# I'll get to see a ZHP tomorrow *Updated with Photos*



## IndyMike (Dec 19, 2001)

Fortunately, the rest of my trip was uneventful and was spent with my cousins family up in the northern region of Germany (Bielefeld).


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## Mr. The Edge (Dec 19, 2001)

IndyMike said:


> I can honestly say, and it should come to nobody's surprise, that Alex is one of the nicest and most humorous persons one could ever hope to meet. He is quick to laugh (and we had a lot of them over almost everyone on this board  ), but he also is willing to laugh at himself. One of the best parts of the trips was the good fortune of meeting him, and I am grateful to be able to call him my friend. :thumbup:


:grouphug:


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## racerdave (Sep 15, 2003)

Mike,

I gotta say the ZHP in that color combo is choice! :thumbup:


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## IndyMike (Dec 19, 2001)

It was with mixed emotions that I dropped if off and placed it in ‘Harms Way’.  

I reckon we should be reunited in about 5 weeks.

Now I only have to hope and pray that the weather in the DC/MD area is nothing like it was last December and January when I go to pick it up.


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## johnlew (Dec 25, 2001)

IndyMike said:


> I can honestly say, and it should come to nobody's surprise, that Alex is one of the nicest and most humorous persons one could ever hope to meet. He is quick to laugh (and we had a lot of them over almost everyone on this board  ), but he also is willing to laugh at himself. One of the best parts of the trips was the good fortune of meeting him, and I am grateful to be able to call him my friend. :thumbup:


Alex has always demonstrated himself as such on this board. I can see where the two of you would have hit it off. Did he offer you some water?


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## IndyMike (Dec 19, 2001)

The Roadstergal said:


> I had a Commadore 64. :eeps:
> 
> Man, gotta love that red/brown! I love the pics with the doors open. Lovely. :thumbup:


Thanks for the PROPS, R-gal!

It was a bit of a risk in ordering this combo without ever having seen it in person, but I just used my imagination in regards to how I perceived it would look, and it wasn't far off the mark. I don't recommend this method to everybody, because there are some nasty combinations out there available from AG.

But if my bitter, er rather, better half :angel: has taught me anything it is the art of color coordination. Fortunately she already has a Coach purse that matches the Gnat brown in her Touring. Plus she still has the leftover red purse that she used when driving the Tanin cab. Purchasing two cars with the same interior: Priceless!


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## IndyMike (Dec 19, 2001)

johnlew said:


> Beautiful car Mike and fun write up. Enjoy it. When's it coming home?


Thanks, John! I haven't even checked to see if it is even on a boat yet. I don't get too excited about things I can't control, so I'll just wait patiently until I hear from the dealer. I suspect it will be around Christmas time when it arrives. Fortunately we both have two weeks vacation to blow at the end of the year, so we can make a leisurely trip both to and from MD, weather permitting of course.


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## IndyMike (Dec 19, 2001)

AF330i said:


> Mike, congrats on the new car . . .you must be loving having a stick shift . . . I know that as much as I loved my steptronic, I love my manual even more and don't think I could go back to drive an automatic.


Alan, it has been 8 years since I last drove a stick, and previously I had never driven a 6 speed with stick. Fortunately once you learn how to drive a manual you never really forget how to do it. It's just a matter of learning the take up points on the clutch, and to my surprise the tranny is relatively easy to navigate through the gears. Maybe I'm just fortunate in that my old '91 Hellrot 318is also had a similar 'quirky' tranny, so that this is just a natural extension with the exception of an additional gear and the short-throw shifter.

My biggest problem, and I'm more than a bit embarrassed to say this, is that I keep forgetting to depress the clutch prior to turning the key to crank the motor. I must have done this a half-dozen times already, fortunately with nobody else in the car.

The other thing I need to get familiar with is the 5 - 4 downshift. I'm not too comfortable with the synchros for that movement yet, and I've caught myself almost engaging 2nd, but fortunately each time I still had the clutch partially depressed.

All-in-all I'm really excited about regaining control of this part of the driving experience. I'm ready to find out what the Freude am Fahren campaign that AG is touting is all about! :thumbup:


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## IndyMike (Dec 19, 2001)

racerdave said:


> Mike,
> 
> I gotta say the ZHP in that color combo is choice! :thumbup:


Thanks, racerdave!

I really dig the stock Alcantara, and would have been quite content with it. The only component that I thought for sure that I wouldn't like is the Alcantara steering wheel. It was as good as gone, to be replaced by my first planned mod, the leather M wheel. I thought the Alcantara wheel looked like something you threw catnip on and let your cat have a field day with. But over the course of a couple of days I came to understand what most people who had it were raving about. And now I absolutely love it. At least until the furr balls starting piling up!


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## IndyMike (Dec 19, 2001)

johnlew said:


> Alex has always demonstrated himself as such on this board. I can see where the two of you would have hit it off. Did he offer you some water?


I agree that Alex is an accurate depiction of his persona here on the board. He loves the marque, and is a true enthusiast and fanatic in every sense of those words, but he places everything in the proper perspective; to wit - this is still just a BBS, and a place to come to entertain yourself for a while.

I won't squeal on him about how little water he drank that day, but it was nowhere near 2 liters. Of course, I did detect the noise of empty bottles eminating from the trunk of his car, so I suppose he could have reached his limit on the way to our meeting place and just chucked the empties in the trunk. I think he has the fold down rear seats, right? Of course that assumes that they were in fact filled with water to begin with :dunno:


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## Dr. Phil (Dec 19, 2001)

:bow:To that combo!!! I must say a "you suck" almost came out of my mouth :angel: Congrats and thanks for sharing the stories and pictures :thumbup:

Your comment on Herr Baumann are right on target, class guy IMO one who I too hope to meet in person some day


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## IndyMike (Dec 19, 2001)

Dr. Phil said:


> :bow:To that combo!!! I must say a "you suck" almost came out of my mouth :angel: Congrats and thanks for sharing the stories and pictures :thumbup:
> 
> Your comment on Herr Baumann are right on target, class guy IMO one who I too hope to meet in person some day


Thanks, Phil-ibuster! My frau thinks you suck, too, because you planted the seed (yet again) when you got yours. She says if you get an M3 it's 
:behead: for both of us! 

And as for Alex, he says he is going to make the AlexFest gig happen. The other two times he planned to come just happened to be bad kharma (timing) associated with it. Hopefully once he's firmly established as the Beverage Konig of Cologne :smokin: he can make it happen.


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## Dr. Phil (Dec 19, 2001)

IndyMike said:


> Thanks, Phil-ibuster! My frau thinks you suck, too, because you planted the seed (yet again) when you got yours. She says if you get an M3 it's
> :behead: for both of us!
> 
> And as for Alex, he says he is going to make the AlexFest gig happen. The other two times he planned to come just happened to be bad kharma (timing) associated with it. Hopefully once he's firmly established as the Beverage Konig of Cologne :smokin: he can make it happen.


:rofl:

Funny you should mention it......I have put my eye on this one twice now... (not to mention, my wife saw the X3 pics and said "Hmmmmm"  )









I guess I better run and hide :eeps:

As for the Alexfest, I am always ready for that one :thumbup:


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## Alex Baumann (Dec 19, 2001)

IndyMike said:


> Hopefully once he's firmly established as the Beverage Konig of Cologne :smokin: he can make it happen.


All I need to do is to keep Patrick away from the warehouse :eeps:


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## IndyMike (Dec 19, 2001)

Alex Baumann said:


> All I need to do is to keep Patrick away from the warehouse :eeps:


 :rofl:

Actually it shouldn't take you very long to become the King of Mineral Water in Cologne once your wholsalers find out you are using water from the Rhine mixed with Mountain Dew, instead of from the Elbe mixed with water from the North Sea. :yikes:

D'oh! Did I just give away all of your trade secrets? :eeps:


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## IndyMike (Dec 19, 2001)

Dr. Phil said:


> :rofl:
> 
> Funny you should mention it......I have put my eye on this one twice now... (not to mention, my wife saw the X3 pics and said "Hmmmmm"  )
> 
> ...


Troublemaker!

Truth is I was a Michael Jackson nose hair (now that's a disgusting thought) from ordering a Carbon(ated) black w/Imola red coupe. In the end I just couldn't justify dropping 56k (optioned the way I'd want it, including T&L) worth of coins on one. Nothing to do with whether it was worth it or not, just that I couldn't envision myself spending that much at this point in our lives. The little woman even gave the :thumbup: , but in the end I just couldn't pull the trigger.

But if you get one you will really, truly, madly and deeply sucketh!  But you'll be :str8pimpi for sure!


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## Mathew (Feb 8, 2002)

Hmm...it appears we may have the same watch, Mike.


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## IndyMike (Dec 19, 2001)

Mathew said:


> Hmm...it appears we may have the same watch, Mike.


Hmmm. Matt it is a Psycho made by Hitchcock. :angel:

Actually it is just a Seiko with a Sapphire blue background. I've had it 14 years now, and still dig it. :thumbup:

Do we have a match?


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## Patrick (Dec 23, 2001)

Alex Baumann said:


> All I need to do is to keep Patrick away from the warehouse :eeps:


I heard that. :eeps:

-


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