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Makin' It Rain
“It can’t be driven everyday for fear of something happening to it”. This
was James “crazy” Wheeler’s answer to the question, what do you dislike
most about your ride? Born in Miami, Florida and now residing in
Plantation, It was never James’s intention for his 2002 M3 convertible to
ever reach this stage. This was intended to be his ultimate Florida
cruiser. Sun Shining, top down and wind blowing and barely looking like
any other M3 out there. Thank goodness the sport compact buy bit James
when it did because now this M3 is simply “crazy”.
James and his M3 vert have been on the show scene for a while. Featured
at just about every major show between Florida and the Carolina’s, you
are guaranteed to spot James along side BMW guru Richie from Castle
motorsports. Richie has been guiding James through the exciting build of
this “crazy” machine, earning this BMW it’s well deserved Braggenrites.
Once we finally got our schedules together, the shoot was set and we met
up with James at his home in Plantation. When we pulled up to the house
it seemed almost as though we were at a BMW dealer. The M3 was parked
in the garage, while his wife’s M3 and X3 were parked in the front
alongside a S series which belonged to a friend. Yep, in case you
didn’t know, that is just how we roll in South Florida.
We rolled the M3 down the driveway and striped the model down to her
bare essentials and went to business. The custom I-off Flossman GTR
wide body kit gives this car an aggressive one of a kind look that just
spells “crazy’. With the 4 inch extended rear and a 2 inch extended
front it took quite a bit of the custom House of Kolor kandy blue to
cover the exterior of this M3. Fortunately, this look was masterfully
laid down by Leo of Team V Autoworks. Most of the factory holes and
molds were shaved and molded to complete the smooth, clean look around
the body which includes the door handle moldings and the antenna. The
rear of this M3 is also set apart from others with a 204 LED tail light
conversion also mounted in the back is a custom Carbon Fiber I-off rear
racing wing with a 10 inch Tu monitor in the center. Adding to the look
in the front is the carbon fiber Vorsteiner hood with kidney grill. The
custom BMW badges help to remind you of the numerous modifications,
which would otherwise cause you to believe this unique machine was
something other than a BMW.
As you admire the upper curves of this machine from bumper to bumper it
is only natural that your expectations are not demoralized. This M3
roll on custom polished 1-off HRE SCISR 20 inch wheels 20v2 rear 20 x9
front. Wrapped in Michelin Pilot sport PS2’s 325/2szr 20 rear and
2ss/302r 20 front.
Stopping power is provided by custom painted House of Kolors kandy blue
Brembo Gran Turismo 16 inch big brake system. The control bushing
brackets, steering tie rods and swing arms are all custom polished. The
ride height and handling is controlled by ground control coilover kit,
Eibach springs and custom House of Kolors kandy blue kami shocks. Pushing
525 HP, this M3 cruises with quite some urgency by means of the Autowake
Polished C38-71 Rotvex supercharger at 7.5 PSI, along with a Nitrous
“intercooler’ kit with six sneaky nitrous bottles. The custom carbon
fiber theme of the exterior also flows in the engine bay as all the engine
bay covers are custom carbon fiber along with the air intake. There is no
lack of carbon fiber anywhere on this ride especially in the interior.
Every removable part that could be switched out for a carbon fiber
replacement was, from the dashboard, to the rear seat enclosures for the
NOS “N”tercooler. The rest of the interior carries a custom two tone
theme, from the front seats which were re-upholstered with a custom MS
design to the M3 logo was stitched in the headrest.
The steering wheel, shift boot and the e-brake boost were all custom
stitched in a two tone black and blue while the floor was redone in
black suede.
While you sit in the cockpit of this ride there is quite a lot to listen
to and see mainly due to the efforts of JL Audio and AWE Games (James
Co.). One of the most interesting mods is also one of the easiest to
miss, two 5 inch monitors mounted in then carbon fiber I-off rear view
mirrors with 2 night vision camera’s. Tu’s can also be found in the
headrests, trunk and also mounted in the rear wing. James went all out
to make sure a man of his caliber can be entertained while in this ride.
There are two Sony PS2’s –Predator Chameleon wireless controllers and a
160 GB HD containing 50 games. As the founder of CFO of AWE Games, one
of the major video game designers in the country, this comes as no
surprise. With the combination of all the accessories and modifications
on this makes this M3 truly “crazy”.
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