kloh's posterous

Hello World!
 

Just watched the worlds’ best driving roads on Top Gear. Getting ideas for another Euro Delivery route.

Who knows when I’ll be doing another Euro delivery, but when I do, there are two major stretch of roads I want to make sure I hit. For awhile, I had planned to hit Stelvio Pass on my next trip, but watching Top Gear has also made me really want to drive from Stelvio, through Bornio to Davos. The footage was amazing. Great scenery with miles of open twisty roads. On the map below, it's the area from B to D.

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Zurich is another drop-off point for BMW, so I figure since I may be in Switzerland, might as well drop off there. I think there are some unique driving rules in Switzerland, so I’m sure I’ll need to do some research beforehand.

Here’s the route in Google Maps. I’m sure I will be adding to it over time.

Filed under  //   european delivery   roadtrip  
Posted April 18, 2010
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Finally...success installing the Carbon Fiber Monochrome Side Gills. Here’s some shots of the whole package (for now).

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Finally got the CF side gills installed. I was really afraid I was going to break some of the pieces, but heating up the plastic helped quite a bit. There were a couple of areas that bent out of shape and kind of stuck that way after the plastic cooled off, but bending is better than breaking so I’m ok with that. I might need to adjust the gill on the passenger side a little though since I realized after the fact that the light unit didn’t snap all the way in like it’s supposed to.

A few more photos are on my Flickr set.

Filed under  //   bmw   cars   european delivery   m3   mods   photography  
Posted October 11, 2009
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First few cosmetic M3 mods done. Check out the pics.

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It’s just the beginning, but here’s what the boy and I did so far this weekend:

  • Carbon Fiber Kidneys
  • Carbon Fiber Hood Roundel
  • Carbon Fiber Trunk Roundel
  • Carbon Fiber Steering Wheel Roundel
  • Monochrome M3 Trunk Emblem
  • Smoked Front Reflectors

I also have a set of Carbon Fiber Side Gills with Monochrome M3 Emblems but I’m having a little trouble getting them installed. One of the pieces on the unit that pulls out looks like it’s pretty easy to break so I’m going to do a little more research before I dive in. My fingers kind of hurt now anyways, from all the squeezing, pulling, pushing, etc. Might give it another attempt tomorrow, otherwise, maybe next week. I also plan on getting the windows tinted and tail lights smoked next week if I can get an appointment at Tint Plus.

I have a few more photos on my Flickr account, including a comparison of the OEM chrome and aftermarket CF kidneys.

Filed under  //   bmw   cars   european delivery   m3   mods   photography  
Posted October 11, 2009
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The boy decorates his room with some of his Euro Delivery souvenirs.

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I’m really glad the M3 came back with both plates in tact. Always wanted to keep them as souvenirs and now we get to. The boy wanted to put it in his room, so we mounted it on his bed. We also mounted the original M3 emblem from my car which we took off this morning and replaced with the monochrome one. And next to the license plate, we hung up a bunch of the keychains he bought while we were over there, including ones for Porche, Ferrari, Nürburgring, and of course, BMW.

His other souvenirs (cars, cars and more cars) are displayed on the other side of his room.

Filed under  //   european delivery   family  
Posted October 10, 2009
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Having no car really stunk. Read on for a delightful series of events.

Last weekend I had to return the borrowed Accord since my Mother-In-Law was coming back from her San Jose trip this week. Because of that, we were back to having just 1 car for the family, and let me tell you, it was no picnic. Here’s some of my tribulations the past week:

Monday:

  • I had to go to Cincinnati on a business trip so I needed to get to the airport.
  • The flight was at 8am, so I had to leave the house by 6.
  • Elsa couldn’t take me since she had to get the kids ready for and take them to school.
  • $42 later, a cab dropped me off at the airport (this all after waking up at 5am).
  • I flew pretty much all day since there are no direct flights from John Wayne to Cincinnati. Both flights were completely full, and I ended up in the middle seat both times.
  • Arrived in Cincinnati, got to the hotel, started working since I hadn't had adequate internet access all day.

Tuesday:

  • Not going to blame this whole trip on the lack of having a car, but just for establishing my state of mind, here’s some details.
  • The west coast-to-east coast time change always makes it really difficult to sleep “on time.”
  • I ended up working late the previous night and couldn’t sleep until 3am EST. 
  • I had to wake up at 6:30am EST since I was carpooling with one of my bosses who needed to start his day at 8am (my meetings started at 9), so I basically got about 3 hours of sleep.
  • 6:30am EST was really 3:30am PST, so I had also been up for about 21 hours the previous day since I got up at 5am PST to catch that flight.
  • Day goes by. I had my meetings. Internet access stunk all day. I take a cab to the airport to fly home.
  • Another full day of flying, and I arrive at John Wayne around 10:45pm PST.
  • I had no car, so $43 later, a cab dropped me off at home. It was 11:30pm and I had $85 less dollars in my wallet because of this lack of car ordeal.
  • I had been awake for another 20-some-odd hours straight again.

Read the rest of this post »

Filed under  //   bmw   european delivery   family   m3  
Posted October 10, 2009
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It’s been a long miserable 2 months, but the wait is finally over. Here’s a pic of the M3 at the dealership.

Photo

So glad it came before the weekend, and, I’m stoked that both euro plates are still on the car. I now have the souvenirs I wanted.

Can’t wait to start the basic cosmetic mods with the boy tomorrow.

{ Sent from my iPhone }

Filed under  //   bmw   european delivery   m3   photography  
Posted October 9, 2009
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Just a few more days before I’m reunited with my M3.

Tracking5

I thought for the longest time that the tracking on the BMW USA website was off since it had been showing “en route” even after the car arrived in port on 9/27, but apparently it’s fairly accurate...at least it is with my car. 

When I called my dealer for an update on monday (10/6), they informed me that the car arrived at the Vehicle Preparation Center on 10/5 and is scheduled to be at the dealership on 10/12. This means it was in customs from 9/27-10/5, so the status not being “at preparation center” was correct. Well, the pic above confirms this, so now I’m finally allowing myself to actually believe I will get the car in my hands early next week. 

Here’s an update on the known dates so far:

  • 8/10: Drop-off in Frankfurt, Germany
  • 9/4: Depart Bremerhaven, Germany
  • 9/27: Arrive in Port Heueneme, California
  • 10/5: Arrive at Vehicle Preparation Center in Oxnard
  • 10/12: Scheduled arrival at Sterling BMW in Newport Beach

Another user on the Bimmerfest forum who also had his car on Polaris Leader has already gotten his vehicle redelivered. He did say, however, that his dealer pulled some strings to get it earlier. Not sure exactly what that meant they did, but wish mine could have done that.

Filed under  //   bmw   european delivery   m3  
Posted October 7, 2009
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It was a miserable couple of weeks not knowing where it was, but it looks like my M3 is now off the coast of Ensenada!

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Looks like we're on schedule for arrival in Port Hueneme in Oxnard on Sunday. Now I just hope it doesn't get stuck in customs.

While I was looking at this this morning, the boy was curious about the route it took and how a boat could “go through land.” I told him about the Panama Canal and @bradhaydon sent us this pretty cool video:

Filed under  //   bmw   european delivery   m3  
Posted September 26, 2009
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This be a good day t'check on me...BLIMEY! Me Bavarian-born beauty is lost at sea! #talklikeapirateday

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Fetch yer spyglasses and ready the six-pounders! Ye scallywag scoundrels best keep yer miserable mitts off me vessel! (happy talk like a pirate day!)

Does this map look familiar? It's because it hasn't changed for 12 days. Hopefully my M3 is somewhere closer to the western side of the Atlantic on it's way to Panama. It's *supposed* to dock in Oxnard in just a little over a week. At least the BMW site has finally changed the status to "En Route." It took awhile for that to happen, even though The Polaris Leader left Germany on September 4th. The wait continues...

Tracking4

Filed under  //   bmw   european delivery   m3  
Posted September 19, 2009
// 2 Comments
 

My car has finally left Germany!

Polaris-090409

Next major milestone has finally been reached! However, the status on the BMW tracking website hasn't been updated to reflect the next state yet (En Route). I expect it should within the next couple of days. Re-delivery is still over 3 weeks away but I'm glad it's finally on it's way instead of just sitting in some warehouse gathering dust. Now it's gathering dust on a cargo ship. I'm really glad I washed it to clean off all the bug residue before dropping the car off.

Filed under  //   bmw   europeandelivery   m3  
Posted September 4, 2009
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