Allgemein Auskunft
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| It was one of the racing articles in Road
& Track magazine back in 1974 where I
first noticed the BMW 2002. BMW was beginning to make
mainstream headlines with the successful efforts of the
3.0 CSL 'bat mobiles' back then but what caught my eye
was a photo in one of the Camel GT articles. Rounding a
sweeping turn, in Road Atlanta I believe, was this glass
box with kidney shaped grills and crude looking flared
fenders leading a pack of sportier vehicles: Porsche
914s, Fiat X/1-9s, Alfa Romeo GTVs, and a smattering mix
of Ford Capris and MGBs. The 2002tii looked more like a
pace car in the field of well pedigreed GT racers and
that curiousity marked the beginning of an affair with
the German 'brick/whispering bomb' lasting to this day. Although I learned to drive in a VW Super Bug (not Beetle), I was fortunate enough to stumble across my first 2002 shortly after I obtained my driver's license. One of the justifications for purchasing the 2002 was that it costed less than a VW Rabbit! Over the years I have owned four of the '02 series vehicles, starting with an anthracite grey '76 2002. After getting involved with CASC club racing, the shiny '76 was sold, with visitation rights, to my brother and replaced with a white '74 2002tii. A burgundy '75 2002 was shortly acquired as a back up vehicle but was soon sold to a school friend who 'traded up' from a Datsun 510. A '68 1602 to was later purchased from an elderly lady as a restoration project but the vehicle ran flawlessly for over 3 years before being put into storage. That vehicle has been sitting idle since 1987! Over the past 20 years, those 2002s have been a significant part of my life. They have always provided me with more than just basic transportation and taken me across Canada many times. Many lasting friendships have been made through social activities involving the vehicles and their involvement with numerous automobile clubs across the North America. Over the years the 2002s have been used as a test vehicle for an engineering project, modified to carry wine barrels, and adapted to serve as a power generator for a rock concert. They have driven brides, clowns, and even a former Prime Minister. One of them have been attacked by a deer and another nearly got shot up in a stake out. This is a personal site about my cars, the people who have been touched by them, and the stories surrounding them over the past 20 years. This is a relatively new site so many more changes and additions will be made as time goes by, or when I am not working on my recently acquired 318i. |