THANK YOU FOR SERVING

[airborne85]

Working for dimes on the dollar, loved every minute of it...

[AceAndrew]

Thank you for your service.  I'm consistently surprised by how many former US military own/drive 2002's.

 

 

[airborne85]

That’s great point...... Which begs the question actually..

 

What draws a person to buy 2002 out of all of the many many choices, especially folks that have served?

 

Interesting 

[Mike A]

Hooah!

[Gordon]

I know I got hooked on 02's while serving in the Air Force and stationed in Germany in the early 80's.  No regrets, some of the best times ever stationed in Germany as a young airman. Being in Germany, 02's were plentiful and cheap.  Here's me with my first 02, a 75 Euro spec Sahara 1802.  Pic was taken in July 1981 in Winnweiler Germany.  I now have a 74 Sahara 2002tii with a Euro bumper conversion.

Edited November 12, 2020 by Gordon

[airborne85]

I served in the Middle East 2003-2004 didn’t know much about 2002s.

 

Once I returned from my deployment in 2005 I decided to take sometime off and live off “desert money”.

 

During that time my daily driver was a 1967 1600 2d white with a huge unnecessary roll bar. I loved that car.

 

However, during this hiatus I noticed a white 2002. But, what caught my attention was how tall the driver was when he exited the car.
 

I thought wow that big ole guy fit in that little car.. Size was fresh on my mind, because I had to darn near take up yoga to fit in my 1600...

 

So, 2005 went by. Then one day I was randomly searching through Craigslist, for nothing in particular, and discovered a 1971 2002 Granada for sale near ocean beach in San Francisco. Made contact with the guy.

 

Ended up arranging a test drive. But, before we left he gave me a tour of the car..

 

I absolutely could not believe how huge the trunk was and the field of vision from sitting in the driver’s seat was unmatched.

 

He then let me drive. Oh single barrel solex, 4spd..Recaro seats.

 

We drove on Ocean beach highway..Off the top I was really impressed with the pedal response. Then incredibly (to me) I got the car up to 90 mph... 
 

THIS car so simple. It excited the heck out of me...Oxidized paint , patches of rust included . I loved it.

 

Up to that point I had never been so impressed by such a no frills car. 

 

I paid 1800.00 for the car. Now I own a total of 4... 

 

Love the 2002

 

And weird thing when I’m driving one of my non-2002s and 2002 drives by . I so wanna make it home and switch out cars..

 

As far as I’m concerned I will always own a 2002.

 

ira

 

 

 

 

[man_mark_7]

My first memorable brush with an '02 was when I was serving in the Air Force in Dover Delaware in 1984. A dorm buddy had a slightly shabby specimen, but I remember the dual webers and how amazing they sounded.

 

I now have a slightly shabby specimen of my own with dual webers that sing gloriously.

 

Thank you all for your service!

 

 

[M3M3]

drove a 73 2002 when i entered the military in 1977.

drove a 75 2002 when i retired from military in 2018.

 

 

[Fletcher]

?
 

[airborne85]

22 minutes ago, M2M3 said:

drove a 73 2002 when i entered the military in 1977.

drove a 75 2002 when i retired from military in 2018.

 

 

WOW...I ran out of fingers and toes, TWICE....THANK YOU

[Mike Self]

I was an AF Lt in 1967 and after years of school finally could afford to buy a new car.  Drove an early 1600--it was six volts.  No thank you, not after two 6v cars in a Colorado winter.  Then came the '02--more power and 12 volts!  A fellow Lt bought one of the first 68s to arrive in the US, and after 6 months and 10k miles of hard labor in his none-too-tender hands, it was still doing fine.  So in May '69 I bought a brand new one, and was still driving it when I retired from the reserves in 1997.  Added a '73 to the stable in 1978, and still have it too.  And they don't sit around; they get driven.

 

mike