Wilfried writes:

My name is Wilfried, and I live in Charlotte, North Carolina. I'm 52 years old as of this writing. I'm a native of Germany, move to the USA in 1983 and have since become American by choice.

In 1994, after separating from my then-wife, I bought my first Convertible, a Mustang GT. Until that time I did my "open air" driving via motorcycles, an activity that I enjoyed for well over 20 years.

In 1997 I traded the GT in for a Mustang Cobra. I then started noticing more and more Z3 Roadsters and began to realize what a beautiful car it was. My current wife too thought that it was just the prettiest thing on wheels. Meanwhile it was the summer of 2000, and she had been driving the SUV for several years and really wanted something different. Nice guy that I am, I told her I'd drive the SUV during the week and she could get a Z3. That said, we went to the dealer and ordered us a 2001 Z3 3.0i just the way we wanted it. It was the first time either one of us actually had a car built. We were quite excited about it. The only "bad" thing was that we ordered a manual transmission, even though my wife had only driven automatic cars up to that point. She insisted on the manual, even though I advised her to the contrary, and said she'd learn. And she tried, and she tried. To make a long story short, she eventually got so frustrated that she gave up and the Z3 became "my" car. In a way I felt and still feel sorry for her, on the other hand I can't say I was heartbroken over the outcome.

Life has its way of playing tricks on you though. Late last year I developed a few annoying respiratory problems that culminated in a rather serious diagnosis in January of this year, 2002. In an attempt to minimize on potential loose ends we parted with the Z3. Several months and treatments later, however, I felt much restored and, needless to say, robbed of my beautiful ride. After some serious soul searching and a lot of emotional talks, I got to replace what I'd lost with a brand new ///M Roadster.

I'm still working on the happy ending to all of this, but for the time being I'm just delirious that I'm allowed to enjoy the thrills I get driving this great car.

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