A look at "The Book"

[mk31755]

thank you. That makes sense. I saw one on ebay Germany. The book had a red leather cover. The car was silver/red. The cover of the book had a Z8 emblem and not the vin sticker. The cover of the book was "different". I do not know how to attach the photo. I guess in Europe the call it a "birth book". Did they make a different book for the European books?

[mk31755]

I went back and look and indeed it was the leather wrapping I was looking at and not the cover. If anyone has a silver /red euro model z8 they might want to look at this book.

[Z-acht]

I guess in Europe the call it a "birth book". Did they make a different book for the European books?

No the Book in Europe is the same. The Book was delivered in the Englisch and German language. The cars sold in the French, Spanish speaking countries and Italy and Japan got an inlay in their language

[Norcal]

The vin sticker is on the inside. Not on the cover/front

[boomster]

Interesting. On mine, the VIN sticker is on the outside front cover of the book itself. Perhaps you thought I meant the presentation box?

[Norcal]

It’s on the outer leather? That’s not right.

[boomster]

Sorry, I am not making myself clear. The VIN sticker, at least on my book and the others I have seen, is on the outside front cover of the actual book itself, not the presentation box and not the leather cover.

[Musta10000]

Hopefully this clarifies any questions - my book (non-matching VIN):

[Norcal]

My mistake…. Senior moment!

[mk31755]

two point of interest. 1) There is a coffee table book on ebay NOW , with two days to go. it is at $1775. It is for a black/red car. The vin is AH61824. The seller also has two additional coffee table books that they have not put up for auction yet and could be bought privately I believe. We corresponded through email. The two addtional books are silver/black and black/black 2). I bought my red/crema Z8 from the 4th owner, a month ago. The coffee table book was missing when I bought the car. The original owner's name and telephone number was in the manual. I contacted the original owner. He told me he was pretty sure he still had it, somewhere, packed away. To make a long story short a month went by and he found it. The box was a little tattered but intact. The vin on the cover was correct for my car, as was the picture. However, the leather wrapper was black and not crema. A relative of mine lived near the original owner. I had them go and see the book and send me pictures. The vin was right, as was the picture. I was not in a position to challenge this and was just elated to be able to reunite the original book with the car. They paid him for it (shame on him) and it is on its way to me now. Did this happen on occasion that the leather wrapping did not match the color of the interior( by mistake or maybe they ran out of that particular leather )? I am just so happy to have the book reunited with my car. I'm working on a hardtop. I could still use an original battery charger. The original owner is positive he never got a battery charger in the mail from BMW. He owned the car for the first three years of her life.

[macfly]

That's super cool you managed to get the original book back, bravo, and that story is now part of the provenance of the whole, so I wouldn't worry about the leather wrap. I believe the books were usually leather matched, but as with anything hand packaged there can be errors, or maybe that day they were just out of Crema?

The battery charger is a standard BMW badged Delkin unit, still available from BMW or Amazon.

[lanny]

If my memory is correct BMW no longer has the original chargers. A few months ago I was able to locate the original charger at BMW Bloomfield. They had 3 in their old inventory at that time. BMW part # 82-11-026-663 $79.00. Parts Mgr was Peter Santos 973-780-9489.

[mk31755]

Thank you..... I called over to Blomfiield today and they found one in the archives. Scott was adamant that it was an obsolete item. I had to insist that he check the archives. When he finally decided to look low and behold he found one . It was $69 plus shipping. The correct part number is 82-11-0026-663. ( you left off a 0 in front of the 02600. The info was much appreciated.

[macfly]

I just discovered that I have the book for car 61707 here, it's a black/black combo, and the book and box are both in imperfect condition, but I'd be open to selling it if someone is looking.

[lanny]

There is a Z07 press kit for sale on e-bay at a good price- eBay item number:144158580296

[mk31755]

what do you all think of this vin plate on the above coffee table book???????

[macfly]

Those were the European gift books that were given out by BMW AG around the time of the launch, I'm not sure how many there were like that, but I'd guess a fair number, I even have one here.

[L.V.]

I just discovered that I have the book for car 61707 here, it's a black/black combo, and the book and box are both in imperfect condition, but I'd be open to selling it if someone is looking.

macfly - I am ISO a black/black for my 2002 US spec. Please reach out if still available. Thank you!