Production By the Numbers
These are the production numbers for each M Coupe color combination produced for North America in order of commonality.
Total Production: 2858 (452 sunroof-delete)
1998: 26 (20 sunroof-delete)
1999: 1076 (138 sunroof-delete)
2000: 1078 (184 sunroof-delete)
2001: 338 (61 sunroof-delete)
2002: 340 (49 sunroof-delete)
Titanium Silver Metallic (544, 93 sunroof-delete)
Black Nappa (363, 54 sunroof-delete)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (106, 17 sunroof-delete)
Imola Red & Black Nappa (43, 14 sunroof-delete)
Estoril Blue & Black Nappa (25, 5 sunroof-delete)
Laguna Seca Blue & Black Nappa (6, 3 sunroof-delete)
Evergreen & Black Nappa (1, 0 sunroof-delete)
Cosmos Black (516, 75 sunroof-delete)
Black Nappa (277, 31 sunroof-delete)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (94, 14 sunroof-delete)
Dark Beige Oregon (79, 11 sunroof-delete)
Imola Red & Black Nappa( 36, 12 sunroof-delete)
Kyalami Orange & Black Nappa (29, 7 sunroof-delete)
Evergreen & Black Nappa (1, 0 sunroof-delete)
Estoril Blue (472, 83 sunroof-delete)
Estoril Blue & Black Nappa (313, 62 sunroof-delete)
Black Nappa (82, 16 sunroof-delete)
Dark Beige Oregon (62, 0 sunroof-delete)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (15, 5 sunroof-delete)
Imola Red (422, 58 sunroof-delete)
Imola Red & Black Nappa (201, 31 sunroof-delete)
Black Nappa (183, 19 sunroof-delete)
Dark Beige Oregon (22, 3 sunroof-delete)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (15, 5 sunroof-delete)
Estoril Blue & Black Nappa (1, 0 sunroof-delete)
Arctic Silver Metallic (276, 42 sunroof-delete)
Black Nappa (125, 19 sunroof-delete)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (105, 11 sunroof-delete)
Imola Red & Black Nappa (32, 10 sunroof-delete)
Estoril Blue & Black Nappa (13, 1 sunroof-delete)
Kyalami Orange & Black Nappa (1, 0 sunroof-delete)
Steel Gray Metallic (121, 18 sunroof-delete)
Black Nappa (47, 5 sunroof-delete)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (46, 8 sunroof-delete)
Imola Red & Black Nappa (23, 2 sunroof-delete)
Estoril Blue & Black Nappa (3, 2 sunroof-delete)
Kiwi & Black Nappa (2, 1 sunroof-delete)
Black Sapphire Metallic (120, 11 sunroof-delete)
Black Nappa (74, 8 sunroof-delete)
Dark Beige Oregon (17, 1 sunroof-delete)
Imola Red & Black Nappa (17, 1 sunroof-delete)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (10, 1 sunroof-delete)
Laguna Seca Blue & Black Nappa (2, 0 sunroof-delete)
Alpine White (103, 17 sunroof-delete)
Dark Beige Oregon (36, 3 sunroof-delete)
Black Nappa (36, 2 sunroof-delete)
Estoril Blue & Black Nappa (9, 4 sunroof-delete)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (9, 2 sunroof-delete)
Imola Red & Black Nappa (7, 3 sunroof-delete)
Evergreen & Black Nappa (3, 1 sunroof-delete)
Kyalami Orange & Black Nappa (2, 0 sunroof-delete)
Alpine White & Black Nappa (1, 1 sunroof-delete) – Last Produced
Boston Green Metallic (73, 6 sunroof-delete)
Dark Beige Oregon (61, 2 sunroof-delete)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (8, 1 sunroof-delete)
Black Nappa (3, 2 sunroof-delete)
Kyalami Orange & Black Nappa (1, 0 sunroof-delete)
Dakar Yellow II (51, 14 sunroof-delete)
Black Nappa (41, 10 sunroof-delete)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (8, 3 sunroof-delete)
Kyalami Orange & Black Nappa (2, 1 sunroof-delete)
Oxford Green II Metallic (46, 16 sunroof-delete)
Dark Beige Oregon (24, 11 sunroof-delete)
Black Nappa (16, 4 sunroof-delete)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (5, 1 sunroof-delete)
Kyalami Orange & Black Nappa (1, 0 sunroof-delete)
Laguna Seca Blue (41, 6 sunroof-delete)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (21, 2 sunroof-delete)
Laguna Seca Blue & Black Nappa (16, 3 sunroof-delete)
Black Nappa (2, 0 sunroof-delete)
Estoril Blue & Black Nappa (1, 0 sunroof-delete)
Dark Beige Oregon (1, 1 sunroof-delete)
Evergreen (41, 5 sunroof-delete)
Evergreen & Black Nappa (27, 1 sunroof-delete)
Dark Beige Oregon (10, 2 sunroof-delete)
Black Nappa (2, 1 sunroof-delete)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (2, 1 sunroof-delete)
Phoenix Yellow Metallic (21, 3 sunroof-delete)
Black Nappa (17, 2 sunroof-delete)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (3, 1 sunroof-delete)
Laguna Seca Blue & Black Nappa (1, 0 sunroof-delete)
Bright Red (1, 0 sunroof-delete)
Imola Red & Black Nappa (1, 0 sunroof-delete)
Special Ordered (10, 4 sunroof-delete)
Black Nappa (5, 2 sunroof-delete)
– LC61412 – Jet Black 2
– LC61883 – Steel Gray (Jeff’s)
– LC62131 – Topaz Blue
– LK60168 – Carbon Black
– LK61334 – Dakar Yellow
Dark Beige Oregon (2, 1 sunroof-delete)
– LC61371 – Steel Gray
– LC61937 – Impala Brown (would love to see it)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (2, 1 sunroof-delete)
– LC61959 – Steel Gray (Rupert’s)
– LC62180 – Steel Gray (It’s for sale!)
Imola Red & Black Nappa (1, 0 sunroof-delete)
– LC61372 – Steel Gray (my color combo :))
If you wonder why steel gray is considered a special color, it’s because it was not officially available on M’s in 2000. It was available on the non-M Z3s and it’s easy to see why people wanted to order it on their coupes. While Dakar Yellow was available on 1999-2000 M Coupes, it was not available in 2002 when LK61334 was ordered.
Interior Colors
Black Nappa (1273, 175 sunroof-delete)
Dark Gray & Black Nappa (450, 73 sunroof-delete)
Estoril Blue & Black Nappa (365, 74 sunroof-delete)
Imola Red & Black Nappa (361, 74 sunroof-delete)
Dark Beige Oregon (314, 35 sunroof-delete)
Kyalami Orange & Black Nappa (36, 12 sunroof-delete)
Evergreen & Black Nappa (32, 2 sunroof-delete)
Laguna Seca Blue & Black Nappa (24, 6 sunroof-delete)
Kiwi & Black Nappa (2, 1 sunroof-delete) – only on pre-production S54 coupes
Observations
- It’s interesting that almost all the early build cars were sunroof-delete.
- Titanium Silver is the most common exterior color and Phoenix Yellow is the most rare.
- There is a Bright Red M Coupe out there somewhere.
- Most gutsy color combo selection has to go to Phoenix Yellow over Laguna Seca Blue.
- As well known as the two-tone interiors are, solid black is far and away the most common interior color.
- Laguna Seca Blue is the most rare interior color.
In compiling this I noticed a few rather adventurous color combos:
- Imola Red/Estoril Blue
- Boston Green/Kyalami Orange
- Dakar Yellow/Kyalami Orange
- Oxford Green/Kyalami Orange
- Phoenix Yellow/Laguna Seca Blue
So there you have it. I was initially going to separate these out by year, then by engine, then got too lazy. I may come back and at least break them out by engine.
February 21, 2013 Update – The very first data anomaly has been found. VIN LK61060 is actually Titanium Silver over Laguna Seca Blue rather than Titanium Silver over Dark Gray. The data has been updated accordingly.
If you wonder where I get all my production numbers, they were collected by a Bimmerforums member wildag (www.dreamingwell.com). The original CSV file can be downloaded here. Another forum member has created a more user friendly database interface for the less technically inclined at: www.bmwmdata.com. This set of data includes all North American M Coupes and Roadsters with their production dates and options.
I love the way you are collecting your data.
Not only is Titanium Silver the most common color, but if you consider silver in general (since there was only ever one silver available at a time) by adding Titanium Silver to Arctic Silver, you get far and away the most popular color. It is interesting that white, which is the most popular color for cars in the US, is so low on these cars.
As far as most of the ’98s being moonroof-delete cars, remember that the ’98s were ALL pre-production cars, either for press or BMW testing. None of those cars were sold as new through the dealer network, but a couple did eventually make it to the used car market. It’s likely that the moonroof assemblies just weren’t ready yet.
Your link to the BMW M Database does not work. It lacks the “m” (ironically) at the end of the URL.
Nice work!
Thanks for catching that akreis. The link is updated. Nice work on your database as well!
Here’s a color combo you’ll never see again. Interesting story.
http://www.zroadster.net/tim/colors/m408-palm.html
http://www.karenonline.net/bmw/z3palmetto.htm
Thanks for your data collection. I have been wondering for years how rare was my ’02 Steel Grey Metallic, Estoril Blue & Black Nappa sunroof-delete car. Wow… one of two built.
I love your site.
Hi, I think I found the 1 bright red, with imola red and black interior… also it is for sale in Germany!
Here is the link: http://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/showDetails.html?lang=de&id=123987423&pageNumber=1&scopeId=C&sortOption.sortBy=price.consumerGrossEuro&sortOption.sortOrder=ASCENDING&makeModelVariant1.makeId=3500&makeModelVariant1.modelId=57&makeModelVariant1.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant2.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant3.searchInFreetext=false&vehicleCategory=Car&segment=Car&siteId=GERMANY&negativeFeatures=EXPORT&damageUnrepaired=NO_DAMAGE_UNREPAIRED&export=NO_EXPORT&customerIdsAsString=&categories=SportsCar&tabNumber=1
Thanks Norman. The numbers I have listed are for North America only, so that’s probably not “the 1”, but does look great. Imola and bright red are so hard to distinguish in photos.
Hi Jon:
My mcoupe rattles beneath the sunroof. If i hold up the interior upholstery beneath the SR then the rattling stops. I am considering some way to hold the upholstery up to stop the rattlng. Maybe some double sided tape?
Your ideas and insight would be much appreciated.
James
Yeah, people have had good luck with double sided tape to cure rattles. Try the kind with a little bit of thin foam padding.
We have a 2001 Z3 M coupe Dinan stage 3
This is a Dinan factory built car.
Can you tell us how many of these were built?
Dinan in San Jose where we have the car serviced does not keep track of this.
Say they don’t know because mostly they sell parts aftermarket to dealers?
Emailed you Mark