If you’re looking to have fun without breaking the bank, the BMW Z3 is a solid choice. The pint-sized sports car was built from 1995 until 2002 and sold as the E36/7 roadster and E36/8 coupe. Nearly 300,000 units were assembled, so there are plenty of used cars to choose from even 21 years after production ended.
Dozens of enthusiasts brought their prized possessions to the first official BMW Z3 meet in Slovakia. Norbert Bozóky set up the inaugural event at which 35 cars attended, including some vehicles that made the trip from other countries. A few winners were selected for being the most beautiful cars at the show, including a gold-painted Z3 M Roadster, a red 2.8i Coupe, and a green Z3 Roadster from the Czech Republic.
It was only a month ago when BMW provided a rare look at initial sketches of the Z3, with design boss Domagoj Dukec sharing on his Instagram some designs there were left on the cutting room floor. Ultimately, it was Joji Nagashima’s work that received the stamp of approval when the car’s design was frozen in 1993. Roughly two years later, production of the roadster started while the coupe joined the lineup in early 1998.
As a bridge through time, the Z4 also attended the show in its range-topping M40i guise with the eye-catching Thundernight Metallic paint. BMW gave the second-generation Z4 a mild Life Cycle Impulse last year and is expected to give the M Performance version a manual gearbox in 2024. As previously reported, the G29 will allegedly go out of production at Magna Steyr’s plant in Graz, Austria in March 2026, without a direct replacement planned.
In a bid to revive the iconic Clownshoe, even if only for a one-off car, BMW introduced the Touring Concept Coupe earlier this year at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este,
Source: BMW Slovakia
