the people involved in the sport. I Enough about me, let’s talk about this club and this magazine. As I also did PR related work for a few teams and I am a professional noted earlier, all of the people who make CN happen are volun- member of the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters teers. Volunteering is at the very heart of this club. As that great Association (AARWBA) where I also serve as editor for their leader, Winston Churchill, once said “Volunteers do not necessar- newsletter. My best role, however – where I truly excel - is as a ily have the time; they just have the heart.” continued on page 8

continued on page 8

Andrew Hartwell 2 Meet Z Members Scott Young

Have Z... Will Travel By Andrew S. Hartwell

“Sara and I went out onto the dance floor and Scott Young is the area rep for the Ozark Zs we have been together (Arkansas) and we spent some time talking ever since!” with him recently. We learned that he and his wife of eight years, Sara, will probably tell you they were born to be travelers. They love to go places they haven’t been to before and take their time experiencing the sights, sounds and flavors of life outside of their hometown of Fayetteville. 3 We wondered how Scott wound up becoming a resident of Fayetteville, Arkansas, and how he and Sara met. A change of scenery for Scott led him to a place where he would find a life partner and a business one as well. It also found him on a new career path.

“I grew up in Chicago, Illinois and went to school there.” Scott told us. “I moved down to Florida for a while. My sister was living here in Fayetteville and she was going through a divorce so I came here to help her and wound up staying here.”

4 “I met Sara in a bar. We both happened to be going, with Scott told us. “We just enjoy eating out in different places. our separate group of friends, to the same place to listen It is a great way to see and learn more about the cities to music. Her friends wanted her to come with them to and towns we visit. It helps us to get the ‘lay of the land’ see a band they liked. My friends did as well and we all and makes the experience that much more fun. We’ve wound up sitting at a group table. A friend who knew both taken food tours to Boston, North Carolina, Savannah, San Sara and I came up to the table to talk to us. He looked at Francisco and Kansas City. If we can’t drive there we will fly us kind of puzzled and said, ‘Do you two know each other?’ there.” We said ‘No’ so he introduced us. Getting there is all the fun and Scott and Sara often make “Before long, Sara and I went out onto the dance floor and the trips in their second Z4. “Our first was a 2003 Z4 in we have been together ever since!” Stirling Gray. My wife had taken it for a test drive and she loved it so much she told me to give it a try. I did and I In talking with Scott, we learned that he and Sara have loved it too.” seven cats and it turns out that, like cats, Scott and Sara are curious people. You could say Scott and Sara have an After four years of driving enjoyment – and many a tasty advanced case of culinary curiosity. That is, food is often the meal - with that first Z, they decided to trade her in for driver behind the drive. a 2011 E89 Z4 hardtop. “It is an Alpine White that had about 50,000 miles on it when we got it in 2016, and we “We like to travel and take food tours in different areas.” have put about 30,000 miles on it since.”

Driving 30,000 miles in just three years’ time works out to reading a lot of menus.

Once Scott and Sara en- tered the world of BMW Zs, Scott immediately began to look for ways to increase their enjoyment of their first Z. Scott did what most of us new BMW Z owners do: he went looking for others who love their new rides. Once more the mystique of the Z drew in yet another will- ing victim of Z-Mania.

“I loved our first Z and soon after we bought it I decided to learn all I could about it by searching the internet. I read all about the Zs and then I found the ZSCCA. We joined up and we went to our first ZFEST, in Greenville in 2013. I think this was when Eric Peck first became the President. This was the last

5 year the event was held in South Carolina. While we were whatever events we could, from regular events, to the an- down there we did visit the Zentrum but we didn’t take nual “Running Through The Leaves” special event held each the BMW factory tour. We did like another place we went fall. We’ve also gone to several more ZFEST’s including the to called ‘Clemson University International Center for Au- California and Asheville meetings, and Branson was right in tomotive Research (CU-ICAR)’. (https://cuicar.com/) our backyard.”

“Three or four years ago At ZFEST, I talked to Jay Parnes Scott and Sara have a passion for the how and the where about becoming an area rep. He directed me to the of traveling, putting a lot of effort into mapping out each then-current reps, David and Dana Lisk. They told me they trip to get the maximum level of enjoyment out of the were kind of burned out from having been the reps for so journey. many years, always having to plan out events and trips for the Ozark Z Club. They said they would welcome having “We love planning out our route so as to be able to see a someone take over for them. Jay and I discussed it and he bunch of things along the way. We enjoy seeing the coun- said ‘we can make it happen.” try and we try to go out via one route and come back a different way, making stops along the way. We like to visit By this time, Scott and Sara were already well established places we’ve never been to and of course, you get that ZSCCA members with a sustained level of involvement in time at ZFEST where you meet people and catch up with their area events. friends you’ve met before at ZFEST.

“Before becoming the representative for our club, Sara “We always try to plan our routes and travel times well in and I were very active participants. We would try to go to advance. Sara will often send away for tourist guides for

6 every state that’s between us and wherever we are going. Our California ZFEST trip was the best because, on the way back, we did as much of the old Route 66 as we could. There are still some wonderful things to see out there.”

Local trips, at least trips a bit closer to home, are also great reasons to get behind the wheel and go.

“This past weekend we saw James Taylor and Bonnie Raitt in concert and then went to Memphis and saw the Civil Rights Museum and Sun Studio Museum.”

When he isn’t touring or traveling, Scott works as a part- ner in a plumbing business.

“I own Liberty Plumbing, with a partner. The company has been around for 19 years now. Five years ago I became a partner in the business. One of my neighbors owned the business and asked me if I would like to try working with him. We worked together for some time and then one day I asked him if he ever thought about selling the business. At first he said he never thought about it but when I asked him if he would be interested in having a partner we made a deal and now we are 50/50 owners.”

When he isn’t mending leaky pipes or hooking up faucets, Scott likes to use his skilled hands in another way. While everyone appreciates a good and talented plumber, the hands of a talented musician can make much more pleasing sounds than when those hands are wrenching a pipe.

“I used to own a music store here in Fayetteville. I opened the store – called Making Music – and operated it for about nine years. Internet sales made it difficult to compete so I wound up closing the store and moved to a job as a Technician for Coin Star. They make the machines you see in supermarkets where you cash in your coins.

“I play music a little bit on the side, in clubs, both solo and in a band. I play the guitar and mostly play rock and blues tunes. I’ve been playing guitar since I was 17 so that makes it about 34 years in total. I have a variety of guitars includ- ing acoustics, electrics, Fenders and Gibson’s.”

Picking the right strings to find your chords, and picking which vehicle to drive to find a great restaurant, can make all the difference. Scott chooses wisely. THIS “Our Z4 is strictly for fun. We have a BMW X3 and my YEAR plumbing truck for our daily drivers. The plumbing truck is a ZFEST 2019 bit different driving experience than the Z4!” Blacksburg, VA, June 23-30, 2019 7 President’s Message! from the Editor! also has many years of experience writing and editing other news- Where would we be without the many good hearted people letters. Andy takes over from Meri Johnston, who has overseen a who took on the challenges of hosting ZFESTS; the Area Rep- massive improvement in the quality of our magazine. resentatives who arrange local events; the people who work at those events; and everyone who steps up as individuals to lend On behalf of the club, THANK YOU to Meri, Jay and Robin for a hand for the benefit of others? I love seeing how many of you, your service to the ZSCCA. Your efforts have had a big impact with specific talents and skills, use those abilities to help and sup- and are very much appreciated. port other members. ‘Fix it’ days and detailing clinics and the like are all vital ingredients in the mix that makes this such a great But wait, there is more to change and you can be a part of it. As club. I encourage all of you to talk with your Area Reps and see we expand our website content and evolve our use of social me- how you too can bring your talents and energy to bear towards dia, we want to build a team that can help us manage it. If you are maximizing the fun of being a member. really into social media and spend a lot of time connected, you can help share content and moderate our groups in accordance with Keep in mind too that Cruizin’ Newz is all about the people in this our social media policy. If you have experience with WordPress, club. We love to get your photos and stories of drives and events and are comfortable writing, we can use your help keeping our and Z related activities you participated in, and showcase them website updated. You would be working under the direction of on these pages. If you have something to contribute, drop me a our Social Media and Web managers. Reach out to either person: line at editor.zscca.org. We would love to hear and see what you [email protected] or [email protected] to volunteer. all have been up to!

I’ll end with another THANK YOU to all of you, our members. You This club has plenty of heart and I look forward to keeping the have been patient and gracious through all of the changes. We beat with all of you. And speaking of beats, did I mention that hope you will continue to bear with us as we keep modernizing. nothing beats the arrival of spring? Writing from C Concourse at ATL, Keep your speed up! Eric Peck

Hagerty is proud to support ZFEST 2019 BMW Z Roadster and Coupe enthusiasts. To get a quote, Whether you are a owner of one Z1s, Z3s, call 800-922-4050 Z4s or Z8s or a collection, we’ll create an or insurance policy to fit your needs. We’re https://www.hagerty.com/apps/ passionate about the automotive lifestyle. manifold/Direct%20Quote/Location/ Location/PostalCode?aff=bmwcca We know you embrace life behind the wheel even when you’re not driving. Our weekly newsletter will inform and entertain you with feature stories, interviews and videos. From auction results to car care to Hagerty. market analysis, this is an auto enthusiasts’ goldmine! https://www.hagerty.com/ For people... articles-videos/Newsletters/ Classic-Cars-Weekly who love cars.

8 Upcoming Event Previews!

Schuh Syndikat:

Schuh Syndikat, the East Coast’s Z3 and M Coupe event gin our treks for home. While the event is Coupe focused, returns for its 8th year this May 2-5, 2019. The event is a it is open for all to register and attend (yes, that means celebration of the rare E36/8 Z3 and M Coupe produced roadsters too). We always have non-coupes in attendance, in limited numbers from 1998-2002. This year’s edition so please join us! Full information and event registration is kicks off at high-noon May 2nd in Tazewell, Virginia. We’ll available at: www.schuhsyndikat.org drive the “Back of the Dragon” and a few other great back roads before finding our way to West Jefferson, NC for the night. Dinner will be at a local brew-pub. Friday will feature Running Through the Leaves Tour: more back roads driving, making our way to our Hotel in Charlotte. The long-standing tradition of washing our cars The Ozark BMW Z Club will host its annual Running in the parking lot will be upheld thanks to our friends at Through the Leaves tour the weekend of October 25-27, Parks Detailing of Charlotte. Dinner is on your own, but 2019. This is a very popular event every year and one you there are several options in walking distance. Saturday fea- won’t want to miss! tures a familiar schedule from years past. We’ll leave early for Cars and Coffee Charlotte, where we’ll have reserved Details are soon to come. If you’re interested, parking for the group. Our group photo will happen at one reach out to Scott Young (ozarkzclub@zscca. of our more epic past photo locations. We’ll then roll out org) or on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ to EuroMpire/CES Motorsport for tech talk and dyno pulls. events/766092503747260/?active_tab=about). You can also Our finale dinner and awards will cap off the day at a loca- link through the Ozark BMW Z Club Facebook page. tion to be announced. Sunday we share breakfast, then be-

9 The first Annual General Meeting of FWD to AWD conversion; Ainsley pur- OARD: the year was held on the meeting of chased her ’06 BMW Z4 M Roadster e B January 13, 2019. Updates included in April of 2018 and is absolutely loving th announcement of the new ZSC- being a part of the ZSCCA family! D N CA website and plans for fu- U ture improvements, our 2019 For more about Ainsley, please see our O calendars were still available Winter 2019 issue. R

A for sale, work on the Op- erations Manual is being fi- Brian Bednar nalized, and fiscal updates Brian is our Area Rep manager as well showing the Club in good fi- Area Rep for the great lakes BMW Z nancial standing. As part of the group based out of Cleveland, Ohio. Club’s efforts for the Z4 launch, Brian prefers his Zs to be customized. packets were going out to Area His first was a 2004 3.0 supercharged Reps to encourage collaboration with roadster wrapped in a satin candy red. local BMW dealers. His current Z is a 2007 Z4M coupe wrapped in Rushing Riptide. He is re- The remaining 2019 meetings are sponsible for growing our coverage and scheduled for July 14, 2019 and No- supporting our Area Reps. You can al- vember 10, 2019. ways talk Zs and sports with Brian. He loves his Cleveland teams and the Ohio Remember that this is an election year State Buckeyes. and candidates will be sought for elect- ed positions in the coming months. Andy Hartwell Andy is 67 years old and lives on Long We have three new board members to Island, NY with his wife of over 46 years, announce: Ainsley Jacobs (Web Manag- Shirley. They have one son, Christopher, er), Brian Bednar (Area Rep Manager), married to Kristen, who are the parents and Andy Hartwell (Cruizin’ Newz edi- of Andy’s only grandchild, Magnus. He tor). Please join me in welcoming these worked for 38 years within the Estee volunteers to the Board! Lauder Companies, retiring in 2012 from the position of Director of Human Ainsley Jacobs Resources. For 20+ of those years, he Ainsley has loved “all things horsepow- also worked covering sports car racing er” ever since she was a child. In her - ‘and the people who make the cars go’ teens, she learned to wrench and would - for several websites and magazines, as occasionally make some laps at the local well as on his own site, ashautomobilia. drag strip. While in college, she started com. His column was called ‘Through her career when she took a job at Gar- The Esses’. He owns a 1998 1.9 Atlanta rett Turbochargers and decided to turn Blue Z3 roadster that they bought in her passion into her profession. Now, 2003. He joined the ZSCCA several Ainsley owns a motorsports-focused years ago and have been a regular con- marketing agency that caters to the tributor to Cruizin’ Newz with his col- high-performance automotive after- umn ‘Meet Z Members’. market and has fifteen years of industry experience. For fun, she road races in her spare time and also has a horse which she competes with THIS regularly. Her first car, which she YEAR still owns and has been upgraded ZFEST 2019 over the years with a turbocharged en- Blacksburg, VA, gine and more, is currently undergoing a June 23-30, 2019 10 Why I Tribe - A Parable of

the Aspens I grew up in Kansas. It is named after the Kansa American Indian tribe, who occupied the area. By Jon Moorhead The tribe’s name is often said to mean “people of the (south) wind” (Wikipedia). I spent over half of my life there, although for the past 27+ years I have had the good fortune to spend my time living in the Great American West, the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. The Ute American Indian tribe once inhabited this area in which I live. With places like Rocky Mountain National Park, Garden of the Gods, the Great Sand Dunes National Park, numerous hot springs, and Pikes Peak, I am never in want of finding a place to explore and relax. Driving about, I find myself reflecting on what life must have been like hundreds of years ago.

Anthropologists describe a tribe as a human social group. It’s a term which generates thoughts of solidarity, a unified family with similar likes and beliefs. Based upon this, I believe the Z Series Car Club of America can fall under the umbrella of being a tribe.

11 So why do I tribe? Recently I began pondering the reasons 1. Networking cultivates growth. Like aspens, we connect I joined ZSCCA and what causes others to do the same. to expand our knowledge, collaborate to create. What causes us to affiliate with an organization of like- 2. Connections create a foundation which leads to minded individuals blending common goals and objectives? support. We collaborate through connections in What are the advantages of this? interactive, problem-solving relationships. 3. Spur purpose. Aspens benefit more than just One of the first lessons learned upon moving to Colorado themselves and the grove. One example is their bark, was about the role of aspen trees, the state tree of Colo- as it serves many medicinal purposes. rado. This lesson has been paramount in my career, and in part describes “Why I Tribe”. The Aspen Standards. Our efforts ultimately serve our community of one lone shared trait…we love and nurture For those that don’t know, you never see an aspen alone. our cherished cars and those that own them. We network, They are always in a colony, bound together by massive, connect, and spur purpose. incredible root systems. They collaborate through these root connections and work as a grove to sustain a healthy If these rules touch your heart, create a fire of enthusiasm community. for ZSCCA, cultivate a desire to be a part of a prodigious national organization, to have a voice in the goals of the The spirit of this tree is an underlying current of why I group, or to pursue a unity of friends that share these joined ZSCCA. common goals, then please consider renewing your mem- bership or becoming a new member. An annual fee of $30 Aspens survive and thrive. When disturbances happen, allows you to step into the circle of colleagues and com- aspens weather the changes. Even when all above the panions of the ZSCCA culture. ground is wiped out by fire or mudslides, aspens spring to life when all is clear. Older trees will die, yet the root I have a paid membership, not only because of the perks, system supports younger saplings that will grow in strength. but because I can proudly declare that I AM a member. By being a member, I can support the clubs endeavors and Aspens have a fundamental approach to thriving and charitable contributions, its goals and objectives, and finally, surviving over the long term. I will refer to them as the to be a part of its heritage. Aspen Standards: This is why “I tribe”. 12 Artists Wanted! Do you have a flair for drawing, painting or sketching?

The Cruizin’ Newz team 3. For the immediate future, please do not would love to see your work! submit photographs. We may ask you for your best shots at a later date but not right We would like to show some of your original now. OK? works of art here in the pages of our magazine. 4. Submissions should be scans or high Why not share your talents with your fellow mem- resolution photographs taken of your bers? Everyone enjoys seeing what others with original artwork. Make it look the best you artistic vision can create from a blank canvas. can so you look the best you can! 5. You can send your original works via email Now, we are a car club after all, so illustrations to [email protected] of cars – especially Z cars – are right up our 6. Please include your name, email address, driveway! But, many of us can appreciate qual- and any comments you wish to include ity art work representing many facets of life. If to help the reader learn more about you you have the talent to show others the world and your artistic pursuits. as viewed through your pencil, brush or related 7. Please ensure the contact information you tools, please do share some of your finished work provide in your email is accurate in case we with us! need to follow up with you.

This isn’t a contest and no prizes will be awarded. Remember too that we have limited space avail- We just want to highlight the many talented peo- able in the magazine so there may be some works ple out there in the ZSCCA by providing a venue that we cannot include in print. We also reserve to show your work. the right to choose not to publish works that may Requirements: be deemed offensive or otherwise inappropriate for presentation in these pages. But, we encour- 1. You must be a current, paid member of the age you to think inclusion rather than exclusion ZSCCA to participate. and show us your work! 2. Do not submit anything you yourself did not create. If it isn’t an original work, we can’t include it in the magazine.

13 Welcome to the official magazine of The Z Series Car Club of America, ZSCCA!

We are the national car club for all past, present, events for their respective club members and it is not and future BMW Z-Series cars and those that ad- unusual for neighboring clubs to share an event. mire them. We have a rich, 22-year history, evolving There are literally hundreds of events per year across as a club with the cars we love. We are an organiza- the local areas. tion of enthusiasts who feel that the road taken has less to do with arriving in the least amount of time Whether you prefer cruising (or cruiZing), driv- and more to do with the appreciation of the jour- ing events, concourZ, or just getting together with ney, the road, and the car. We share a passion for friends, ZSCCA is the club for Z-lovers everywhere. the open road and the freedom that these special automobiles embody. We are glad you are here to learn more about our dynamic club, comprised of friendly BMW Z owners! As a benefit of membership, you will have access to an online edition Cruizin’ Newz, the quarterly magazine of the ZSCCA, with print copies also available for purchase.

Our Web site (zscca.org) serves as a central loca- tion for information of interest to BMW Z-Series car enthusiasts on a national level. We are an informa- tion source for everything Z related. We welcome any and all Z enthusiasts as members. We love to meet those who too share our passion for the fun and simplicity offered by great sports We are a national club with more than 40 cars such as the Z1, Z3, Z4, and Z8. local clubs (and growing) situated in many re- gions across North America. While we are all unique individuals, we share a common interest and we We love both the seek to foster the creation and growth of friend- roadsters and ships between fellow Z owners. To that end we the coupes! provide as many events and get-togethers as we can throughout the year. Each local area club schedules

14 BMW Vintage at Saratoga 2019

Getting Z Scoop “All of the money that we From Frank Greppo raise through our auctions goes to the BMW Street By Andrew S. Hartwell Survival program”

15 Every summer for 9 of the last 10 years, a special BMW-only event has taken place in upstate New York. The tradition continues this year as the 2019 Vintage at Saratoga will once again be held on the grounds of the Saratoga Automobile Museum (SAM) on July 12th, 13th, and 14th.

Vintage at Saratoga is open to all BMWs built in or before 1999 and all E 36 generation cars are also invited to join the fun. The weekend begins with a dinner in downtown Sara- toga on Friday night followed by a lawn show on Saturday. Drives are also planned for Friday and Sunday. Saturday’s ac- tivities will once again include a silent auction to benefit the BMW Foundation’s Street Survival program and its work to improve the skills of young drivers. In addition, the registration fee of $10 per car is donated directly to the museum.

The event was the brainchild of Frank Greppo, a long-time member of the BMW CCA Patroon Chapter and owner of three sensational BMW sports cars. We spoke with Frank and learned the history behind this event and how it came to be

16 located at the wonderful Sara- do justice to the Saratoga event. toga Auto Museum in Saratoga. In addition, several of our chap- ter members wanted to go to “I guess I’m just a BMW enthu- Pittsburgh for the BMW CCA siast. I prefer the older cars. I Oktoberfest. I saw a lot of Z3’s have a 1975 2002, a 1972 3.0 there.” CS and a 2002 M Roadster, in Estoril Blue. Denise, my wife, Starting a new event can come and I try to do a lot of events with trepidation and concern in the short summer seasons that your efforts will be reward- of Upstate New York. About ed by the sight of fellow enthusi- 15 years ago I went to North asts in attendance. Frank natural- Carolina to attend a ‘Vintage ly felt some of that emotion but at the Vineyards’ event. It was a in the end, the cause for concern nice event so I talked to the or- vanished with the turnout for ganizer, Scott Sturdy, and asked that first Saratoga weekend. him if I could copy his event up here in New York. He said ‘Sure. “I didn’t know if our first event Go ahead.’ would be a success or not but it worked out very well. We don’t “We’ve held the event each try to grow it too much because year, with the exception of last we have limited facilities but we year as the Pittsburgh Vintage usually get between 100 and Grand Prix and Vintage at Sara- 150 cars. All of the money that toga would have run on con- we raise through our auctions secutive weekends. I try to get goes to the BMW Street Sur- to Pittsburgh when I can but I vival program. I think we have knew if I went to Pittsburgh for donated over $15,000 since we the week I wouldn’t be able to first started this event.

17 “We charge a nominal $10 per car but that includes two Event attendees – registered or not – can participate in a people who also have access to the museum. Those funds silent auction as well as tour the museum or just eyeball all go directly to support the museum. We also tend to get a the great BMWs. Visiting downtown Saratoga is also worth few event sponsors and again, all the money raised goes to your time with many shops and restaurants to visit and en- the BMW program.” joy. But the auction may just have something you can smile about bringing home, knowing you helped support a wor- thy cause.

18 “The silent auction offers all sorts of items donated by “Saratoga is a great place to be in July! We set this date so members, local merchants and others who know they are as not to conflict with the Saratoga race track event but, af- helping to support the BMW program. Anyone who would ter we set everything up the track changed their date to the like to donate items for the auction can contact me at fgrep- same as us. In addition, that weekend the Dave Matthews [email protected]. We welcome items that would be of inter- band will be performing at the Arts Center, which is right on est to BMW fans and general interest items that anyone the grounds next to SAM. might want to bid on. Please contact me sooner rather than later so we can ensure your donations will be appropriate “The Roosevelt Inn and Suites will once again be our host for this event and that we can work out the logistics of get- hotel. To reserve a room please call the hotel at 518-584- ting your items on display.” 0980 and mention the BMW Event to get the special rates for the weekend. For more information about the Roos- Frank spends more days at SAM then just the Vintage evelt visit their site at https://www.rooseveltsuites.com/. Be weekend. He and the Patroon Chapter are considered true advised though that rooms are dwindling in number so you friends of the museum. may find you will need to book at another hotel.”

“I am a volunteer at SAM. It is a great facility. They pretty But Frank and his volunteers intend to carry on regardless, much welcome the Patroon Chapter and the Vintage event and they have even added a bit of spice to the mix. because we give the museum staff a bit of a break. SAM has lawn shows almost every weekend and they use their staff “One unique aspect of this year’s event is that the BMW to run those. They enjoy the fact that we take care of pretty Classic Car Club of America (http://www.bmwccca.com/ much everything when we do the Vintage event.” welcome-1.html ) will also be in Saratoga that week. They will be there on Wednesday and we expect many of the Even with a lot planning done well in advance, circumstanc- club members and their fantastic cars to become part of es can crop up that can be detrimental to what you are our event trying to achieve. Such is the case this year with other local events happening that same week, making hotel availability Frank told us he would like to see “a big turnout of Z’s this a concern. year!” If you can get to Saratoga in July, you can help him see that vision come to life!

19 Vintage at Saratoga Friday night Saturday July 13 “Meet and Greet” dinner 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM (gates event details: Dinner will again be at The open at 9:00 AM) – Vintage To register click on this link Parting Glass in downtown at Saratoga lawn show http://www.saratogaautomu- Saratoga with a new menu for on the grounds of the seum.org/.Please note that each 2019. Saratoga Automobile show registration is for one Museum. car and two participants and To register click on this link 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM includes admission for two to http://www.saratogaautomu- Silent Auction to benefit the museum. Pre-Register your seum.org/ and go to “Upcom- the BMW Foundation Street BMW now for $10 or pay $15 ing Events” and scroll down to Survival program the day of the event. Vintage at Saratoga Dinner. 2:00 PM – Silent Auction The cost for dinner is $35.00 winners will be announced. The Roosevelt Inn and Suites per person All the money collected will will be our host hotel. To reserve go to benefit the BMW a room please call the hotel at Vintage July 2019 Foundation Street Survival 518-584-0980 and mention the program. BMW Event to get the special Schedule of Events rates for the weekend. For more Sunday July 14 information about the Roosevelt Friday July 12 2:45 PM Assemble in the 8:15 AM Assemble in the visit their site at https://www. parking lot of the Roosevelt rooseveltsuites.com/ parking lot of the Roosevelt Inn for the afternoon drive. Inn for the breakfast drive 3:00 PM Drive leaves the 8:30 AM Drive leaves the What cars are eligible for this Roosevelt Roosevelt event? Any BMW produced in or 5:00-5:30 PM Arrive at the 10:00 AM Breakfast at before 1999. (All E36’s Parting Glass Pub Wolff’s Biergarten, models are welcome) 6:00 PM to ??? Meet and Greet Albany, NY Dinner at the Parting Is there a rain date? Glass Pub No, the event will go on rain After dinner, be sure to take or shine. a walk downtown to enjoy all that Saratoga has to offer.

20 Sport Seat So, when we searched for and bought our Upgrade current Z3 in 2015, ‘A Z UR’, we wanted one with sport seats since our first Z, ‘RUBY Z’ didn’t have them and I was sure they would provide more support for driving the twisties in pursuit of my ‘Rowdy’ friends in their sport seat equipped ///M’s. Unfortunately, when we finally located a suitable car that was not already sold or priced out of our budget, it did not come so equipped. This caused me to continue to Jones for some sport seats and continually search the interwebs for them. Always when I would find them, they were going to break the bank either for purchase By Don Nixon price, shipping, reup- holstering, or some combination of these factors. From 2009 (when we bought ‘RUBY Z’) to 2018, this was an unending burr under my saddle (a little Texas imagery, there).

Right at the end of my (overly) ambitious upgrade project, scheduled for 3 days but which ran from Christmas to the first day of spring, I found a driver’s side sport seat on eBay; black, from a ’98 ///M coupe. The pas- senger seat was not included. It had some serious tears on the door side bolster, where you rub against it every time you get in or out of the car. The rest of the leather looked OK, but it was clear that the foam had deteriorated quite a bit. Our car is Topaz blue with a sandbeige interior, so this seat was destined to need a complete overhaul anyway. The asking price was $150, which I considered reasonable for its condi-

21 tion, but I offered $100 because shipping was not included and was estimated at $250+. The $100 offer was ignored and timed out. I contemplated forgetting about it, but decided to try one more time, so I offered $110. The seller countered with $125 and I accepted. So purchase price + shipping + reupholstering made this deal a lot like doing a ‘Texas Flip and Move’ house. If you’ve never watched that DIY show, these folks buy an old house at auction for about $1 per sq/ft, move it to a renovation lot where they completely rebuild it, then auction it off, usually for about $50-60 a sq/ft and make about a $10K profit. So purchase + move + renovation for a 1K sq/ft house works out to something like $1K + $10K + $30K = $41K investment. For me this is like $125 + $250 + $925 = $1300 investment for a like-new sport seat for me, and a reupholstered with matching material standard seat for my passenger (usually my wife, though sometimes my son or a co-worker).

Fig 1. Picture of sport seat as it was delivered When the seat arrived, it was exactly as advertised. I then started thinking about the power connectors, since the ’98 ///M coupe had the old (black) connectors and my ’01 Z3 has the newer (yellow) ones. Sometime in 2000, BMW switched from using a single stage SRS system for the airbags and seat belt pretensioners (an explosive device that triggers a rapid tightening of the seat belt in a detected accident) to a two stage system. As part of the change-over, they altered the seat power connectors, making a direct conversion from an older seat to a newer seat (or vice versa) difficult and they did that on purpose because the older pretensioner is not compatible with the two-stage SRS controller.

Fig 2. Picture of original seats in situ (different car, same interior) I searched the forums for the details on how to use an older seat in a car set up for the two stage system (the pretensioner will be swapped out to maintain proper SRS functionality). The older seat has multiple connectors, for the seat forward/backward and up/ down control switch, for the pre- tensioner, and for the seat heater if so equipped. The newer cars have one ganged connector for every- thing. The best write-up I found was by Rob Siegel, ‘The Hack Mechanic’ of Roundel fame. His solution was to tap in pigtails in the car’s cables to support either kind of seat. It clarified some of the issues of which wire

22 went where, but it was not a workable solution for me as I’d have to source the connectors for the car.

Fig 3. Picture of older style power connectors One forum poster said he did not understand why anyone had an is- sue, just swap the bases between the seats, and the right connectors are automatically moved with the base – no problemo! This intrigued me, and I decided to explore this avenue. I turned the sport seat over to access the base, and sure enough, it is held on by just two bolts. Remove the bolts, tap the end of the mounting rails with a 3 lb. dead blow hammer (you all have one of those for your knock-off wheel hub spinners on your classic Morgan, right?) and presto! The base comes loose.

This picture shows the end of the Bowden cable where it clips into the swivel to control the seatback angle and the plastic anchor for the cable sheath. You can also see one of the bolts that hold the seat base to the seat and one of the teeth that grips the seat to the seat base.

Of course, nothing is really quite that easy, especially not on a BMW. There is the control panel to deal with. It is mounted to the seat (not the base) by 2 (or 3) screws and a looped Bowden cable to control the seat back position setting. You use a pair of needle nose pliers to release each end of the cable and remove the screws and the control panel then goes with the base. If you want to use the control panel from one seat with the base from another seat, well…then it gets more complicated since most of the wiring goes to the control panel. You’re probably going to have to hack and splice some wires. 23 Fig 4. Seat power connectors w/ dual stage SRS That was not a problem for me. The control panel on the sport seat is black, mine is beige. The one on the sport seat is broken in a couple of places, mine is pristine. The new upholstery will be a dark- er beige than the original, more of a walnut color, so the beige control panel is a better match. I removed the base and control panel from the sport seat and discarded them, then proceeded to do a seat bush- ing fix on my original seats prior to doing the base swap for the driver’s seat.

I had observed the seat bushing fix several times at fix-it days and clinics at ZFEST. I had also watched YouTube videos of the procedure several times, so I thought I knew exactly what to expect. I got a major surprise when I went to remove the Torx T50 bolts that hold the worm gear mechanism inside the seat rails. I could line up the Torx bolts with the hole in the seat rail where the bolts go to mount the seat to the floor, but not at the cutout at the end of the rail. That hole was plenty large enough for the Torx socket, but the bolt head would not fit through it. I tried both sides several times and using several methods to extract the bolts, but it was no good. Obviously (in retrospect) when you remove the seat from the car, if you take out the back bolts last, you need to run the seat all the way back before removing it from the car so the rail is positioned to leave the Torx T50 bolts exposed. I was highly resistant to putting the seats back in the car to reconnect the power and move the seat position, so I went off to Home Depot to buy a drill bit bigger than my biggest but that would still fit in my 3/8” drive cordless drill so I could enlarge the bolt hole slightly to let the Torx T50 bolts through. I have several dozen drill bits, but the only thing bigger than ½” are some hole cutters for installing door handles and deadbolts in wooden doors and some masonry bits. I needed a 9/16” bit for drilling metal, and that ended up costing the better part of $20. Once the holes in the seat rails were reamed out, the Torx bolts came right out. BTW, I was careful not to make the holes so large as to compromise having the floor mounting bolts be able to pop through the seat rails in an accident.

When I disassembled the piece that screws onto the worm gear (what is euphemistically referred to as the shish-kabab) I found that the OEM rubber bushings were still intact, but soft and misshapen, letting the

24 seats shift slightly back and forth under braking and acceleration. Every- one talks about counting the number of turns it takes to get the screw pieces off, but in my case I had the seats as far forward as possible when I removed them and both screw pieces were up against the stops at the farthest end of the shaft. If I’d needed to count threads, that would have been a pretty big number, but why bother? On reassembly, just screw it all the way to the end again. My new bushings came from Whalen Shift Machine by way of Fred R. and Mike Wood (Fred used to run the seat bushing clinics and Fred’s daughter gave his big bag of bushings to Mike after he passed away). These bushings require a little sanding to fit just right, but a couple of minutes rubbing on 100 grit sandpaper and they were snuggly nestled into place. Reassembly is straight forward, just be sure to prop- erly seat the end of the worm gear shaft to the cable drive. I avoided the pitfall of putting the ‘shish kebabs’ back in on the wrong side by only working on one at a time. I put the seats back in the car and everything worked great.

Fig 5. Refinished seats The next step was to send my ‘new’ sport seat and the ‘old’ passenger seat off to the uphol- sterers, then swap the base from my ‘old’ driv- er’s seat onto the sport seat and reinstall both seats. I took both seats off their bases to send off the upholsterers. When they came back I took the base off the original driver’s seat and mounted the redone sport seat on it. At this point I got another lesson in the obvious. It is easier to take something apart than it is to put it together. Yeah, remember the Bowden cable controlling the seatback position? It is way easier to disconnect than it is to reconnect. The cable ends have little knobs that fit into slots in the seat bottom, and have a plastic slotted piece that feeds under the seat base and clips onto the seat. If you’ve already fitted the seat base onto the seat, it is really, really hard to get the plastic slotted pieces seated. Also, the base on the driver’s seat has two sets of locking tabs while the passenger seat base has only one set, which I didn’t realize the first time I tried to assemble the driver’s seat. Anyway, once you overcome the inevitable complications, be sure to ensure all the electrical connections are made and every electrical and mechanical cable is zip-tied securely to avoid pinching or cutting them with normal seat operations.

25 As an aside, if you look at the picture of the ‘new’ seats (Fig. 5) you prob- ably noticed they are in my living room. While the (overly) ambitious up- grade took place mostly while the garage was below freezing, this opera- PARTS tion happened in the Texas summer. At this point, we were in the midst of a two week period where the average high was about 103° and the for the average low was over 80°. One day the high was 111°. Since the garage is not air conditioned and the seats are not in the car, it only made Love of sense to move operations into a mostly unused air conditioned room. On the average day, our living room gets visited twice. In the morning, I YOUR LIFE! go in and open the wooden blinds, and in the evening I return to close said blinds. This makes it a great place for work projects that take up a lot of space and need to not be disturbed for days on end.

Prior to reinstalling the seats, I replaced the 4” speakers behind the seats with Polk DB402 two way speakers. The original Harmon/Kardon speak- ers looked OK, but I figured they had to be near their endof-life and with the seats out were as easy to replace as they would ever be. At this point I have replaced the head unit with a JVC unit supporting Bluetooth and USB interfaces, the subwoofer (6.5” Kicker), the two mid-subs in the kick panels (Polk It was an obsession with BMW’s that caused the cre- 5.25”), and the 4” speakers behind the seats. The only remaining parts ation of BimmerBum Co. I have of the Harman/Kardon OE system are the door speakers and the amp. been daily driving, maintaining, While the seats were out I also shampooed the carpets. modifying, and racing my own BMW’s for the better part of 2 Then I installed the seats along with a set of seat front lifts from Thayer decades. It is with years of ex- perience that I carefully select Motorsports. The ‘new’ sport seat looks and feels fantastic! I’m not sure the parts I sell, if I don’t think how to describe this, but the OE ‘standard’ seat allowed me to move a part measures up I simply laterally way more than was comfortable while driving the twisties. Plus won’t carry it. it was slippery since the leather was aged and had hardened to the point of feeling more like plastic than leather. And let’s face it, the OE BimmerBum Co. specializes in E21, E30, E36, and E46 3 Series “Oregon” leather was never really all that great. The new leather is soft, models, E12, E28, E34, and E39 supple, and 5 Series models in addition to grippy. This, along with the far more supportive bolsters on the sport Z3, Z4, X3, and X5 models. seat keep me locked in place while turning the car. Also, even with the seat set as far down as it goes, the Thayer lifts make the seating position Be sure to join BimmerBum on Facebook for updates on proj- noticeably higher than before. It actually feels like I’m driving a different ects, new product information, car, and I like it – a lot! Of course, now I’ll have to do something about and pricing specials. the rear view mirror hanging down too far (as others have pointed out in the past about their cars). It was never a problem for me, but now I can really see what they were complaining about – off to Summit Rac- ing’s website to order the Brandmotion mounting adapter and auto- dimming mirror to fix that issue.

www.bimmerbum.com [email protected]

26 Fig 6. Recovered seats installed One other thing. If you have fol- lowed the saga of A Z UR, you know that it is disguised as an Alpina Z3, a car which does not, in fact, exist. Alpina did a version of the Z1, the Z4, and the Z8, but no Z3. To enhance the faux nature of the car, I am planning on getting some black sheep- skin seat belt shoulder pads and have the ‘ALPINA’ logo embroi- dered on a piece of the same leather used on the seats and then sewed onto the pads. You see, since the sport seat came out of a coupe, it didn’t have a seat belt guide built into it, and the passenger seat one was broken so I had it removed by the upholsterer. So the shoulder pads are pretty much required, and after getting the seats redone the upholsterer has enough of the leather left over to do those shoulder pad pieces, the hand brake and shifter boots, the tabs on the steering wheel, the ‘hockey sticks’ on the console, the cover over the subwoofer box, and replace the OE faux ostrich inserts on the door panels with new leather to match the seats. It should look pretty awesome, if not quite up to Alpina standards when done.

On to removing interior trim pieces to be recovered with leather matching the seats. The shift boot is easy, pull up sharply on the shift knob and it pops off. Since this requires about 90 ft/lbs of force, you lean into it so that when it pops off, you invariably knock yourself on the forehead, face, or chin, so you want at least one hand positioned so that the knock is cushioned by your hand. Of course, this results in two pain- ful parts of your body, your head and your hand, but at least it mitigates the potential of concussion by knocking yourself in the head directly with the shift knob itself. Once the knob is removed and you’ve regained your senses and use of your hand, the bootcan be pried gently out of the console and pulled off the shift lever.

Then comes the handbrake boot. This one you pry (gently) starting from the back edge (closest to the top well) until it comes out, then pull it up over the handbrake shaft and knob, turning the leather inside out. You will find a zip tie holds the leather on the shaft. Cut the zip tie and pull the boot the rest of the way off. The handbrake handle is glued to the shaft, so if you want to remove it to put a different style handle on, you grasp it firmly and twist it side to side until the glue gives up and lets the handle come off. Sometimes that method doesn’t work, and you have to resort to a heat gun to soften the glue so it will release. I’m not changing

27 the handle or shift knob, so I’m just leaving it alone. seats. To accomplish the task, you start by removing You need to preserve the plastic frames on these the hand grip, which has two Phillips screws on one boots as they are hard to find without new leather end and a melted plastic anchor on the other. I use a already glued on them, making them expensive. Oth- dremel to cut off the end of the melted plastic, then erwise, you’ll have to find a pick-a-part car with the when reinstalling I drill a small hole and use a short boots still present or hunt for used parts on eBay. The screw with a washer to reattach the piece. leather is glued to these frames using contact cement, so the old leather can be simply pulled off, just be While I have the door panels off, I’m going to change careful not to be so forceful so as to break the plastic. out the plastic sliders on the window lift mechanism on each side and inspect the condition of the window The rest of the parts I want to redo now become a regulators, motors, and mounting hardware. To do this little harder to access. The little tabs on the ///M steer- you have to remove the airbag (facelift cars only) and ing wheel used in the facelift cars require that the the foam insulation piece – a weather seal. Be gentle airbag be removed first. That involves accessing the and slow peeling it off so as not to tear it, it uses butyl back of the steering wheel to remove two T27 Torx tape for a seal, very sticky stuff! bolts and release two spring latches (that’s according to the Bentley manual, mine didn’t have the spring The leather inserts are also held in place with melted latches) then the air bag comes off and the tabs can plastic rivets that have to be dremeled off and then be removed by gently prying them up. drilled to accommodate screws for reassembly with the new leather. Next comes the door panels, which have Torx screws under the hand grip plastic insert or mirror adjust- ment control (depending on which door you are working on), another Torx screw hidden under the little plastic piece that says “air bag” on it (not on early cars), an airbag (not necessary to remove for just the door panel removal), connectors for the door mounted speakers, and a bunch of plastic push clips (seven on each panel). Extreme care must be taken to get your trim tool properly located to pop the push clips off. If you are not right on them, you will pry the plastic clip anchor off the cardboard of the door panel, leaving the clip behind in the door. Those things are a major pain to glue back on the card- board and keep them from coming apart again. Ask me how I know. Once the door panel is disconnected from the door, you lift it out of the window slot gently, starting at the door lock knob and work- ing back to the windwing at the speakers. Once off the car, you can disassemble the trim on the door panel to get the leather piece(s) off that you want to replace. For me, this is the faux ostrich insert that matched the now gone inserts in the 28 Fig. 7 - Door with door card removed, showing holes where push clips go. Finally, I get to the ‘hockey stick’ trim pieces on the console. These run on the driver and passenger edges of the con- sole from the radio back to the hand- brake. Unfortunately, unlike most trim pieces, these are not held in place by pressure clips, but by screws. The same screws that hold the ‘hockey sticks’ in place go through aluminum brackets that give the console rigidity. This means you have to remove the console from the car to access the screws. I’m not going to detail the process of removing the console, it is in the Bentley manual and there are several YouTube videos available. I would note that if you have a car with automatic transmission, like mine, you can’t remove the console with the shifter in park, it has to be in drive – which means you have to have the ignition in run position. Just sayin’. BTW, the Bentley manual mistakenly indicates the ‘hockey sticks’ can be pried off – this is wrong and don’t try it, you’ll break something. Also, you will be taking a bunch of stuff apart and disconnecting a lot of electrical connectors – use painter’s tape and a sharpie and label everything – or you’ll wish you had when you start to reassemble it all (go ahead, ask me how I know).

Figure caption– you can see the aluminum brackets inside the console that connect to the ‘hockey sticks’. Ah, reassembly, such joy! I was so excited to see what the hockey sticks looked like on the console that I had to put them on right away. They look fabu- lous! Unfortunately, the center

29 trim piece that holds the HVAC controls and the radio has to be in place before mounting the hockey sticks, and I didn’t do that, so I had to take it apart again, install the trim piece, then put the hockey sticks back on again. My interior has the wood trim look, and when I was taking the console out, I pried in the wrong place at some point and separated the wood trim from the base piece for where the stereo head unit and HVAC controls go. I had to take the whole thing out of the console and reglue the wood to the base. So, in my rush to see the hockey sticks in situ, I had to rebuild the console twice. Well, they still look fabulous the second time around, too.

Figure caption – Carpenters and cabinet makers know that you can never have enough clamps. I am not a cabinet maker and do not have enough clamps, so lock- ing pliers have to substitute.

Then there were the new shift and hand brake boots. Great looking, but I discovered that the new leather is significantly thick- er than the old leather, and that creates problems when trying to get the plastic frames to seat properly into the console. I had to do some judicious trimming with an exacto knife and a Dremel tool to get a decent fit and not mess up the look of the new pieces.

Which then brings me to the door panels. Again, the new leather is much thicker than the old trim (which turns out is real leather, if not real ostrich) and that once again created a problem when try- ing to get the plastic trim piece that goes around the door handle back in place. This required major surgery on the plastic piece, which has four ‘teeth’ that slide into slots in the door frame. I had to trim off some of the edging and part of the inside edge of the ‘teeth’ to finally get these parts back in place. I found that the passenger side door panel had been replaced at some point, as it had a manufac- turing date stamp of Sept. 2006 on it – 6 years after the car was assembled. I didn’t find any apparent damage inside the door, so I am clueless as to what happened. Perhaps the entire door had to be replaced. I did have to reattach several of the anchors for the plastic push clips as the glue used to attach them to the door panel had given up the ghost at some point and let go.

30 Let’s recap all this. I needed to replace the leather on my ‘new’ sport driver’s seat. The upholsterer recom- mended strongly that both the driver and passenger seats should be done at the same time as even if you use the same leather, if done a year later, the pas- senger seat color would not match the driver. So, since I was unable to locate an affordable pas- senger side sport seat, I had both seats done even though the seats are different styles. The upholsterer had to buy more leather than was required for the seats, so I had him do the door panel inserts, the con- sole ‘hockey sticks’, the shift boot, the handbrake boot, the steering wheel tabs and the cover over the subwoofer enclo- sure. With all that, there is still some leather left over which I plan on using for seat belt shoul- der pads.

Since I didn’t do any of the leather work myself, but did remove and reinstall all the parts that were recovered in new leather, the hard- est single part of the project was reinstall- ing the center console. Since Christmas of 2017, either the engine or the

31 interior has been disassembled for most of 10 months. Howev- er the car is now ready for the 2018 ‘Running thru the LeaveZ’ drive in the Ozarks, and the 2017 drive was the only event besides ZFEST 2018 we did before the work began. 2019’s planned project is to replace all the bushings for the rear subframe (subframe bush- ings, RTABs, diff bushing, sway bar bushings and end links, giubo, driveshaft center bearing and support, transmission mounts). This will most likely be another all winter project. I’ll probably do a 4 wheel brake job sometime in 2019, too. 2020’s plan is lower control arms, ball joints, bushings, front sway bar end links and bushings, tie rods, and engine mounts. In 2021 I might just be limited to doing fluid changes unless I decide to repaint A Z UR and/or replace the top. Are YOU Current? Be sure to check your membership expiration date on your membership card or login to zscca.org. While you’re there, be sure to check to make sure your contact information is up to date!

32 ZSCCA Area Representatives

USA Florida (SW Coast) Maryland Alabama Dale Kopko • Fort Myers, FL Gene & Robin Warren • Eldersburg, MD Jason Smith • Birmingham, AL [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] www.facebook.com/groups/suncoastzs www.facebook.com/groups/FreeStateBimmerZs/ www.facebook.com/groups/bmwzclubofalabama/ 239-224-9299 443.929.0032

Arkansas (Central/Western) Florida (Tampa Bay) Massachusetts Scott Young • Fayetteville, AR Michael Scheuer • Clearwater, FL Wallace Lobao • Boston, MA [email protected] [email protected] www.facebook.com/groups/NewEnglandZs/ www.facebook.com/groups/OzarkZClub/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/ TampaBayZclub/ Michigan Arizona (Phoenix) Daniel Warsh - W.Bloomfield, MI Martin Ercoline • Gilbert, AZ Georgia (Atlanta) [email protected] [email protected] Russ Collins • Lawrenceville, GA www.facebook.com/groups/MIZSCCA/ facebook.com/groups/SouthwestBMWZClub/ [email protected] 248.987.8605 480.519.4989 www.atlantaz3.com/ www.facebook.com/groups/AtlantaZ3Z4/ Missouri Arizona (Tucson) 770.656.9405 John Gates [email protected] [email protected] www.facebook.com/groups/zazsoftucson Georgia (Southern) www.facebook.com/groups/ShowMeZs/ [email protected] California (Northern) www.facebook.com/groups/Roadtwisters/ Missouri (St. Louis) Tarlock Sagoo • San Carlos, CA Kevin Booker • Robertsville, MO [email protected] Hawaii (Big Island) www.facebook.com/groups/ShowMeZs Elizabeth Johnson • Kamuela, HI [email protected] California (Southern) [email protected] www.facebook.com/groups/ [email protected] lavasharkz Missouri (Southwest) www.facebook.com/groups/ZSCCACalifornia/ Jim Stewart - Ozark, MO Illinois [email protected] Colorado Robin Blair • Batavia, IL https://www.facebook.com/groups/ Jon Moorhead • Salida, CO [email protected] somobimmerzs/ [email protected] www.facebook.com/groups/ZSCCAILLINOIS/ [email protected] 630.389.0606 New Hampshire www.facebook.com/groups/hirockeez/ Lou Beaudette • Hudson, NH [email protected] Indiana [email protected] 719.221.1891 Will Anthony • Michigan City, IN www.facebook.com/groups/NHZeacoastZClub [email protected] Connecticut www.facebook.com/groups/HoosierZCarClub/ New Jersey [email protected] 574.848.9322 Al Mancuso • Burlington, NJ www.facebook.com/groups/ [email protected] ConnecticutBMWZCruiZers Louisiana http://gszscca.org/ Ross Goldman • Metairie, LA www.facebook.com/groups/GardenStateZSCCA/ Florida (NE Coast) www.facebook.com/groups/thebigeaszcarclub 609.614.0288 [email protected] [email protected] www.facebook.com/groups/FirstCoastZs/3 New Mexico Louisiana (Southern) Denise Inight • Albuquerque, NM Florida (North) Eric Lumpkin - Lafayette, LA www.facebook.com/groups/2286279228314069 Greg Cevelin • Gainesville, FL [email protected] [email protected] facebook.com/groups/RajunCajunZs/ New York City www.facebook.com/groups/gatorzs 337.303.2890 Dori Komarin • New York, NY 352.331.7955 [email protected] Maine www.facebook.com/groups/BigAppleZs/ Florida (Panhandle) Bob Staples 917.602.5566 Steve Ranner • Tallahassee, FL Jay, ME [email protected] [email protected] New York (Southern Tier) www.facebook.com/groups/BMWZMaineiacs Greg Finch • Waverly, NY Florida (South) [email protected] [email protected] www.facebook.com/groups/ www.facebook.com/groups/ZonyZsofNewYork/ palmbeachzs/ 607.738.2267 33 New York (Western) Pennsylvania (Central) Utah Jay Parnes • Rochester, NY Mark Bigelow • Petersburg, PA [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] www.facebook.com/groups/greatsaltlakezs www.facebook.com/groups/FlowerCityRoadsterZ/ www.facebook.com/groups/Nittany.Z.s/ 585.737.2784 814.667.2414 Virginia Stephen Kline • North Chesterfield VA North Carolina Pennsylvania (Eastern) [email protected] www.facebook.com/groups/ Hayes Potter • Chapel Hill, NC Yardly PA zeecentralvirginiaclub www.facebook.com/groups/triangleareazscca [email protected] Virginia (Potomac/Capital Region) North Carolina Pennsylvania (Northwest) Eddie Henry, Ashburn, VA Mathew Hanson • Ramseur, NC Richard Lipchik • Erie, PA [email protected] www.facebook.com/groups/TriadAreaZSCCA/ [email protected] www.facebook.com/groups/potomaczs/ www.facebook.com/groups/nwpazbimmers/ North Carolina (Charlotte Metro) 814.449.8892 Virginia (Southwest) Eric Peck • Huntersville, NC Edward Davidson • Draper, VA [email protected] Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh) [email protected] www.facebook.com/groups/ www.facebook.com/groups/queencitycrazs/ Shawn Najowicz • Washington, PA NRVZs 309.214.2753 [email protected] http://www.facebook.com/groups/ Washington (Seattle Metro) North Carolina (Eastern) WesternNCMountainZs/ Jim Dunn • Des Moines, WA Thom Hoagland • Wilmington, NC [email protected] [email protected] Rhode Island www.facebook.com/groups/washingtonstatezs/ www.facebook.com/groups/coastalcarolinazs Eugene Clark • Cumberland, RI 206.372.6022 [email protected] www.facebook.com/groups/ North Carolina (Western) oceanstatezees West Virginia Bill Price • Waynesville, NC Adam Moore • Scott Depot, WV [email protected] South Carolina (Lower) [email protected] http://www.facebook.com/groups/ [email protected] www.facebook.com/groups/mountainstateroadsterZ/ WesternNCMountainZs/ www.facebook.com/groups/lowcountryroadsterz/ 304.545.5261

Ohio (Cleveland) South Carolina (Upstate) Wisconsin Brian Bednar • Cleveland, OH David Weeks • Cleveland, SC Scott Hedding www.facebook.com/groups/greatlakesbmwzs [email protected] Waukesha, WI [email protected] www.facebook.com/groups/upstatescbmwzclub/ [email protected] www.facebook.com/groups/BadgerStateZSCCA Ohio (Columbus) Tennessee (Eastern) Mark Kraft • Columbus, OH Cindy Callaway • Knoxville, TN CANADA [email protected] [email protected] www.facebook.com/groups/ Nova Scotia www.facebook.com/groups/buckeyeZs EastTenneZeeClub/ Bob Angus • Timberlea, CAN-NS www.facebook.com/groups/bluenosezclub Oklahoma (Tulsa) Tennessee (Middle) [email protected] Dan David - Porter, OK Jody Ruffner • Lascassas, TN [email protected] www.facebook.com/groups/middletennezee Saskatchewan www.facebook.com/groups/OklahomaZclub/ [email protected] [email protected] www.facebook.com/groups/ 918.577.7760 PrairieCruZers/ Texas Oregon (Corvallis Valley) Mike Wood • Fort Worth, TX Alexander Fieldhouse [email protected] Victoria, BC Dundee, OR www.facebook.com/groups/TexasBimmerZRoadster- Ken McLean • Victoria, CAN-BC [email protected] Rowdies/ [email protected] www.facebook.com/groups/PortlandZedHeads 817.914.3897 www.facebook.com/groups/VictoriaBMWZEnthusiasts

Oregon (Portland East) Texas • San Antonio Bill Kupchin Kaye and Tony Jajou • San Antonio, TX Mt. Hood/Parkdale, OR [email protected] [email protected] www.facebook.com/groups/alamocityzedheads/ www.facebook.com/groups/ZsofCorvallisValley www.zscca.org

34 “Let others blaze the trail. I’ll enjoy the scenery along the way to our destination!”

- Captain William Eyre - Engineer, Coldstream Guards

Doesn’t everyone go to the Nurburgring for their honeymoon?

Prepared by MagCloud for Ainsley Jacobs. Get more at minardi1.magcloud.com.