A small company called Alpina has been making BMW cars more special since 1962. A sporty small wagon called the Alpina B3 Touring has been given manual gear to make it even more fun to drive. The car being auctioned off looks like it’s in great shape, but this 3-series has been driven, and the new owner shouldn’t be afraid to do the same. One of the hard things about having a rare collector car is dealing with the guilt that comes with going too far. In German, this feeling would be called “kilometerschuld.” And it’s great to find something that still has a few miles on it, ready for a new owner to put their foot down and go the distance. The best thing on sale today is Bring a Trailer, made by Hearst Autos, just like Invoice Pricing. Of the 89 that were made, this is the only one of its kind. You can drive it with joy and enjoy the ride. A 1996 Alpina B3 3.6 Touring, produced in Buchloe by a tuning firm founded in the early 1960s, is a rare road car parts for BMWs and race cars. Before it was changed to a 3.2-liter inline-six engine with 265 horsepower and 243 pound-feet of torque, this B3 3.6 Touring was an E36 touring body-in-white from the mid-1990s. When the car was brought to Japan, it came with an automatic engine with five speeds. You may say, “But wait, how come the steering wheel isn’t on the right?” Ironically, Japanese buyers of European performance cars liked cars with left-hand drive better because they thought they looked more real. Before the early 2000s, almost all Audi RS, BMW M, and Mercedes AMG cars that were brought into Japan were left-hand drive. At that time, Nicole Racing Japan was the only company in Japan that bought Alpina cars. As a side note, Nico Roehreke started this company. He is German and moved to Tokyo in 1969. His group of car sellers is still going strong, and now it has two Rolls-Royce stores in Tokyo. In fact, Nicole Racing keeps drawing Alpinas. This B3 used to belong to someone in Japan. It was then taken to the Netherlands and brought back to the US when the owner came back. The outside has nice art and wheels that make it easy to spot. The inside is even better, with high-quality fabric M-tech seats and stylish wood trim. This car has a sunroof, power windows, dual-zone air conditioning, and a BMW Business cassette deck as extras. It has everything you could want. The best thing about it is that there is an Alpina manual changing knob between the front seats. The owner of the car now has a Getrag six-speed manual transmission, similar to the E46 M3, instead of the stock automatic transmission. As the job was being done, any oil that leaked out of the rear main seal and oil pan probably had to be cleaned up as well. When set up properly, it looks almost brand new, but the odometer reads 109,000 miles. This reading is like an offer to spend more time driving this small, quick wagon that amazes you with every mile you go. The Alpina wagon is not being held for bid so that it will be given back to its new owner in about a week. Eliminate the fee for each mile and choose Freud’s idea of happiness instead. May 16 is the last day of the sale.
