BMW has built a lot of interesting cars over the years, but few are so enigmatic as the Z3 Coupe. Better known as the Clownshoe due to its amusing proportions, the rare shooting brake has a dedicated fanbase like no other.
This year, enthusiasts came together to celebrate the model’s 25th anniversary at the 2024 Schuh Syndikat. The event hoped to set a record this year for the largest congregation of Clownshoes in one place. In turn, fans of the model pulled out all the stops to make that happen, bringing together 96 cars in one place.
Eight of those cars belonged to one woman—Valeria Giordano. I was lucky enough to interview her earlier this year to get the low-down on her amazing collection. That piece is well worth a read. This week, though, she wrote in to fill me in about her latest Clownshoe adventure.
If you’re just tuning in, Valeria has cultivated a collection of eight Clownshoes, all in different colors. She regularly shares her collection with the community. She regularly invites others to drive her cars, and she even uses them to teach people to drive stick.
Valeria lives in New Hampshire, while this year’s Schuh Syndikat was taking place in North Carolina. That’s around a 900-mile road trip. It might have been neat if Valeria took one of her cars down, but she doesn’t do things by half. Or by eighths, for that matter.
“I caravanned all my cars from New Hampshire with drivers from around the country,” she says. With the help of members from the Z Series Car Club of America (ZSCCA), arrangements were made for drivers to help pilot her entire collection down to North Carolina for the meet.
“We logged a total of 19,500 miles, used 886 gallons of gasoline, 3 quarts of oil, 2 cans of AC refrigerant and 1 quart of coolant,” she reports. Do the math and that works out to an economy of 22 miles per gallon. Not bad when you’re having fun! That total distance is no surprise, either, given a straight shot between her home base and the city of Charlotte is 900 miles in and of itself, not counting the drive days involved in the Schuh Syndikat program of activities. “The only major failure was an AC compressor pulley [that] seized, but cutting the belt off solved that problem in short order,” she explains. “Not too bad for eight cars that are 22 to 25 years old!”
There was a purpose behind this eight-car convoy. For the 25th anniversary of the model, it was hoped to arrange the biggest gathering of Clownshoes all in one place. The former record stood at 64, achieved at a meet in the UK. Valeria’s flock helped tip the scales, with the 2024 Schuh Syndikat getting a total of 96 Z3 Coupes and M Coupes assembled in one place.
Another highlight was courtesy of BMW itself. The automaker brought out the last M Coupe ever assembled for the big event. You can see it parked up at the front of the pack, with the chequered pattern on the hood.
Valeria also collected signatures from fellow attendees. They decorated the hood of her black Clownshoe in a charming display of community.
It’s great to see the pictures of Valeria’s fleet out on the road. Her eight cars make a rolling car meet wherever they go. My personal favorite would have to be the orange one, a 2002 model with the S54 under the hood. I’m a sucker for bright colors, after all. But whatever your tastes in paint, you could probably find something to like among the cars of the Insane Clownshoe Posse.
As you might imagine, rocking up with eight cars made a splash. “I won an award for getting the most attention,” Valeria chuckles. That sounds about right; it’s hard to imagine topping Valeria’s effort without bringing ten or more cars of your own.
If you missed it back in January, it’s well worth giving our first story on Valeria a read. Her tale is one of finding one’s people through a love of special cars. Even better, it’s chock full of photos of a bunch of colorful, fast BMWs which is altogether pleasing in itself.
Ultimately, you can meet some wonderful people just by being passionate about cars and getting out there. Trading stories and having adventures is what it’s all about, and it seems the Clownshoe community knows that well!
Image credits: Valeria Giordano
Would’ve been cool to park the cars to create the shape of a shuh from overhead.
BMW attended the event, brought a quality also ran but even after seeing multiple colors fanned over still offers 12 shades of white, 12 shades of black and 22 shades of silver and nothing else. Is there any more reason to stop the adoration of the bloated mechanical wasted vehicles?
It’s one of my dream cars. Too bad they’re so expensive.
The M Roadsters are a bit more affordable….
PSA: wire your oil pump nut, people!
-just trust me on this
My favorite part about the car pics are the COLORS. Glorious colors.
I actually helped with that shoot—in a backhanded sort of way. My sister & her husband took their 2k MCoupe down….then I got a call Fri evening: they had locked the keys in the car.
I ran the spare keys down that night so they could participate. 🙂
What engine is on that shirt she’s wearing? I have the same one but it has a jeep 4.0L on it
S52, I believe. Could be S54.
I bought the hoodie after the first article came out. Now it’s a bit worse for wear as I wore it during some of my S52 replacement. Battle scars, as it were
I just read the previous article as well. Valeria is a rare gem of an amazing person. We need more people like this. Bravo. I’ve let every kid in the neighborhood learn to drive manual in my 2wd Tacoma. With friends riding in the bed cheering them on. I’d collect them if I had the space. I’ve owned 3 first generation Tacomas and they really don’t make a nice small pickup these days.
Man, love der Clown Shuh. Props to Valeria.
I love this woman’s spirit, talk about living your best life! Good for her, glad she was able to make this happen.
Clownshoe!!! My all-time favorite car that I’ll never own, due to my being too tall to fit. I do have a nice silver 1:18 diecast though.
You know what would have made this even better? If they were all dressed as the creepiest clowns you had ever seen.
As seen on OPPO! Valeria is a gem.
https://opposite-lock.com/topic/98909/insane-clownshoe-posse-back-in-nh
It’s great that there’s such a love for the Z3 coupe! One of my all time favorites, I’m glad BMW seems to recognize the love for this model too. Where’s the modern clownshoe BMW? You teased us with a concept, now build it!
This! Affordable-ish two seater sportscars are thin on the ground!
If you want a modern BMW Z Coupe you’ll find it at your Toyota dealer…