SIGFest Event Galleries...
2015 Award Trophies
This year's trophies were custom made S14-inspired Stainless Steel watches, mounted on custom acrylic base stands.
2015 Concours d'Elegance Award Winners
Best of Show: Richard Pineda
1991 Alpineweiss E30 M3. The car is stunning in every way. The Evo-cloth interior is impeccable, and under the hood- it appears that Rich had hired a staff of elves to clean every visible surface. The "Best of Show" title was at least a 5-way tie, so when we considered the fact that Richard owned this car in the early 90's, sold it- regretted it horribly- then turned heaven and earth to get the same car back- we just had to acknowledge his passion, effort and dedication with a trophy.
SIG Meister's Choice: Ryan Gallagher
1990 Sterling Silver E30 M3. The "SIG Meister's Choice" Award is chosen by the organizers, and goes to the car we like- for whatever reason. This year- it went to Ryan Gallagher's Sterling Silver 1990 M3. The car is lowered and has these unbelievable polished BBS wheels that compliment the color and look of the car.
Best Stock E30 M3: Jerry Verios
1988 Alpineweiss E30 M3 It's getting harder and harder to find a completely stock E30///M3. The casual observer may look at a car and think it is stock, but to our judges- who are *so* knowledgeable that when comparing stock, or nearly stock examples they were forced to rank cars by how original the parts are to the car they were on, based upon how the car would have been delivered new to a dealership. After all of the back and forth comparison and discussion of the slight differences between cars- Jerry Verios' gorgeous '88 M3 looked most like it rolled off of a dealer lot.
Road Warrior E30 M3: Donald Lamson
1988 Alpineweiss E30 M3. The Road Warrior Award can be defined in a multitude of ways, which offers a good amount of flexibility to our judges since the all of the cars are really beautiful, and any of them are potential winners. This year- there was a participant where both the car and the owners themselves embodied what any one of us would call a true "Road Warrior". Donald Lamson and his 13-year-old son Evan decided that it made sense to lower their nearly 300,000 mile Alpine Weiss '88 M3 within an inch of its life, bolt on gold 19" BBS wheels and wide tires, strip out the interior and drive it 4000 miles from Montana to New Jersey and back. When we asked them how they were able to make such a journey- they described the perils of getting airborne over bridge expansion joints and pot holes, and the near impossibility of parking since the car offers such limited steering angles before the tire is making contact with the inner fender and frame. The "Road Warrior" moniker describes Don, Evan and their E30///M3 exactly- making giving this trophy to them an easy decision.
Dedication Award: James Liu
1989 Nogaro Silver E30 M3 Cabrio. The "Dedication" Award also allows for flexibility in how it is defined. We could have decided that it should go to the participant that has been to the most SIG Fests, or who has done the most for the SIG, or has supported the E30///M3 community in other ways. There were many in attendance that could have won this award, but we had to choose one. Ultimately- after a lot of thinking, talking, and consideration- we decided that this award should go to James Liu for his tireless support of the SIG, S14.net, and the BMW community in general. James (who brought his incredible and rare '89 Nogaro Silver E30///M3 Cabrio) has been invaluable in helping me run SIG Fest for the last 8 years, and at this point- he does SO much to make this event possible that I do not think that I could run it without his help. He is also archiving what is likely the most up-to-date E30///M3 valuation table that exists, has been an expert witness in insurance cases, and has been known to be able to provide parts and assistance to those needing emergency repairs thanks to his mini-warehouse of parts he has amassed. Thank you for all you do, James! You definitely deserve the "Dedication" Award!
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