The E46 touring with the 3-liter M54 motor was sadly never offered to US customers, nor was the highly sought after Performance Package, aka ZHP….so we built our own.

This car left the factory as an Alpine White over Sand Beige 325it, equipped with Sport and Cold Weather packages and an automatic transmission; received an engine swap during previous ownership, along with the MTech-II body kit and style 135 alloy wheels. Upon receiving the car, we competed the mechanical makeover by swapping in a 6-speed manual transmission from a 330i ZHP, along with a new flywheel and short shift kit. And then the real “fun” began - transforming the interior from a sea of hearing aid beige to a ZHP-spec Anthracite cloth & Alcantara haven of cool. The very definition of a passion project, it took a few years to completely source the extensive list of parts and trim pieces needed; the rear seat in particular required shipping directly from Europe.

The results speak for themselves - despite all the blood, sweat and tears, the car is dialed in, drives like the ZHP with a backpack that it is, and appears as if it came out of the factory like this.