2024 Road Trip

This all started with a late winter itch to get away and do something.  I was feeling cooped up and antsy, so I decided that I would buy a fun car in California, enjoy a thrilling drive back home to Tennessee, and then sell it to recoup some of my costs.

In April I flew out to San Fransisco to look at a couple of old BMW Z3 Roadsters.  I’ve owned one of these before and regretted selling it.  The Z3 is an iconic design, and with the 2.8 liter inline six engine, a smooth and capable performer.  They were made between 1996 and 2002.

The first two I looked at in SF were junk.  So I hopped a train to Fresno to check out another one.  A coolant line came off the radiator during the test drive, stranding me in a Walmart parking lot.  Yeah, not the one.

I rented a car and drove from Fresno to North Hollywood to look at another one.  This one was pretty nice, but priced way too high for the amount of work it needed.

I drove to Palm Springs and found just the right deal.  The owner understood that his car needed to be brought up to date on maintenance and his price was reasonable enough to begin with.  I found a really good mechanic in Palm Springs who did a thorough pre-purchase inspection, and after negotiating some more, we closed the deal.

I spent several days in Palm Springs while my mechanic checked over the car, did a coolant flush, and changed the drive belt, AC belt, and idler pulley.  I also had an alignment and tire rotation done.  All necessary work that was needed for my trip home.

However, at this point, I decided I wasn’t going to drive it all the way home.  Laurie had expressed an interest in going on a road trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota, so I figured if I left the car in a storage unit in Denver, we could fly there late in the summer and use it for our road trip.

My trip from Palm Springs to Denver was fantastic.  I stuck to the back roads as much as possible and got to see the Grand Canyon (again), drove through Monument Valley, and drove a whole lot of miles of scenic roads through AZ, UT, and CO.  The car ran flawlessly, and I had the top down most of the way.  The Z3 got thumbs-up from construction crews as I drove by, and lots of attention in parking lots from people wanting to know about the car.

When I got to Denver, I made a few phone calls to see if I could get the windows of the Z3 tinted.  Chris said sure, I can do that for you this afternoon.  My flight was leaving the next day, so it was great that he could get me in that soon.  I spent a few hours with him that afternoon and besides being a nice guy, he’s quite the entrepreneur, with two businesses in the Denver area.  He offered to keep the car at his shop instead of me putting it in a storage unit, and so that’s what I did!  I left my car with someone I knew less than a day!

I had a good feeling about Chris when I first met him, and we’ve become friends.  He even visited here in TN over the summer.  His help in recommending a very good BMW mechanic (Michael) and lining up people to clean the car and install a new stereo are much appreciated.

After this first leg of the trip to Denver, I flew home and got back to work.  But over the summer, I did have quite a bit of work done to the car.

The passenger window was not operating well.  The previous owner had the window motor replaced, but the problem that caused the motor to fail in the first place was still there.  Michael fixed it properly by replacing the track mechanism.  He also tightened up both door panels for me.  He did a complete front brake job and a brake fluid flush.

Michael did another complete inspection on the car and found two vac lines that needed to be replaced.  He changed the engine oil and filter and also did an engine bay detail.

Other work that was done included fixing a small dent on the inside of one of the wheels, tire balance, a bit of silicone on the shift knob because it was loose, a steam clean of the interior, a light paint correction and wax for the exterior, new wiper blades, new trunk shocks, and the rear brake lens, which was looking faded and cracked, was replaced with a new one.

I spent more money than I should have on a new stereo.  But I know how much Laurie likes listening to her tunes on Sirius XM and I wanted this road trip to be special for her.  So a new Kenwood head unit was installed, new two-way front speaker components were installed, and a four-channel amplifier was installed behind the drivers seat to power the system.  We used the stock rear speakers and subwoofer.  The shop that did the work tuned the system for me and got the Sirius XM working, so when we came to pick up the car, the music was all set to go.  It’s a nice sounding system that can be clearly heard even with the top down and wind blowing.

Five months had elapsed since dropping off the car with Chris in Denver.  For this leg of the trip, it would be Laurie and I traveling together.  We flew out to pick up the car on August 30.  Flight was delayed 3 hours.  I hate flying anymore.  Driving is so much better.

Chris picked us up at our hotel on the 31st and brought us to his shop where he had the car all ready to go.  We struck out for Lander Wyoming via a scenic byway late Saturday morning, August 31.

Day 1

Top down, music playing, cruising through a canyon in Colorado, stopping at a cool running river, and enjoying the freedom of the open road.  Saturday was a wonderful start to our trip.

I should mention some things about the pictures you see here.  The pics from the Palm Springs to Denver leg were taken by me, since I was traveling alone.  The pics from the Denver to TN leg were taken mostly by Laurie.  She did a great job of snapping away as I was winding across the countryside.  Many of the pictures were taken through the bug-spattered windshield or by holding my Iphone over the edge of the passenger door.  I was really glad she held on tight!

I separated the pics into each day of the journey, but they may not be in order through each day.

The pics are not highly processed.  I simply re-sized them, rotated where necessary, and saved them.

What about luggage space you ask?  Well, I did get a little bit of the trunk space for my stuff.  Lol.  We planned it perfectly, with one carry-on suitcase and two large duffle bags that could be squished in on either side of the suitcase.  It was tight though.

Day 2

This day offered up even more beautiful scenery as we drove through the Grand Teton and Yellowstone parks on our way to Cody, WY.

Day 3

Monday would end up being the most incredible day of our journey.  Perfect weather again.  From Cody, we set off just a short drive up the road to the Chief Joseph Highway, a road that I learned about from watching “Everyday Driver” on YouTube.  Those guys drove their Corvette and Lotus on the Chief Joseph Highway and described it as being one of, it not THE best driving road in America.  I think they might be right.

From the CJH we turned onto the Beartooth Highway, a road that is equally thrilling and scenic.  We reached an elevation of nearly 11,000 ft. before descending down/up to Red Lodge, MT for lunch.  In the afternoon we drove back down into Wyoming and found our way to Buffalo, Wyoming where we had reservations at the historic Occidental Hotel.  On the way there, we were pleasantly surprised at the gorgeous drive on Alt.14 up across “The High Country” of the Bighorn National Forest.

With the top down and shifting through the gears of a little roadster on these magnificent roads, you are really in touch with the scale and scenery around you.  There’s nothing like it.

Day 4

We were tired on Tuesday and didn’t take nearly as many pictures.  But I remember that day very well.  We trekked across Wyoming, stopping at the Devils Tower, then into Hulett for lunch.  Then over to spearfish canyon, which is a beautiful drive.  We spotted Crazy Horse memorial from the road on our way to the Bavarian Inn in Custer, where we would make s’mores at the firepit and then tuck in for a good night’s sleep on a very comfortable bed.

Day 5

The map doesn’t show half of the miles we drove.  We spent the day driving many of the roads in this area, including the Needles Highway, and Iron Mountain Road.

We had a real Buffalo encounter – not the ones staged on the wildlife loop road in the park.  That was a bit nerve-wracking as they walked by the car.  But so cool!

Mt. Rushmore was magnificent.

The only day of our trip that we had rain.  2-1/2 hours in the middle of the day, which we just waited out in the town of Custer.

At the end of the day, we found ourselves WAAAY out in the middle of nowhere, in the grasslands, low on fuel.  The more I looked at the fuel gage, the faster the needle dropped!  Before we knew it, we were going to run out of gas.  The road just went on and on and on.  We came upon a farm, with lots of equipment around, and decided to stop in and ask if we could buy a gallon or two of gas.  Nobody home.  Laurie peeked in the barn.  There was a pickup truck in there, with a gallon jug of gas in the back.  Yup, we poured the gallon into the car and rolled up a note explaining our situation along with a twenty-dollar bill and stuck it in the handle of the jug.  I put the jug on the floor right in front of the door as you go into the barn.  The note included my name and number.  On day 8, I got a call from an inquisitive older man who wanted to know the story.  We chatted for a long time on the phone.  I apologized and thanked him.  He asked me for my address so he could send $16 back to me!  Of course, I said no.  There are good people everywhere.   We wouldn’t have made it to the gas station without that gallon of gas.

We pulled into Wall, SD at sunset and had a nice dinner and a quiet night’s sleep.  We went to the famous Wall Drug the next morning for a 5-cent cup of coffee and a $9 tube of toothpaste!

Day 6

The day started out with our visit to Wall Drug, and then we headed out to the Badlands Park.  The landscape there is amazing.  We drove the Badlands loop and then hit I90 for the long, straight, trek across SD.

We planned to drive some of the Loess Hills Scenic Byway on our way across Iowa on Day 7, but we got there early enough on Day 6 to get into it.  So we did.  And once again, got low on gas in a very rural area as the sun was setting.  I didn’t have to steal gas this time though!

Day 7 and 8

The first half of Day 7 we continued our drive through the Loess Hills Scenic Byway in Iowa, and Rt44 all the way across to Des Moines.  Beautiful scenic countryside.

But when I got to Des Moines around midday, it clicked in my brain that this trip was over and I wanted to get home.  Laurie agreed.  Pedal to the metal and let’s head home.  We got through St. Louis pretty quickly considering it was around 5:00 – 6:00pm on a Friday.  The Z3 was amazingly nimble and quick in city traffic.  The ride was surprisingly smooth over the bumpy city highways.  I did notice though that there was a vibration that had become worse over the course of the trip.  Something that would need checking out when we got home.

We stopped for the night in Mt. Vernon, Illinois.

Day 8 was highway to home, and we pulled into Baxter, TN at around 3:00pm, glad to be home.  Dan, my mechanic, was our house-sitter for the week we were gone, and he took very good care of our dog and house.

I asked him to inspect the car for me – check for leaks, check wheel bearings, front end steering parts, suspension parts, fluids, etc…  He put it up on jack stands and removed the wheels and looked it all over for me, and then came in the house with some notes written on a piece of paper.

No leaks!  I mean c’mon, a 26 year old BMW that just ran 2,892 miles and NO LEAKS!  Amazing.  Dan said we need to replace the passenger side axle/CV joint assembly.  He said it was moving in and out a lot more than it should.  We’re pretty sure that’s the cause of the vibration on the highway.  Dan recommended replacing the rear shocks and rear sway bar links too.  So parts have been ordered and this work will be done in the next week or so.  I’m writing this on 9/8/24.

I had a small list of things to do, which included a trim piece inside where the stereo installer didn’t snap it in tightly and lubricating the front hood latch so it would operate more easily.  But that’s it.  This is a very sound car that I bought.  The maintenance that was done to bring it up to date made the trip trouble-free for us.

What a great little car.  It didn’t miss a beat the entire trip and performed flawlessly no matter what I threw at it.  It was the perfect car for the twisty roads in this near-perfect weather we had.

I have to admit that while driving on Interstate highways I found myself wishing I was in a MB S-class Coupe instead of the Z3 noise-maker!  Lol.  But that’s to be expected with any old, small roadster.  All in all, the Z3 zipped along the highway stretches and ate up the miles with ease.

Everything worked on this car for the entire trip.  Cruise control, AC, heat, vent controls, windows, locks, ignition switch, door handles, power seats, stereo, windshield wipers, all lights, steering, suspension, transmission, engine, brakes, etc…  Like new?  No, of course not.  But as good as you can expect from a car of this vintage.

Oh, actually, not everything worked on this car.  The power top doesn’t work, but I prefer to put the top up and down manually anyway.  This is a car that engages you in the driving experience in every way, including pulling that canvas up and down by hand.  It’s super easy to do.  Quicker than waiting for the motor to do it!

So what’s next?

The Z3 is going up for sale.  It’s not that I don’t like the car, I just have too many other cars!  I can’t keep them all, and it was always my intention to buy a Z3, get the maintenance up to date and enjoy the heck out of it for a few thousand miles before selling it.

I’m going to be updating this page as work is done to the car to get it ready for sale.  I’ll add pictures, the Carfax, and a complete listing of work that has been done under my ownership.

I’m writing this on 9/8/24.  Look for updates in the coming week or two.

10/5/24  Hi.  Well it took me more than a couple weeks to get the car up for sale, but I’ve listed it on Facebook Marketplace for $11,982 or something close to that.  

The work was done to replace the rear axle, sway bar links, and rear shocks.  I also had a four-wheel alignment done.  I also had Dan reset the SRS airbag light.  That light came on when they installed the stereo in the car and I think they disconnected one or both of the door airbags.  The light is off and hasn’t come back on.  

So here’s the listing description as it is in the FB listing:

BMW Z3 Roadster with 5-speed MT and the desirable 2.8ltr engine.  86K miles.  No accidents.  Clean title in hand.  I won’t make you meet me in a Walmart parking lot, you can come to my home to test drive the car.  I’m in Baxter, TN.  You can call or text me.  My name is Greg Roberts.  I’m not allowed to put my phone number here otherwise I would.  Send me a message and I’ll provide it.    

I’m a car nut and I was feeling a bit cooped up this past winter and decided I would fly out to CA to buy a Z3 just so I could drive it home to TN.  The long way.  I looked at quite a few all over CA and finally found the one I wanted in Palm Springs.  It’s a fun story to read, and I’ve documented it in a webpage with pictures and maps which I’m not allowed to put a link to here.  But if you send me a message, I’ll send you the link.  I promise you will enjoy the story and the pictures of two road trips taken in this car as I made my way back home.    

I would say this is one of the more mechanically sound Z3’s you’ll find for sale anywhere.  It was in real good shape when I bought it, but like almost every used car for sale on FB, there was a lot of deferred maintenance.  Sellers of cars always think their cars are up to date on maintenance.  They almost always are not.  I did what was needed at a shop in Palm Springs to make the car safe and reliable before heading out on the first leg of my journey.  Along the way I had more work done to it.  I’ve included a list below.  Currently the only thing it needs is an oil change and I’ll have my mechanic do that in the next week or two.  Oil was done at 81K miles and current mileage is 85,808 – so just coming up on needing oil.     

It’s also in fine shape cosmetically.  It’s obviously been garage-kept.  Look at the condition of the dash – heck the whole interior for that matter.  It was just detailed a week ago to get it ready for sale. 

The top was replaced by the last owner and it does not leak when driving in the rain.  It does leak a bit in certain places if you shoot water at it in a car wash. 

26 year old original black paint – Yes, of course there are some small cosmetic issues.  But it’s a looker, don’t you think?    

NO rust.  No subframe problems.

Wheels have been replaced and look great. 

Bridgestone Potenza tires have more than 50% tread. 

NO dash lights.

Everything works except the power roof.  I actually prefer to simply push back the canvas top to open it.  There’s something really cool about doing that.  The power roof worked when I first got it and then along the trip somewhere I heard a ‘clink’ sound and it didn’t work after that.  So the pump is working, but I think there’s a mechanical disconnect.  If I were keeping this car I would not fix it.  I really do prefer the manual operation. 

I have pictures of the Carfax from when I bought the car and I’ll send them to you if you message me and ask. 

The car comes with speed humps that can be put on the back to cover the top when it’s down.  Cool, but I couldn’t use that on my trip because I needed to put the top up at times and I had no trunk space left!  (Wife came along on the second leg of the journey). 

The car also comes with two keys, all kinds of manuals and literature original to the car, a wind screen that goes between the roll bars, a car cover, and a few other little bits. 

Did you notice in the pictures that there are storage cubbies under the trunk lid?  I don’t know if that was original or not, but it’s a cool option.  That’s where the manuals go, and my guess is that’s one reason why the glove box on this car is still where it should be – without the weight of the manuals in there.  If you don’t know, Z3’s are known for glove boxes that have sagged down. 

Here’s a list of the work I had done to the car since buying it in Palm Springs, CA on April 9, 24 with 79,827 miles on it. 

• 4/11/24 79827 – Coolant flush, Drive belt, AC belt, idler pulley
• 80214 – four-wheel alignment
• 4/30/2024 around 81Kmiles – Passenger window fixed – secured both door panels, Front brake pads – rotors – sensors, Brake fluid flush, Replaced two dry-rotted vac lines, Changed engine oil and filter, Engine detail clean, Front passenger rim fixed and all four wheels balanced, Interior detail cleaned and the canvas top cleaned and treated, light paint correction and wax on exterior, Silicone on shift knob, Installed new wiper blades, Installed trunk shock absorbers, Installed new rear brake lens
• 8/28/24 – new Kenwood head unit, front lower speakers, tweeters in doors – four-channel amp, Sirius XM module – We left the sub driver (which was replaced previously) and the rear speakers

• 9/7/2024 – 85,700 miles – After our road trip my mechanic looked it over and reported no leaks, wheel bearings are fine (I questioned that), brakes all good, fluid levels fine, everything looks good to him except a few things in the rear – So he replaced rear shocks, sway bar links, and passenger side rear axle shaft/CV joints. Four-wheel alignment was done
• Airbag light came on when they installed the stereo speakers, so my mechanic reset that and it hasn’t come back on.

You don’t have to be serious.  You can message me and ask questions, or talk about cars in general, or simply click the button and send the message (Hi, is this still available).  It’s cool.  You’re not wasting my time, especially if you’re a car nut like me. 

Lots of pics below.  

My contact info: Greg Roberts – 6100 Nashville Hwy, Baxter, TN 38544 – 207-314-1937 – voltiaudio@gmail.com