46M East. Twelve Friends + Six Years = One Hundred E46 M3s

Inspired by what the SIGFest has done for twenty-five years and continues to do for the E30 M3 owners’ community, a group of E46 M3 owners scattered across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York first gathered at a scenic spot along the Palisades Interstate Parkway near Alpine, New Jersey, in 2018.

Two friends, Michael Malloy, and Andrew Garcia, took the reigns the following year and have since drawn out a consistently well-curated and well-behaved showing of E46 M3s at the State Line Cafe inside the Palisades Interstate Park. The park paths weave through 2,500 acres of wild uplands and cliffs along twelve miles of the Hudson River shoreline, offering staggering views of the river and surrounding scenery, especially in the fall.

Photo by Anthony Taranto, njpalisades.org

The event has steadily grown over the last six years, drawing one hundred E46 M3s this year, not counting all the BMWs in spectator parking nearby. Passing hikers and bird watchers enjoy the colorful variety of M3s dotted along the long decommissioned section of U.S. Route 9W.

Event details are often sparse and only shared a handful of weeks before the event, perhaps intentionally so, as the mandatory registration and stringent check in weed out potential troublemakers. Michael and Andrew accredit the successful events to working with the right people and the rest seems to fall in place.

For those curious about the breakdown of E46 M3s by color, Carbon Black and Silver Grey Metallic were the most represented colors, with Topaz Blue and Oxford Green the lowest.

See more photos and keep an eye out for next year’s 46M East event on Facebook or Instagram.

All photos courtesy of Vincent Marino, @vinrino

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