Thank you for the replies gentlemen, I really appreciate them!
I bought an open-box example of 24101 (silver car on box) from ebay. Had I been more diligent, I could have saved $9.00. On ebay 24100 (red car on box, see niteowl's post above) is 9 bucks (with shipping) less than what an original cost me. Live and learn!
The kit itself is beautiful. Extremely crisp lines and definition on the parts. The assembly seems very intuitive, no guesswork as to what goes where. I'm really pleased with the kit.
Bill, on the subject of BMW's- how's the Tamiya 635 CSI (stock kit)? Might need to add that one to the collection
I could do with a little spoiling where model kits are concerned... I tend to over complicate everything and allow the perfect to become the enemy of the good!