I've been a BMW nut for nearly 10 years now. I had always wanted one and have a distinct memory of seeing these cool little cars with their round tail lights in the 70's. I bought my first BMW in 1997. It was a used '93 525i. It was quickly replaced by a new '97 528i (a dream car). After that the bimmers came quickly in succession. Here is a list of the BMW's that I have owned in order of their acquisition.

1993 525i Alpine White

1997 528i Alpine White

1999 M Roadster Alpine White

1997 328is Jet Black

1998 M3 Bright Red

1972 2002 Verona Red

2004 MINI Cooper Chili Red (yes, I count it as a bimmer)

My current inventory consists of the MINI, the 'O2 and a new Audi A3.  If BMW would sell their 1-series to the States I would have got one.  The A3 is a fantastic car and BMW is in danger of losing their demographic to great cars like these.

So by the time I saw the ebay auction for this shiney 'O2 in early 2003 I was already a BMW fanatic.  However, I was probably too quick on the draw.  I had previously purchased my M3 on ebay, but had actually struck the deal privately with the seller.  That deal went extraordinarily well.  I had the car inspected by an independent dealer in the seller's home city.  For the 'O2 I was a little too quick and anxious.  The ebay presentation was glorious.  The seller really knew what he was doing and presented this car as if it were a true restoration.  It was listed as having 62,690 miles (it was just off by a hundred thousand or so).  The pictures showed a bright and shiney 'O2 caught in the fabulous sunshine of Nevada.  I won the auction and paid $6,700 for the car (which was probably $3000 too  much to be fair).  Here are some of the pictures from the auction page.

And so the adventure began.  Next I'm going to share with you the drama of the auction itself and my interesting adventure on the drive home from Las Vegas to Houston where I drove a car that had no business  being on the road, 2000 miles cross country through the desert to its current resting place in my garage.