BMW 02 and popular culture essay

[treys76bmw02]

I am doing an essay on 02s and pop culture. I was wondering if anyone had any articles about it. I have the article from hemmings.com, and Mobile Tradition. I am also asking about your experiences with owning your car. What made you want to own a 02 in the first place.

[FunElan]

"Turn your hymnals to 2002" should be a great source.

[slash02]

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/1968-bmw-2002-review

What made me own a 2002? Well, my family had a 1975 530i up until I was about 10 or so. Age 16 we bought a 1988 528e, and I got to drive it alot. During a visit to my dad's office, I saw a little red BMW go roaring past me, pull up, a man ran into it from the office. and It roared away. I said "I'm going to have a car just like that one, one day"

2 years later, I owned exactly that car..

[ray_]

Relevant:

http://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/specials/20010225mag-lovewheels.html

Cheers,

Ray

[Guest Anonymous]

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/25/magazine/inside-ride-love-on-wheels.html

[SteveJ]

Most of the early adopters of BMW were not in the 'popular' crowd as you will see when you read the Hymnals. Even in the Euro car crowd, BMW's were not the popular Jags or MG's or Austins, not even in the same group as the Porsches and Alfas. They were a boxy sedan that happened to go like stink.

Fast forward into the 1980's. BMW became a status symbol for the Yuppies. E30's were all the rage. By that time, all 2002's were considered OLD cars. Those less affluent would buy 2nd hand E21's. Those of us that could only affor the cars because we worked on them would end up with modified 2002's (and trounce all the newer cars at the autocross, thank you).

Fast fast forward into the new century. When the younger crowd sees my 2002, the question is, "What is that? a Datsun?" The 'cool' kids know what it is, though.

Nearly everytime in a parking lot, the older generation will comment, "Nice 2002. My brother/cousin/roommate used to have one of those." The best one is them saying, "I used to have one of those. Wish I had never sold it."

Do you think that conversation will happen in the future when someone is driving a 40 year old Prius?

[DavidLMM]

My parents had a Volvo 164, and the nearest dealer was a 1.5 hour trip to Chattanooga for service, usually at O'Dark-Thirty on a Saturday morning. I'd sleep in the car on the way, and when we got to Chattanooga, we walked right past the BMW dealer on the way to IHOP for breakfast while the Swedes fiddled with the fuel injection.

I can still see 'em - little brown and orange two-doors that just _looked_ like fun. I grew up in an Air Force town - a testing base, not an air base, and we were lousy with cool European and Japanese cars, and very few hot rods. I always wanted one of those boxy little BMWs. My dream of an air-cooled VW disappeared pretty quickly, as did the idea of a Bronco.

Fast forward to 1997 - I had just submarined my Civic Si underneath a jacked-up Jeep on a rainy Monday night. Was at the SCCA autocross the following Sunday in a loaner Neon, and a friend said he knew where there was a one-owner, 43,000 mile '02 for sale. My wife and I looked it over with flashlights, and made the deal. Still have it, although it's gotten pretty rusty over the years. Currently working on removing all the emissions stuff from a Polaris '76. I love 'em, my wife loves 'em.

I didn't see that anyone had mentioned making sure you find a copy of the David E Davis article in Car and Driver - "Turn your Hymnals to Page 2002" sometime in '68, IIRC. This article played a large part in putting BMW on the public map here in the US.

David in Nashville

[Collinster742002]

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,0/page,viewtopic/t,367704/highlight,/sid,947e2f1707480abc02db2519264d1189/

Did that whole post on that topic

[Collinster742002]

Also, I guess worth adding to that, Jennifer Love Hewitt owns a 76 Automatic 2002 Sahara.

[ndog]

Most of the early adopters of BMW were not in the 'popular' crowd as you will see when you read the Hymnals. Even in the Euro car crowd, BMW's were not the popular Jags or MG's or Austins, not even in the same group as the Porsches and Alfas. They were a boxy sedan that happened to go like stink.

Fast forward into the 1980's. BMW became a status symbol for the Yuppies. E30's were all the rage. By that time, all 2002's were considered OLD cars. Those less affluent would buy 2nd hand E21's. Those of us that could only affor the cars because we worked on them would end up with modified 2002's (and trounce all the newer cars at the autocross, thank you).

Fast fast forward into the new century. When the younger crowd sees my 2002, the question is, "What is that? a Datsun?" The 'cool' kids know what it is, though.

Nearly everytime in a parking lot, the older generation will comment, "Nice 2002. My brother/cousin/roommate used to have one of those." The best one is them saying, "I used to have one of those. Wish I had never sold it."

Do you think that conversation will happen in the future when someone is driving a 40 year old Prius?

well said

[Conserv]

I bought my first 2002, a 1969, in 1973. I had seen too many of those under-stated black-and-white magazine ads. People thought it was a VW or that BMW stood for British Motor Works, and those were the "enlightened" viewers. The only two 2002s in our borough of 6,000 people belonged to my 7th-grade math teacher -- German born -- and the older brother of a classmate who had rallied BMW's in Germany in the late '60s.

Friends and acquaintenances who drove with me became believers. One best friend's father bought a new 2002 in 1976, based on his exposure to mine, and another best friend bought a used 1974 tii in 1977, based on his experiences with mine. Parts and service were abysmal! The cars were great!

Steve

[treys76bmw02]

Thanks everyone I really appreciate it.

[Napes]

My ownership did not begin because I knew alot about '02s, even though I had seen them race during my racing years in 356 Porsches. They were in another class than me and I was usually too busy to be watching them.

I had been driving 356s since 1959, but when my son was born in 1980 we continued to drive the Porsche for another year. It was Ruby Red with black leather interior and no A/C and I now lived in southern Arizona. My wife put up with sitting cross-wise in the back seat (if you could call it that) while we had the baby in a car seat in the front passenger's seat.

Finally we decided we needed something bigger. I set three criteria - it had to be white, have tinted windows, and have A/C. If a 1952 Plymouth Suburban met that criteria, I was interested.

Somehow we ended up at the BMW dealership in Tucson, AZ where they had a one-owner '75 '02. White, tinted windows, and A/C. After a short test drive we bought it. I'm still driving the same car 31 years later.

13 years ago we got my wife a '76 '02 and she's been driving it daily since then.

As they say, the rest is history.

And at the ripe old age of 74 in two weeks I still do all the work on both cars.

Bob Napier

[Koblenz]

I was a kid living in Germany when I met my first 02.

As a young man (early teenager) I enjoyed a great deal of freedom living in Germany I still recall drinking in the gesthaus from the boot.

At one of these gesthaus' a bunch of GIs were drinking and became very drunk. Long and short of it, I became the DD. I had never driven a stick. The GI owned an 02 and gave me quick lessons on the H pattern but really could not explain how to use it in coordination with a clutch or for that matter, an accelerator.

So here I am with an 02 full of drunk GIs, on the autobahn, learning the basics of a manual.

I had a helluva good time. And yes Dorothy, there is a third gear and a fourth gear.

Now, I have one of my own. Funny though, I still can feel that moment.

[ziff73]

In the early 80's, my uncle had two roundies in brown that I never saw run. They sat out back of one of my dad's offices and every time I got to see my dad at his office I would stand outside and dream about having one. It was like when you're a little kid and realize you really love girls, but don't even know why yet....you just really like what you see..;-) anyway, a couple decades went by and I found myself in CA selling my vette and buying my first 02...and 76' one owner fjord.. Now I'm part way into my resto of a 69 1600 that's going to be my baby for a looooong time to come... These cars are so cool.