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Most people who see an Alpine White E36 sedan on a listing page keep scrolling. This 1997 BMW M3 sedan with a five-speed deserves a second look. It is live on Bring a Trailer with a bid of $8,000 as of Monday morning, and the auction ends Thursday, October 29, at 2:50 p.m. ET. The reason to look closer is the cabin: full Individual Natural Modena leather, a spec bidders are still arguing about in the comments.
The Spec That Started the Argument
The car is finished in Alpine White (code 300), which is as plain as an M3 gets. The listing says the interior is trimmed in BMW Individual Natural Modena leather on the heated power front sport seats, the rear bench and the door inserts, and it also has the Luxury Package, an electric sunroof, a rear wing and wood trim. The seller says it comes with its window sticker and manufacturer literature.
Whether that makes it a true Individual car is the debate. One commenter who has examined the paperwork argues that the car was a special-order build, not simply a Luxury Package car with the Modena hide, and points to anthracite carpet as the telling detail. Another commenter claims it is one of just 26 built with this combination. Neither claim comes from the seller or from BMW, so treat the number as unverified. The seller has said he plans to pull the rear seat and photograph the factory build sheet, which should settle it.
Why the Manual Sedan Matters
The E36 M3 sedan had a short run in the US. According to BMW Group Classic, 8,610 of them were built for the American market between 1996 and 1998, and about 47 percent left the factory with the automatic. Roughly half of buyers skipped the manual, which makes a clean five-speed sedan a less common sight today. This one pairs the gearbox with a limited-slip differential and the 3.2-liter inline-six, rated at roughly 240 horsepower in US trim. Enthusiasts have spent years chasing the E30 M3 coupe, and the E46 M3 in rare Laguna Seca Blue shows how much color and interior specs matter to the people who buy these cars.
The four-door body is also a draw. Motorious has covered other BMWs that skipped the usual formula, like the AWD, five-speed E30 wagon that was never sold in the US. A manual M3 sedan with a special interior belongs in that same category of cars that look ordinary until someone reads the build sheet.
What to Know Before Bidding
This is not an untouched survivor. It has 96,000 miles, about 300 of them added by the selling dealer, and the seller notes the hood and passenger fender have been repainted. The Carfax report lists a damage entry from September 2007. Modifications include a Dinan air intake, axle-back exhaust and DME software, a Dinan strut tower brace, H&R lowering springs, Koni dampers, and staggered 17-inch Style 23 wheels on Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires. The car is being sold by a Connecticut dealer with a clean New York title.
The BaT comment section has already turned into an E36 seminar, with 40 comments at last look. If you like the idea of a manual, Individual-trimmed M3 sedan and can live with the repaint and the Dinan upgrades, this one is worth following to the finish. Motorious also covered a special-order Lagoon Green 850CSi that shows how far color and spec can carry a BMW at auction, and our BMW research page has the brand background.
