other 2002AD

[bchased]

Thanks for the thoughtful advice everyone.  I emailed him the other day and he gave me a detailed response with a bunch more photos.  He said the car had an offer in on it for 14 and that if I wanted the car I should counter that by 9am the next morning.  I'm not interested in speculating whether that was gamesmanship or the truth, and so I thanked him for the info.  I let him know that 12 hrs was too short of notice for me on that car, but I would keep an eye out on his site for others that might interest me. 

 

(I love this forum and think it's awesome how enthused and helpful everyone is.  It's nice to have people looking out for best interests.)

[Cesar813]

What other websites or car dealership would you guy recommend?

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[ray_]

My BMW 2002 turbo was purchased by the prior owner from Ben at 2002 A.D.    The car was presented as having original bodywork, and all Of its correct 2002 original turbo pieces intact. When I got the car, it clearly had massive prior bodywork and an entire front end put on it, the original turbo gearbox was missing, as was the factory differential. I do not know if Ben removed these parts before selling the car, but that very much appears to be the case. Less likely that is the way he imported it from Tokyo. I do know that the driveshaft, and gearbox and other parts had yellow paint on them with 2002 A.D.written, - written on them in junkyard scrawl, conveying that they took parts from their own supply and placed them into the car. My perspective is that parts were removed , at least the original gearbox and differential,  and the car was then was clearly misrepresented to the prior owner, who then conveyed to me all the incorrect things that he had been told about the car.

 

All I can say is you must have a prepurchase inspection.

 

Caveat emptor, sincerely Peter

 

 

That's obscene. Very sorry to hear it.

 

Cesar, you can look at makemodelsearch.com

 

Best,

Edited January 24, 2016 by ray_

[Cesar813]

Thanks Ray

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[danco_]

I ended up going to 2002AD and seeing a few cars. My first impression of that place wasn't the greatest. I don't think I'll ever go back. 

[Tanktheory]

Care to elaborate? 

[Cesar813]

Danco_, what exactly made you feel like it wasn't so great? Safe me the gas and money of going out there.

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[danco_]

I rather not say too much about 2002AD. Some people might love the place, others, not so much. In my one trip, I saw things I wish I didn't, and heard things I wish I hadn't. Ben might have rare and interesting cars/parts, but I won't be going back. 

 

The public forum may not be the place for personal opinions on a 2002 supplier. I would hate for someone to do it to me. 

[bchased]

On the contrary, this is exactly the place to lay your opinion.  It is clearly "buyer beware" across the board, no matter who is buying and from where/whom.  It is ultimately the buyer's responsibility to do their due diligence; it is just much easier to do that with the thoughts and opinions of others who have gone through similar situations.

[Cesar813]

Bchased's right. If anything you'r personal opinion would help anyone to double think before they act.

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[ray_]

On the contrary, this is exactly the place to lay your opinion.  It is clearly "buyer beware" across the board, no matter who is buying and from where/whom.  It is ultimately the buyer's responsibility to do their due diligence; it is just much easier to do that with the thoughts and opinions of others who have gone through similar situations.

 

True.

 

But sometimes one must read between the lines a bit.

 

This thread and others are enough to reinforce my idea on which vendors to avoid.

 

Cheers,

[DerekZ4]

I agree, I would love to hear what someone thinks about the place. I've been by twice and the cars never looked as good as the pictures and I even saw the Tii mentioned in the OP. Most of the cars looked like they haven't been moved in months as they were tied down to the street by spider webs.

[1936spyder]

All useful info as I've been talking to Ben a bit about the Chamonix/Navy '70 for sale. A lot has been done to it, and it does have some desirable bits but...I would definitely need to see the car in person or pay a third party entity to inspect it for me as I'm in the Bay Area. Thanks for the useful info in regards to bchased's question-it's quite helpful. Would love to hear about anyone's first hand experience/opinions/thoughts offline if need be. 

[2002AD]

We would like to repond to tisalover's allegations above about the 2002 Turbo that he bought from someone who bought it from us.  We want to assure him that we absolutely did not take any parts off of that car which belonged to it.  We have never done that since I've been here, nor will we ever do that, and we're ashamed by stories we hear of some of our competitors engaging in that practice.  We think that each 2002 Turbo that we import and sell--being as rare as they are today--needs to be kept as complete, and original, as possible.  Unfortunately, though, many Turbos and other Euro-version cars that we import are not complete, and we have to replace missing or bad parts with parts from our stock or new parts from Germany.  We have even imported and sold several 2002 Turbos that were projects, which required full or at least partial restorations even to be able to drive them.  Perhaps tisalover's 2002 Turbo was one of these, which would certainly explain the condition in which he purchased it.  We would be happy to share with him the entire contents of the file we have on his car, if he would simply ask us instead of insinuating what he did. 

Ben Miller

2002AD

[bmw_e30]

def not cool to place blame on a vendor or shop without knowing the whole truth.

 

the suppliers/shops/vendors/parts houses/junk yards that support our cars should be treated carefully and fairly. but if they screw up of course we will call them out on it and everyone screws up, it's how you take responsibility that matters at the end