2012 BMW E92 M3

Competition Package

VIN#: E797923

ENGINE 4.0-liter  S65B40 V-8

OUTPUT 414 hp @ 8300 rpm, 295 lb-ft @ 3900 rpm

TRANSMISSION 6-speed ZF manual

CURB WEIGHT 3650 lbs

TOP SPEED 155 mph

BUILD DATE  October 2011

COLOR: Melbourne Red Metallic

OWNER  Tom Plucinsky

OWNED SINCE  2020

LOCATION  Vero Beach, Florida

“I started at the company when the E30 M3 was a current vehicle, and I’ve loved all of them. Along the way, every new M3 that would come out, I’d go, oh, this is the one I’ve got to buy at the end of the project. But then I never did, because the next one was always better.”

Tom Plucinsky began working for BMW in June of 1989, signing on as a technical trainer for the brand’s Canadian arm. His previous job was at Ford of Canada, where he had been assigned a Merkur—a German-built “captive import” sold by Lincoln-Mercury dealers—as a company car.

Plucinsky chuckles. “I went, well, there’s something to these German cars, and [everyone at Ford] hated it. I figured… maybe I don’t belong?”

Thirty-seven years later, Plucinsky is now the head of BMW Group Classic USA, the marque’s American historic division. In addition to years of work in product planning and public relations, Plucinsky can be credited with the existence of the Canadian-spec 1994 E36 M3—a one-year-only, market-specific import featuring the European-spec, 286-hp M3 engine never sold in the United States.

(Another chuckle. “A really difficult project technically as well as politically… you’re responsible, [they said,] soup to nuts, no budget, good luck!”)

Plucinsky is an enthusiast; he cares about these cars as much as anyone. And in January of 2021, after three decades of service to the brand that built it, he brought home his first M3.

“I picked the E92 for a few reasons. One, that engine was glorious. It’s the last naturally aspirated engine from BMW… that’s probably an era that’s over. It’s the last of the hydraulic-steering cars and one of the first of the carbon-roof cars. And… I wanted a manual, just for the involvement.”

Plucinsky wrenches on the car himself, says he really enjoys the work. The last time we asked about this, he shared photos of his M3 on stands in his garage, the underside surgically clean.

“I replaced the pinion input seal,” he said, “so now the entire underbody has been gone through, detailed, and reinstalled. I can’t help it, it’s the way I’m wired, and I love doing it.”