Meet the mechanic saving rare BMW 1Ms from the crusher

No sports car in recent memory has had quite the impact of the BMW 1M, a 340-hp terror that BMW limited to just 740 copies in the United States and a few thousand worldwide. It will surprise no one that several U.S. BMW 1M owners have felt a different kind of impact -- from having their $47,000 cars towed to the insurance wrecking lot after crashes. But that misery has been magic for a Queens bodyshop owner, who's rebuilt four totaled 1Ms so far -- including the last one sold in America.

Andy Petaludis has been repairing and rebuilding BMWs and other cars for 25 years, and a few years back took his expertise in German machinery to his Kos-Tom Collision. Browsing the insurance auctions where wrecks are sold for parts a few months ago, Petaludis came across a totaled 1M in its trademark Valencia Orange. "It was love at first site," he wrote on the 1Addicts forum. After repairing the car -- including shipping parts from Germany -- "I've become totally hooked on the little 1M. I've owned and driven a lot of BMW's but nothing like this car. Needless to say I promised myself that if any other 1Ms popped up for sale again at auction I would try to buy them."