Scott Barneson (Dorkfest originator) informed me of the recent passing of Stephen Lam, who was a long-term member M/Z3 community. Stephen attended the very first Dorkfest event in his Imola/Imola S52 coupe. He later became the owner of an Alpine White/Imola S54 coupe. I never got to meet Stephen but he was an original enthusiast within our community and he will be dearly missed. If you were fortunate to have known Stephen and would like to share your experiences, or if you just want to express your condolences, please do so. We've also added a Memorial page to our Dorkfest.org website where you can make donation to the American Heart Association in Stephen’s honor http://dorkfest.org/stephen-lam-memorial/
EDIT: We received a very heartfelt memorial letter from Stephen's close friend Richard Au. Reading it reminded me of the bonds I have made through this community. It captures the experiences that many of us know well and the reasons why we continue to participate in this awesome adventure.
As you all know, Stephen had many passions in life that he lived to the fullest. Cars were one of them, and that's how we initially met and became friends about 12 years ago. We both own M Coupes, which may be the purest enthusiast's car to ever come from BMW. It intentionally did away with all the fancy gimmicks and luxuries, that to us enthusiasts, just add weight, get in the way of driving, or add unnecessary complexity as we tinker and customize. I'm sorry if I'm boring you with car talk, but my point is that this very unique car attracts a very unique type of people. The cars brought us "Coupe" owners together initially, but we were meant to be friends. Over the years we discovered our shared interests, goals, priorities (and you might be surprised that cars aren't #1, or perhaps we'd all be driving Porsches), even shared perspectives on life. It's to the point where if I see another M Coupe on the street, I feel like I'm practically already friends with its driver. Some of us will go so far as to leave notes on each other's cars, follow each other home, perform crazy and often hilarious stunts to get each other's attention, etc. Stephen embodied this perfectly.
As mentioned earlier, there is an annual gathering of Z3 and M Coupes, curiously named "Dorkfest" which is sort of an inside joke, that is still going strong even 11 years after the car went out of production. It's a gathering of kindred spirits more than anything else. Stephen was one of the cornerstones of our group. I searched through many years of Dorkfest photos in preparation for Stephen's memorial, and I noticed something that I never saw before. In just about every group photo, Stephen stands front and center. Maybe we all unconsciously surrounded him because we all loved him. Maybe it was because he was often a hub that bound many of us, encouraging us to set aside time to get together often outside of Dorkfest, and further solidify our friendship. Perhaps it was just because he got to the group photo spot first every year. All of these reasons are just so "him", and I think all of you have experienced that in other ways.
Another similarity between M Coupe owners is that the majority of us just love to tinker. Anything and everything can be improved, and for better or (oftentimes) worse, by golly we're going to be the ones doing it ourselves. Aside from myself, Stephen is my friend who has spent the most time lying on the floor of my garage. And that's saying a lot. Whether we were working on (or perhaps I should say, getting into trouble on) my car, his car, or someone else's car, those are fond memories. And I didn't always live that close to Stephen. On several occasions he drove 30 or 40 minutes just to help me bleed my brakes - which believe me, is not an enviable task unless you just love both being sore all over, and being in each other's company. I'd say Stephen and I were particularly close friends even within our little community, but he extended generosity as well as his own sore muscles to many of us. We once held a "bushing install day" at my house. I think something like 15 cars showed up. Most owners worked on their own cars only. Stephen worked on probably 5 of them, and it took all day. Tell me - how many of you would rather pay a mechanic to do the work? Now how many would do the work yourself, assuming you knew how and had the tools? Now, how many would enjoy taking that work and multiplying it by 5? Exactly.
Stephen, this year's Dorkfest will be named in your honor. Whenever I drive my M Coupe, or any of my cars for that matter, I'll think of you. Whenever I justify to my wife the need for buying some expensive specialized tool for some odd project, I'll think of you. Whenever I stay up late browsing some obscure German car parts website, crawl underneath my car just to wipe the dirt from an underpanel, help another friend with a project, or enjoy a beer afterwards, I'll think of you. I suppose I'll be thinking of you every day, and I'm glad for it. I'll miss you buddy. We'll all miss you.
Profile links
http://www.bmwmregistry.com/detail.php?id=10784
http://www.mcoupe.com/profile/StephenLam
Last edited by robrez; 07-24-2013 at 09:45 AM.
Sorry to hear.
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I've never had the opportunity to meet him, but It's never a good day when a fellow enthusiast passes. My condolences to his family and friends.
Never had the pleasure of meeting him. RIP.
01 M S54 Estoril Coupe (Fun)16 Mini Clubman S(Daily)03 325i (Wifes Car)Your never further away from oblivion than a distracted soccer mom in a SUV.
Condolences to family and friends May he RIP.
Thanks for sharing his legacy to all of us. Unfortunately, I never met him but, I am proud that we have a community that is friendly and open about ourselves.
I have met some of you and all have been great, true, hard working people. I am sure Stephen would want us all to continue and remover him by cherishing the relationship that we make with each other and the relationships with our cars.
My condolences to the family and friends.
Sold: 1998 Cosmos Black 328i Sedan
Current: 2001 Laguna Seca Blue M Coupe, 2003 LeMans Blue M5
Daily: 2018 Shadow Black Raptor
Wife: 2013 Alpine White X5 35i
Contact Me: MDICTED@gmail.com
Instagram: MDICTED
My condolences his family and friends. If he was an enthusiast like the rest of us, I'm sure he was a great guy.
-Joe
It is indeed very sad. May he rest in peace and my his family find the strength it takes to move on when a loved one passes.
BMW
1988 E30 M3: (STOLEN) Zinnabarot/Tan
1991 850Ci (SOLD): Euro spec, Black/Black, Wokke Chips, Remus Exhaust, ACS Body Kit, 3.91 LSD
1999 M Coupe (SOLD): (Euro S50B32), Estoril/Estoril/black, RE SSK, RK6A, RAID Steering wheel, R.Forbes sub-frame kit, ACS splitters/roof wing, Hi-perf. chip, Vibrant exhaust rear diffuser, ACS Type II Race wheels
2002 M Coupe: (US Spec, S54) JET Black/Black, UUC SSK, RK6A, RAID Steering wheel, SS Powerflo headers/Custom Exhaust, 3.73 LSD, R.Forbes sub-frame kit, ACS splitters/roof wing, rear diffuser, SSR GT3 18" wheels
2006 Mini Cooper S: Hyper Blue/white Top/blue-charcoal interior, Alta Supercharger pulley/cold air intake/light Crank pulley, Headers, OBX exhaust (Daily Driver)
Bump thanks for the outpouring of responses. And please see the first post to read a letter that we received from a close friend of Stephen.
This can't be. I just spoke with Stephen a couple weeks ago. Stephen had a question on a brake job and called me. He would call every once in a while just to talk about Coupes or run something by me. On the day he bought his AW, we were doing a bushing day at my place. Steven bought the car somewhere in San Diego County and dropped by the house on his way north because he knew there would be a few of us to join in on the celebration of his new acquisition. I am really having difficulty processing this.
RIP buddy.
Dan "PbFut" Rose
Sorry to read about Stephen's passing. Richard's letter made me chuckle over how on the few occasions I've bumped into other Coupe owners, more often than not we hit it off. Makes me think the "M" can sometimes stand for mensch.
Owwww man!!! So didn't want to hear that.
Safe travels and gods speed Stephen.
Great tribute letter in first post . Must have been great to have known him.
Sorry to hear this ... i'm sure he'll be missed by many.
RIP
Maddog
may there be a big driftpad and copious S54s in heaven...
1999 - S52 - E36/8 - Alpine White over Imola Red
My condolences...didn't know him but it's very clear he had impeccable taste.
x2, just wow:
d9ea5e8ee32c03e17c7caac444da7c13_zpsf28ab478.jpg
“Great wisdom is generous; petty wisdom is contentious.” 无为
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