1974 BMW 2002tii help

[Steven Hage]

Hey guys, I have this 74 2002tii and over the past couple months I've been working a little here and there to get it running after a year or two of sitting on jack stands taken apart in my buddys garage, and I'd like to know as much of the history as I can. I don't necessarily need to know the service history, just if I could trace the owners back as far as possible so I can see at which point the original engine was swapped with a regular 02 engine, or when it was repainted 2 tone, or when the E30 sport seats were put in the car. I've looked on as many websites that I could think of to see if anything would come up but so far all I know is what my friend told me when I bought the car from him. I emailed BMW Classic with my VIN and I know when it was built and the original color but I'd like to know more if possible. It's a 1974 BMW 2002tii, the VIN is 2781251, it was built January 30, 1974 and left the factory to Hoffman Motors NYC February 1, 1974. Any help or info would be appreciated

[Adamha]

Perhaps the VIN on the block will jog someone's memory.

[Conserv]

Did you get any documents with the vehicle? Any names? Have you looked up under the dash, around the glove compartment, for old receipts? Have you looked under the rear seat and under the carpet for old receipts? Do you know what state(s) it’s been registered in? You can sometimes trace the history through registrations. Does the car have any bumper stickers, window stickers, service stickers, or service tags? For example, my ‘73 tii has two metal service tags on the radiator (below) — common practice for radiator repairs — that show two Southern California radiator shops where the radiator was serviced.

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

[Steven Hage]

Yeah there aren't any receipts or anything, nothing I could see on the radiator, and I live in MN and I bought it from a friend who used to live in MN but moved to Wisconsin so it's still got MN plates on it, but I don't know who he bought the car from, and there's a sticker for a local BMW car club on one window but they don't know anything about the car

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[Conserv]

3 minutes ago, Steven Hage said:

Yeah there aren't any receipts or anything, nothing I could see on the radiator, and I live in MN and I bought it from a friend who used to live in MN but moved to Wisconsin so it's still got MN plates on it, but I don't know who he bought the car from, and there's a sticker for a local BMW car club on one window but they don't know anything about the car

Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk
 

 

See if the Minnesota DMV can provide any history. If so, there will generally be a form or forms you must fill out. You’re, in essence, looking for a search of the VIN. Many states have little on record, but some, like California, will tell you when the car was first registered in the state.

 

Call your friend. Pick his brain for a name of the person he purchased it from!

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

 

[NYTransplant]

6 hours ago, Conserv said:

 

See if the Minnesota DMV can provide any history. If so, there will generally be a form or forms you must fill out. You’re, in essence, looking for a search of the VIN. Many states have little on record, but some, like California, will tell you when the car was first registered in the state.

 

Call your friend. Pick his brain for a name of the person he purchased it from!

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

 

 

Steve, do you happen to know the process for getting info from California?  My car came from there and I was wondering if there is a way to learn about how many previous owners there were, and maybe even who they were.  Would they divulge that much detail, or just tell you when it was first registered in the state?

 

The one thing that's been fun about cleaning the car up is the "archaeological dig" as pieces come off.  My car is Malaga, but BMW stated it was Sahara.  Sure enough, pulling out the carpets shows all Sahara floors and firewall, but the exterior has two different Malaga paint jobs of different shades.  I found some stickers from "Capital Plating" in Sacramento on the inside of my rear bumper.  I did some searching and they went out of business in 1985.  Other goodies that show the car had been loved in past are ST springs, Bilstein HD shocks, ST rear sway bar, LSD, 5 Speed conversion, H4 headlights, Momo shift knob, Momo steering wheel dated 1992, and a very old Golden Gate Chapter BMW CCA sticker in the rear window.

 

I didn't expect THIS kind of fun when I bought the car.  I can't wait to see what else I can find.

 

 

Edited October 12, 2018 by NYTransplant

[NYNick]

Hmmm, my 74 Tii was also built in January of 74 and has Vin # ending in 1088. That's 163 away from yours. Hey Conserv Steve! Did they build that many Tii's per month? I can't imagine they did.

9 hours ago, Conserv said:

 

See if the Minnesota DMV can provide any history. If so, there will generally be a form or forms you must fill out. You’re, in essence, looking for a search of the VIN. Many states have little on record, but some, like California, will tell you when the car was first registered in the state.

 

Call your friend. Pick his brain for a name of the person he purchased it from!

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

 

Now, onto your mystery. When I was stripping my car I removed the glove box and found all sorts of stuff that had slipped behind it. Jazz cassette tapes, Tiparillos, pens and a parking ticket from a New Jersey college with somebody's name on it. I tried google, but got nothing. Continuing my stalking, I found a match on Linkedin who lived in NJ which is near where I bought the car. Couldn't find any email, couldn't find any phone number, so I took a chance and messaged him through Linkedin. What were the odds he was the right guy, or original owner?

 

A week later I got a message back. Yes, he was the original owner. He was thrilled I had "his" car and thrilled I was reviving it. He's waiting (as am I ) for me to get it back on the road. I'm excited for the day I get to drive it to his house and let him take it for a spin and return his Jazz tapes!

 

Moral? Remove your glovebox and look behind it. Look under the spare tire. Rear seats etc. There's gotta be a clue somewhere. Good luck!

 

Nick

Edited October 12, 2018 by NYNick

[Conserv]

3 hours ago, NYTransplant said:

 

Steve, do you happen to know the process for getting info from California?  My car came from there and I was wondering if there is a way to learn about how many previous owners there were, and maybe even who they were.  Would they divulge that much detail, or just tell you when it was first registered in the state?

 

The one thing that's been fun about cleaning the car up is the "archaeological dig" as pieces come off.  My car is Malaga, but BMW stated it was Sahara.  Sure enough, pulling out the carpets shows all Sahara floors and firewall, but the exterior has two different Malaga paint jobs of different shades.  I found some stickers from "Capital Plating" in Sacramento on the inside of my rear bumper.  I did some searching and they went out of business in 1985.  Other goodies that show the car had been loved in past are ST springs, Bilstein HD shocks, ST rear sway bar, LSD, 5 Speed conversion, H4 headlights, Momo shift knob, Momo steering wheel dated 1992, and a very old Golden Gate Chapter BMW CCA sticker in the rear window.

 

I didn't expect THIS kind of fun when I bought the car.  I can't wait to see what else I can find.

 

 

 

I used California DMV Form INF 70. Keep digging!

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

[Conserv]

3 hours ago, NYNick said:

Hmmm, my 74 Tii was also built in January of 74 and has Vin # ending in 1088. That's 163 away from yours. Hey Conserv Steve! Did they build that many Tii's per month? I can't imagine they did.

Now, onto your mystery. When I was stripping my car I removed the glove box and found all sorts of stuff that had slipped behind it. Jazz cassette tapes, Tiparillos, pens and a parking ticket from a New Jersey college with somebody's name on it. I tried google, but got nothing. Continuing my stalking, I found a match on Linkedin who lived in NJ which is near where I bought the car. Couldn't find any email, couldn't find any phone number, so I took a chance and messaged him through Linkedin. What were the odds he was the right guy, or original owner?

 

A week later I got a message back. Yes, he was the original owner. He was thrilled I had "his" car and thrilled I was reviving it. He's waiting (as am I ) for me to get it back on the road. I'm excited for the day I get to drive it to his house and let him take it for a spin.

 

Moral? Remove your glovebox and look behind it. Look under the spare tire. Rear seats etc. There's gotta be a clue somewhere. Good luck!

 

Nick

 

Nick,

 

Yessss! Now that’s what you’re supposed to find behind the glove compartment! Congrats! ?

 

They seem to have often — often, not always — done “tii-only” production days. They’d produce as many as 50 cars in a day. 1974 tii production got off to a slow start, with the first U.S. 1974 model tii’s being produced in November 1973. By the end of the 1973 calendar year, they had produced 794 1974 tii’s (VIN’s 2780001 through 2780794). They produced 2,133 more 1974 tii’s during the 1974 calendar year (VIN’s 2780795 through 2782927).

 

Production was not particularly even, but if I divide 2,927 1974 (U.S.) tii’s by 14 months of production (November 1973 through December 1974), I calculate an average production of 207 U.S. tii’s per month.

 

(Pitch, not directed at Nick: If we could just get every owner to request their car’s data from BMW Group Archives — free, takes 30 seconds to request — and enter that data in the forum’s registry, we could get an even better picture of ‘02 production!)

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

Edited October 12, 2018 by Conserv

[Steven Hage]

Alright guys, so I asked my friend who he bought the car from, and it turns out he bought it from a guy I met while working at the BMW dealership by my house so I'll talk to him in a bit and see what else I can dig up

[Mike Self]

2 hours ago, Conserv said:

hey seem to have often done “tii-only” production days. They’d produce as many as 50 cars in a day. 1974 tii production got off to a slow start, with the first U.S. 1974 model tii’s being produced in November 1973. By the end of the 1973 calendar year, they had produced 794 1974 tii’s (VIN’s 2780001 through 2780794). They produced 2,133 more 1974 tii’s during the 1974 calendar year (VIN’s 2780795 through 2782927).

 

Production was not particularly even, but if I divide 2,927 1974 (U.S.) tii’s by 14 months of production (November 1973 through December 1974), I calculate an average production of 207 U.S. tii’s per month.

I also think the factory also produced US spec cars in batches--which would make sense given all the US unique parts--the number of which increased over the years:  wiring harnesses, emission stuff, English/MPH-speaking instruments, bumpers, side reflectors etc etc.  

 

My '69 is the 40th "second series" '69 off the line--that is VINs produced after 1 January when Federal standards changed and forced some changes to the car.  However, BMW tells me it wasn't built until 4 Feb 1969, so apparently no US spec cars were assembled in January.  

 

We can confirm this if anyone has a '69 with a VIN between 1664761 (last "first series" '69 and 1664801 (my car).  Anyone???

 

Don'tcha just love all this arcane '02 trivia?

 

mike

 

[Steve Tochi]

2 hours ago, Conserv said:

 

Nick,

 

Yessss! Now that’s what you’re supposed to find behind the glove compartment! Congrats! ?

 

They seem to have often done “tii-only” production days. They’d produce as many as 50 cars in a day. 1974 tii production got off to a slow start, with the first U.S. 1974 model tii’s being produced in November 1973. By the end of the 1973 calendar year, they had produced 794 1974 tii’s (VIN’s 2780001 through 2780794). They produced 2,133 more 1974 tii’s during the 1974 calendar year (VIN’s 2780795 through 2782927).

 

Production was not particularly even, but if I divide 2,927 1974 (U.S.) tii’s by 14 months of production (November 1973 through December 1974), I calculate an average production of 207 U.S. tii’s per month.

 

(Pitch, not directed at Nick: If we could just get every owner to request their car’s data from BMW Group Archives (free, takes 30 seconds to request) and enter that data in the forum’s registry, we could get an even better picture of ‘02 production!)

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

 

Probably only interesting to me, my car is 2780764 with production date of 12/19/73.  On the registry, Gordon's 2780763 has a production date of 12/18/73.  Imagine at the factory, Guten Morgan Hans, what VIN number are we starting off with today?  But in all likelihood, my car was probably almost ready to roll off on 12/18 based on the numbers they were producing.

[Mike Self]

22 minutes ago, Steve Tochi said:

Probably only interesting to me, my car is 2780764 with production date of 12/19/73.  On the registry, Gordon's 2780763 has a production date of 12/18/73. 

My carbureted '73, 2587090 came off the line on 19 Dec '73, so they must have been producing US version tii's and carbureted cars simultaneously, or a batch of US tii's then a batch of carbureted US cars...

 

mike

[Conserv]

1 hour ago, Steve Tochi said:

 

Probably only interesting to me, my car is 2780764 with production date of 12/19/73.  On the registry, Gordon's 2780763 has a production date of 12/18/73.  Imagine at the factory, Guten Morgan Hans, what VIN number are we starting off with today?  But in all likelihood, my car was probably almost ready to roll off on 12/18 based on the numbers they were producing.

 

Steve,

 

Cool! By shear chance, I found the window sticker — the car long ago succumbed to rust — for the car that succeeded my ‘76 down the assembly line. It has the same production date as mine.

 

And we actually have a number of instances where a given VIN is signed off generally one, occasionally two, production days out of sequence. I’d gather this represents cars that were missing an item, or that had a defective item, which required “fixin’” before the car could be considered completed.

 

Separately, a forum member just showed me two Canadian-delivery cars that appeared to be one or two months out of sequence (one much too early, one much too late). We don’t yet have sufficient information to understand those instances, whether, for instance, Archives’ records are simply in error. Or what! ?

 

If we can just get every ‘02 owner to obtain their car’s vitals and enter them in the registry!  ?

 

Best regards,

 

Steve C.

 

Edited October 12, 2018 by Conserv

[Conserv]

3 hours ago, Steven Hage said:

Alright guys, so I asked my friend who he bought the car from, and it turns out he bought it from a guy I met while working at the BMW dealership by my house so I'll talk to him in a bit and see what else I can dig up

 

Hey, Nick found so much sh*t around his glove compartment, maybe he can send you some.... ?

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

Edited October 12, 2018 by Conserv