One day six years ago, a friend and I went to a race at Virginia International Raceway, and I noticed this BMW Alpina there. I was a big fan of BMW M cars, which are the German company’s highest-performance line of customer vehicles. I had four of them, including a 2004 BMW M3 convertible in a rare Laguna Seca blue paint that I love, and a 2002 Z3 M coupe, the BMW people call the “clown shoe” because it’s shaped like, well, a clown’s shoe. But this BMW Alpina I spotted—I was instantly interested. Because an Alpina is a rare...

Monty King, 69, a retired special-projects coordinator with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. living in Winston-Salem, N.C., on his 1984 BMW E30 Alpina C1 2.3, as told to A.J. Baime.

One day six years ago, a friend and I went to a race at Virginia International Raceway, and I noticed this BMW Alpina there. I was a big fan of BMW M cars, which are the German company’s highest-performance line of customer vehicles. I had four of them, including a 2004 BMW M3 convertible in a rare Laguna Seca blue paint that I love, and a 2002 Z3 M coupe, the BMW people call the “clown shoe” because it’s shaped like, well, a clown’s shoe. But this BMW Alpina I spotted—I was instantly interested. Because an Alpina is a rare thing to find in the U.S. In fact, it’s rare to see one anywhere, even in Germany.

This car had a note on it with the owner’s phone number. So I called him and said, “Listen, I’m interested in buying this car.” He told me that he had left a card on the car in case anyone wanted to talk about it, because it was so rare. The car wasn’t for sale. “Give me your name and number,” he said, “and if I ever want to sell it, I’ll give you a call.” So I did. This guy said, “You’re Monty King? We went to college together!”

Mr. King’s 1984 BMW E30 Alpina C1 2.3, near his home in Winston-Salem, N.C.

To Mr. King’s knowledge, only two Alpinas like his ever came to America.

The coincidence was uncanny. We’d gone to school together at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. Two years later, he was ready to sell. He called me and I bought the Alpina over the phone. It cost surprisingly not much more than a new BMW 3-series would have cost at that time.

Let me explain what this car is. Alpina was founded in Germany in the 1960s. [It began when a tinkerer named Burkard Bovensiepen developed a new BMW carburetor in his family’s typewriter factory in 1962.] It began building out BMW cars into motor-sport and high-performance models with the blessing of BMW itself. Alpina has been doing this ever since, in very small numbers, even to this day. BMW Alpina has built a huge racing legacy over the decades and a cult following for customer cars.

Alpina is a German company that has been building out BMWs as high-performance models and racing cars since the 1960s, with BMW’s blessing.

The vehicle features racing stripes on the seats. The 2.3 in the car’s name refers to its 2.3-liter, 170-horsepower engine.

The wheels feature the Alpina logo, which the company introduced in 1967..

The 1984 Alpina I own is exceptionally rare. Only 35 of this model were built between 1983 and 1985. To my knowledge, only two ever came to America, brought over by military people who discovered them while stationed overseas. According to what I’ve been told, there’s one on the West Coast and one on the East Coast, mine.

I love to take the Alpina to car shows, because most people have no idea what it is and how special it is. Then I meet people who do know, and I get to see how excited they get. Some people even ask if it’s the real thing, because Alpina fans have been known to buy the badging and stick it on regular BMW cars.

I still keep in touch with my old college friend who sold me this car. What a stroke of luck it was for me to stumble upon him, and it, six years ago.

From its profile, the 1984 Alpina looks like a regular BMW. According to Mr. King, most people don’t know how rare it is.