When it was launched in the 1996 model year, BMW's new sports roadster - the Z3 - became an instant auto world celebrity. "The scene-stealing walk-on star of the latest James Bond movie and cover car for last year's Neiman-Marcus Christmas catalogue, the Z3 started generating orders before the first production cars began to leave the assembly line," according to one review.

By the time the car was introduced, all 15,000 cars built in the inaugural year had been pre-orderd. Another unique feature is that the car is made in Spartanburg, South Carolina - a bona fide American made BMW, thanks to favorable dollar-deutschmark exchange rates at the time.

But in the end, it was performance, speed and luxury that sold the car, not the press, hoopla and movie cameos. "The other reason for the long waiting line is simpler," wrote one driver. "This is one nifty little sports car."