introduction New 02 Owner

[solo 2]

After much consideration and being distracted by shiny objects in the wanted ads I'm now the very stoked owner of a 1973 taiga green 02. This is my second BMW, the first being a 98 540i which is still my favorite road car. I autocrossed and owned many RX7s over the years and have spent the last 8 years restoring motorcycles, mostly 2 stroke Yamahas and playing with turbo Subarus. I was feeling the urge to build something old, reasonably unique. For the last year I was considering a Triumph Spitfire or GT6 to stuff a Toyota 4age into but failed to find the right candidate. This particular 02 sat in the want ads for about 6 weeks while I tried to decide what I wanted, initially I was looking for an early 5 series to mod but most were rusty and over priced. While my ADD kicked in hard I kept coming back to the 02 in my search figuring it would get snapped up pretty quickly, but there it sat. Finally I decided to drive the hour and a half to go see it, it was rough but all there and came with a few nice extras.I put a deposit on it and drove down 2 weeks later to pick it up, so here I am.

I have no final (like there is such a thing with a car/bike guy) plan for the car yet other than a complete tear down for rust repair. I scored a 1982 320is with a 5spd, LSD and recaros for $700 and I have a set of 40 DCOEs that will probably get installed. I'm hoping for a 2 year turn around, if sooner great but this thing is in need of a total resto. I'm going to probably do it up as a daily driver rather than a pristine restoration. Looking forward to starting this project, getting to know the members of this forum and tapping into the knowledge here as I have done on many other projects/forums. Hopefully I can give something back along the way.
 

[jgerock]

Welcome to the madness!  Please add your location to your profile.

[John_in_VA]

Welcome!  Thanks for spelling Taiga correctly!!

[Teelinger]

Great color! And great deal on the 320is. Both major scores,  congrats and welcome. 

 

James

[ray_]

Welcome to the forum! Taiga is a great color for an '02. You'll find there's a huge volume of info here, and the search function works pretty well. The project blogs sections detail many, and varied mods. Have a look!

 

I'm partial to '73's. Well done!

 

Also you will find most everyone here has a name. I'm Ray.

 

Cheers,

[Simeon]

Welcome. Exiting times with a new car. 

[svgarage]

Congratulations! Welcome to the brotherhood.

 

Eddy

[Mike Self]

+1 on the welcome...Taiga is an unusual color for a '73--I've only seen a few in 40+ years of looking.  Presume it has a caramel interior?  And an equally nice score on the E21.  Lotsa useful pieces there too--but it almost looks too nice to part out.

 

Lotsa good info on the FAQ, and friendly folks too.

 

Happy wrenching

 

mike

[Tommy]

Welcome from another taiga owner

Your plan sounds good and with your experience there's no doubt whether you can carry it through. 

 

PS. Now would be a good time to start a project blog.

[solo 2]

19 hours ago, mike said:

+1 on the welcome...Taiga is an unusual color for a '73--I've only seen a few in 40+ years of looking.  Presume it has a caramel interior?  And an equally nice score on the E21.  Lotsa useful pieces there too--but it almost looks too nice to part out.

 

Lotsa good info on the FAQ, and friendly folks too.

 

Happy wrenching

 

mike

Interior is black, I've seen nothing on the car that would indicate a color change at any time. The E21 pic was taken from the good side, too rough to put any money into. I will probably use what I can and sell/scrap the rest.

[solo 2]

17 hours ago, Tommy said:

Welcome from another taiga owner

Your plan sounds good and with your experience there's no doubt whether you can carry it through. 

 

PS. Now would be a good time to start a project blog.

This will be the biggest challenge to date for me but there seems to be a pile of info out there to help me along. I'll probably start a blog once I get going on this thing but that may not be until October or later...house renos are interfering with important stuff

[Maximillian]

Hey and welcome to the community of the BMW wayback machine. Cool 02 but what really intrigues me is the 320i as I think you have just scored one of the elusive "S packages" 320i variants that BMW NA produced as they were at the end of the 320i production (BMW sometimes decks out as a special edition model at the end of production, remember the L7 of the 80s) But anyway, IF you do have one of these 320i S package models, it would be very worthy (collector value $$) of restoration. One of the ways to tell is that it is missing the 320i emblem on the rear and it has (or did have) a front lip spoiler. And do the alloy wheels say BMW on them ?

 

Enjoy !

Max

 

Edited September 8, 2016 by Maximillian

[solo 2]

7 hours ago, Maximillian said:

Hey and welcome to the community of the BMW wayback machine. Cool 02 but what really intrigues me is the 320i as I think you have just scored one of the elusive "S packages" 320i variants that BMW NA produced as they were at the end of the 320i production (BMW sometimes decks out as a special edition model at the end of production, remember the L7 of the 80s) But anyway, IF you do have one of these 320i S package models, it would be very worthy (collector value $$) of restoration. One of the ways to tell is that it is missing the 320i emblem on the rear and it has (or did have) a front lip spoiler. And do the alloy wheels say BMW on them ?

 

Enjoy !

Max

 

It is definitely an S with everything but the close ratio 5 speed, as far as restoration I have a choice, the 02 or the 320 and I have already made that decision. I suppose the 320 is restorable but around here it's not going to be worth the money thrown at it in the end, unlike the 02. There is a very mint orange 320is in Calgary for $5500 CND, unfortunately it got "sold" before I could look at it, then it showed up again after I bought my 2 cars...oh well, I like the 02. 

 

 

[Maximillian]

Uh, so if it were me and I was going funnel the funds to the 02 restoration, I would sell the 320i (which as a rare S package model is potentially more valuable than the 02) to a collector who will gladly restore it so that it can be enjoyed by the community and take the proceeds of the sale to help pay for the 02. That's a rare 320i, just sayin......

 

[solo 2]

1 hour ago, Maximillian said:

Uh, so if it were me and I was going funnel the funds to the 02 restoration, I would sell the 320i (which as a rare S package model is potentially more valuable than the 02) to a collector who will gladly restore it so that it can be enjoyed by the community and take the proceeds of the sale to help pay for the 02. That's a rare 320i, just sayin......

 

I hear where you're coming from but this car is much rougher than it looks. I don't know what they're worth in the US but up here it's worthless, just another beat 320. I can't buy an LSD or 5 speed for what I paid for this car.