Stock Ride Height?

[Lou Perez]

Hi all, I picked up this 1971 '02 about a month ago and I'm wondering if this is the stock ride height. It's on Bilsteins and Bridgestone 175/70R13 tires.

[Conserv]

Not by a long shot! Spacers out? Springs changed? Springs cut? Some combination of the above?

Steve

Edited August 5, 2013 by Conserv

[jrkoupe]

nope...

[John_in_VA]

From BMW brochures:

[Conserv]

Very neat, John!

I've never seen this German brochure with its photo of a '75(?) 1502. Very spare and clean in its "1502-ness"!

And...it's obviously parked in front of the same restaurant, The Victorian, that served as a backdrop for the 2002 in the '75-'76 U.S. brochures (which you've conveniently shown). The earliest dated version I have of either of the '75-'76 U.S. brochures shows a publication date of 8/74. What is the date on your German brochure?

Thanks,

Steve

[Lou Perez]

John,

The 1502 looks about the same height as mine. German trickery?

[Conserv]

John,

The 1502 looks about the same height as mine. German trickery?

The Sienabraun 1502 should be lower than the Sienabraun 2002 pictured just below it: the 1502 was never marketed in the U.S., and thus didn't have to meet U.S. bumper height regulations. (And yours still looks even lower than the 1502. The 175/70 tires may contribute a bit to this impression: the stock tire was 165/80, which has an overall diameter very close to a 185/70. A 175/70 is slightly smaller in overall diameter.)

Steve

Edited August 6, 2013 by Conserv

[Conserv]

Here's a real-life example of U.S. square taillight ride height, back in the day. Caveat: U.S. square taillight cars were higher than round taillight cars (EDIT: osbourne points out below that U.S. '72 and '73 round taillight cars were already at "square taillight height"); I believe the difference was an inch or, possibly, more. Someone on this forum will know!

Attached is my '76, photographed in April '77. It was absolutely stock in these photos.

Steve

Edited August 6, 2013 by Conserv

[Cyclone101]

Hi all, I picked up this 1971 '02 about a month ago and I'm wondering if this is the stock ride height. It's on Bilsteins and Bridgestone 175/70R13 tires. ImageUploadedByTapatalk1375712212.662361.jpg

No, this car looks perfectly stock to me. (Assuming there is a fat guy hiding in the footwell and a few bodies in the trunk...)

Edited August 6, 2013 by Cyclone101

[John_in_VA]

What is the date on your German brochure?

02/76 brochure, courtesy of Jim G. - http://www.bmw2002faq.com/topic/106517-friday-bonus-german-1502-sales-brochure/

[osbourne]

The '71 and earlier 2002s & 1600s did not have the aluminum spacer between the strut bearing and strut tower, so they rode about an inch lower in front.  It was about US bumper height requirements, which changed for '72.

[Conserv]

02/76 brochure, courtesy of Jim G. - http://www.bmw2002faq.com/topic/106517-friday-bonus-german-1502-sales-brochure/

Great!

Thank you, John! Thank you, Jim!

So it's a 2/76 brochure. Hmmm? Does that mean (a.) the 1502 restaurant shot was taken pre-8/74 (the date of the first version of the U.S. '75-'76 brochures, in which the 2002 restaurant shot appears), or (b.) they revisited the same restaurant later with the 1502? Did a 1502 model (or prototype) exist pre-8/74 -- I'm hazy on non-U.S. models? (Trapezoid mirrors appear on both the 1502 and the 2002, suggesting a '74 date, at least to me!)

Regards,

Steve

Edited August 6, 2013 by Conserv