Mat Armstrong buys non-running BMW F80 M3 but quickly discovers the biggest issue is something he's never had happen before

Mat Armstrong has had his fair share of car problems, but he was faced with a whole new can of worms when he bought a non-running BMW F80 M3.

The car-content YouTuber is renowned for taking on big restoration projects.

But he sure had his work cut out for him this time around.

That’s because he encountered an issue that he’d never dealt with before – would it spell the end of this BMW project?

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What was the story behind this BMW F80 M3?

If you know anything about Mat Armstrong, it’s likely that he takes on big car projects.

In recent months, we’ve seen him take on a crashed Ferrari 296, a Continental GT, and a Lamborghini Gallardo destroyed in a MrBeast stunt.

He’s seen a lot of cars, in various conditions, shapes, and sizes.

But he’s never had a car quite like this.

Not necessarily because it was particularly unique in its appearance or anything.

But because of one big issue that came along with the BMW F80 M3.

Here’s the long and short of it – this car may well have been stolen before it made its way to Armstrong’s workshop.

He’d purchased the car from Copart for $30,000 with a clean title and an engine knocking.

Once removed, the damage to the engine was confirmed – although its repair would cost less than the car’s worth.

The big problem that was bound to give Mat Armstrong a headache

But that was hardly the primary concern here – it was whether or not this car had been stolen.

As far as the potential theft was concerned, the fact that only five Yas Marina Blue M3s in the UK with a white interior exist was a concern.

This car had a white interior, but should have had a black interior, suggesting it’d been cloned after being stolen.

A similar M3 had been reported stolen back in 2023.

However, the car’s license plate lined up with the VIN perfectly, and all the documents with the car vouch for it not being stolen.

The service history found on the car’s iDrive confirmed the dates and mileage of the stolen car’s records.

This makes it virtually impossible to conclude that the stolen car was a separate vehicle.

The theory he landed on is that a non-stolen car had its VIN/identity moved over to the stolen car after it was stripped or crashed.

This feels like a Sherlock Holmes mystery, doesn’t it?

But here’s the bigger question – how does this all affect Armstrong’s ambitions for the BMW F80 M3?

“We’ve sent all of the information to BMW,” Armstrong explained.

“They’re going to put it in writing that this car is stolen, so we can send it to Copart, and then hopefully we’ll get our money back there.”

To keep up with this saga, head over to Mat Armstrong’s YouTube channel.

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