other European 80's Family Photo With 2002

[wyobmw]

My wife's family sent us this picture from 1982.  I had no idea they owned a 2002.  The picture was taken at the family farm in Novi Sad, Serbia, the former Yugoslavia.  

 

Must have been a pretty rare car in those parts back then.

[bob02]

Great photo! Is that a 1502 or 1802? Note the fixed vent windows, and lack of belt trim.

[BLUNT]

Awesome that they had to get that 02 in the family pic. It was obviously special to them

[wyobmw]

Great photo! Is that a 1502 or 1802? Note the fixed vent windows, and lack of belt trim.

I am not sure.  I had not noticed the vent windows or belt trim.  Maybe I can look into a little further.

 

Awesome that they had to get that 02 in the family pic. It was obviously special to them

Blunt, I totally agree.  Really cool how they made a point to include the car.  I know the owner of the car and his son today and they are still car nuts.  Every time I visit they give me a ride in the new car.  They are both big BMW fans and now drive a M5.  

I did not know about this car before seeing this picture, but now I have something new to talk about next time.  

[BMWonly]

That's a good size family. I wonder if they ever tried to squeeze all of them into the car ....

[jgerock]

Hmmm

[Chamonix72]

Interesting. I knew that Yugoslavia had some trade relations with the West in the Communist days, but I wasn't aware that extended to cars. My parents still have a dining room set they purchased while we lived in Germany that was made in Yugoslavia. That was Tito's way of thumbing his nose at the Soviets, as I understand. Cool picture. 

[jgerock]

My CFO at work purchased a new 1502 when he was living in Yugoslavia..He allowed me to copy and post these old documents.

 

Edited December 5, 2013 by jgerock

[wyobmw]

Interesting. I knew that Yugoslavia had some trade relations with the West in the Communist days, but I wasn't aware that extended to cars. My parents still have a dining room set they purchased while we lived in Germany that was made in Yugoslavia. That was Tito's way of thumbing his nose at the Soviets, as I understand. Cool picture. 

I was actually thinking the same thing about the trade relations.  I might have to ask around to find out how he came to get the car.  Strangely enough the owner of the car is not in the picture but his son is.  He is the little boy on the wall in the very top left.  The owner is still alive and I might add a wonderful story teller, so maybe I can get some info.

Tito, as I understand it  was quite the character, to say the least. 

 

My CFO at work purchased a new 1502 when he was living in Yugoslavia..He allowed me to copy and post these old documents.

 

Those are fantastic documents! Notice that the front door vent window was an "extra".  Of course the car in the picture does not have a vent.  A pretty basic car I am sure. 

I am going to spend some more time looking over those documents, cool.

[jgerock]

I also have a copy of the Bill of sale with prices

[LarsAlpina]

Kewl family picture! And kewl bills and documents, Jim.

 

FWIK former Yugoslavia wasn´t that strict with closed borders, limitations in freedom of travel and all that stuff back then in cold-war times. Quite a number of Yugoslavians were working in Germany in the 70s and 80s, e.g. a good friend of my father named Ivo - already died from cancer, may he R.I.P.

 

I do like this kind of stories very much. One of my favourites is the one and only Porsche 911turbo (930) that made it into DDR (GDR/Eastern Germany) while the borders where still closed. Was (and still is) owned by Hartmut Thassler, one of the designers of the MT77 (Melkus and Thassler in 1977) which was a very successful Formula racing car in the former eastern block besides the czech MTX (Metalex Plsen) and the Estonia. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melkus_MT77

Mr Thassler managed to get the car through the iron curtain with the help of a syrian guy studying at the university in East berlin. As this guy was a foreigner he was allowed to travel to the West and cross the inner-german border.. For those who are able to understand german here is a video: http://www.vox.de/medien/sendungen/auto-mobil/2faaa-178b67-6028-21/ddr-turbo.html .

 

A friend of mine from Leipzig (located in DDR in former times) owned a red Mercedes 280SL R107 from the early 80s on. Car was confiscated at the border from the West German owner for having committed some kind of crime (I don´t know the details) by former DDR intelligence agency STASI. Axel somehow managed to buy the car in East Berlin (was always a car and motorcycle enthusiast and still is). He told me he shortly learnt not to park the car anywhere with the rooftop open because the first time he did that he found an anonymous message saying "bloody bigwig" and icecream was smeared all over the seats when he came back. OK, would maybe have made me angry also if I would have lived there - me having to drive a small Trabant 601 with 0,6 Liter two-stroke engine with 26hp and seeing this guy driving a 184hp red Mercedes convertible way out of my reach.

 

Also during the early 80s we once spent the family summer holiday in Bulgaria (western people were highly welcomed in the holiday resorts at the black sea because they were bringing hard currency into the country). I was really surprised to see a white BMW 2000 NK in front of our hotel one morning and strictly went for the pool attendant who was able to translate as he spoke german. Proud bulgarian owner told us that some year ago the original BMW engine broke down - then he opened the hood and showed to us the Moskwitsch (english spelling is Moskvich I think) engine they had implanted instead. He complained about the lack of power compared to the original BMW powerplant but told us that it was impossible to get any parts for repair in Bulgaria at that time.

 

Zdenek Halada owned and raced a pig-cheeked Alpina 2002 already in the 70s in former Czechoslovakia. http://www.racingsportscars.com/driver/photo/Zden%C4%9Bk-Halada-CS.html And with Czechoslovakia not to forget about the Gazela B5 BMW 2002 TiG:

http://www.racingsportscars.com/make/photo/Gazela.html . Basically a modified body shell of Skoda 110R optically reworked to look like a Porsche and powered by a BMW 2 Liter M10 modified with parts from Alpina.

One Lancia Stratos was imported to Poland for rallying and after they had totalled the car in an accident they transplanted the surviving drivetrain into a polish produced Polonez. http://hooniverse.com/2012/06/12/stratopolonez-the-fso-polonez-with-the-heart-of-a-lancia-stratos/

 

Very, very interesting stories to be found in this field of car history. What I like most about it is that it shows you can incarcerate people physically with closing borders but you will never manage to incarcerate them mentally - thoughts and dreams will remain free. And if once a dream is determined in a human´s mind he will find ways to make it come true against all obstacles.

 

Best regards, Lars.

Edited December 10, 2013 by LarsAlpina

[dbmw2002]

Very, very interesting stories to be found in this field of car history. What I like most about it is that it shows you can incarcerate people physically with closing borders but you will never manage to incarcerate them mentally - thoughts and dreams will remain free. And if once a dream is determined in a human´s mind he will find ways to make it come true against all obstacles.

 

Great Quote Lars, when I raised my children I shared with them that any dream is possible, what step did you rake towards it today?

[downhillwolf]

Wow!

Nice to hear this stories about ex country that i lived in. I was born in Yugoslavia 3 months before our country gain it's freedom.
Nice documents from Tehno Union that was at that time delivering BMW's.
Some things about Yugoslavia.
I YU there was a small amount of German cars, accept the VW Golfs and Former Beetles(because the factory that was putting them together for YU market was in YU). Other cars were a part of exchange. Yu was very strict about the import and export of the parts. 
Since we got very good industrial plants that was important for DDR industry especial for automotive industry. We sell them the parts for cars that was made here (air filters, oil filters, gaskets...) and they gave us the cars.
To purchase the new German car you must have been very important person.
My dad had as his first car used 2002 (1980-1986) that had alpina parts on. Some of the parts was taken off and now i have them on my 2002, that was sold in Italy and then transported to YU.

[wyobmw]

Lars, 

It's great to learn of your family history as well.  You are definitely correct about the borders not being so strict during those times.  My wife says the same thing, that they were pretty much open, especially if you had the right connections.  

 

Blaz,

Great to know someone else on the forum with a connection to Yugoslavia.  My wife still has a large family back there and by now I have visited several times with her.  We now bring our own family.  My two small daughters love it there.  I have certainly developed an appreciation for your beautiful country.  Although most of the people there do not have as many material possessions as the average american I believe there happiness in life to be much higher.  What they have money can't buy.  A great lesson for my young children.

 

Thank you both for the personal response to the thread.

[downhillwolf]

Lars, 

It's great to learn of your family history as well.  You are definitely correct about the borders not being so strict during those times.  My wife says the same thing, that they were pretty much open, especially if you had the right connections.  

 

Blaz,

Great to know someone else on the forum with a connection to Yugoslavia.  My wife still has a large family back there and by now I have visited several times with her.  We now bring our own family.  My two small daughters love it there.  I have certainly developed an appreciation for your beautiful country.  Although most of the people there do not have as many material possessions as the average american I believe there happiness in life to be much higher.  What they have money can't buy.  A great lesson for my young children.

 

Thank you both for the personal response to the thread.

Yes, life here is different here as in States. But still there are differences between countries that has been once in YU.

Im from Slovenia, the northiest country of them all and first one that gain it's freedom.

If you come to Serbia and you visit Slovenia we can meet and i can show you some of the beauties. (natural, 02 here are only few).

If you agree we can stay in touch till that day if you use Facebook or something.