I like where this thread is going
I like where this thread is going
2012 BMW M3 Alpine White/Black ZCP Thread
2001 BMW 740i M-Sport Imola Red Thread (sold)
2005 BMW 330i ZHP 6MT Imola Red/Alcantara Thread(Sold)
9 BMWs at the house & tons of old school maintenance
Stathi
Here are a couple of thoughts:
1. I think for this work well we need to enforce true anonymity. I am a member of the M registry myself since I own an E30 M3, but what I do not like about it is the tie between car's VIN and a person. In fact if I had to think about it again, I might have not registered. For example in the case of the E30 M3, there were 5000 units imported to US, while the registry holds information of ~700 cars (worldwide, not US only). That a pretty good penetration but I think if the system was truly anonymous they would have records of more cars.
2. In short my thoughts are as follows, a user enters a VIN, production month/year, color, i/Ci/Cic, Manua/Auto, Leather/Alcantara. The entry starts off with "unverified" state. The VIN then is checked to make sure that this is a 330 car, to eliminate any hoky entries. If we can have a dealer hook up to check the actual ZHP option code on that car then we will be even better off. After the check is done the car will be in verified state.
3. As time goes by we can generate custom reports and filters. You can literally get totals by color, tranny, option, year or a combo of any of those. The goal isn't just to have a list of VINs, but an aggregate information.
I basically want to make the system in a way that attracts people to add VINs, without worrying that later somehow their ownership of this car can be traced. M registry style approach works for a very limited production cars. For example if there was a list of McLarenF1 owners, yeah sure it's very exclusive so a list works. ZHP's aren't gold dust... there are fairly common, the collective numbers in my opinion are more of an interest than the fact that screen name "jack_the_poopies" has the car WBA234234v.....
In terms of hosting... I am open to anything. To avoid disclosing too much info we should probably pm each other on the technology used for this and if your provider can satisfy it. Initially I was going to subscribe to a new hosting company but all of this can be changed going forward.
What do you guys think? I too am open to ideas.
First, I like the idea of being anonymous. That's something I would have struggled with at M registry. I was close to pulling the trigger on an E30 M3 recently. I didn't like the idea of broadcasting my name and VIN to the world. Thus, I think we're on the same page here.
Second, I think we have the VIN/option list thing covered. I have a friend who runs an indy BMW shop. He has access to service records, etc. Not sure how burdensome this would be on him, though. Would not want to abuse that. However, there is also a service that BMW AG runs via email. You give them the VIN number and they send you back a report with all of your options. Turnaround time is about 24-48 hours.
VIN decoders will easily confirm that the car is a 330 -- or isn't. That's simple enough. See here: http://www.decodethis.com/
I think it might make sense for my admin to talk with you about the technology-feasibility issues.
Feel free, though, to shoot me a PM.
Excellent.
ok, I am going to spend the upcoming week on some prototypes. Let's try to catch up in a week or two, we can discuss the hosting details then as well.
im game. Do it!
I was thinking about this a couple days ago. I like that y'all actually have the skills to pull this off!
And I am all about anonymity.
I'm excited about the possibilities of this.
New to this forum, but I like the idea and would be willing to help check out prototypes, etc. John
Good. Sounds like we can make this happen.