My 1960 BMW 2002

[2002#3]

Havelock, NC.  March, 1960. 

 

I found this photo of me as a 13-year-old pre-FAQer in what might have been my first BMW 2002.  This David Bradley "Sport Kart" had a BMW roundel on the front bumper and sported a 2002 badge on the back of the seat - documented proof it was a real 2002.*  That beautiful ride was the genesis of my appreciation of BMWs, in general, and 2002s, in particular.  Note the safely-placed fuel cell, the contemporary and impressive pre-guibo multi-belt drive train, the direct-to-wheels, better-than-rack-and-pinion steering, and the single-cylinder Clinton pre-M10 powerplant (Now, you see where A. vF. got his idea?).  Safety was not a concern.  In case a potentially fatal impact was eminent, I could easily and simply roll off.  Sears, the official BMW importer at the time, started selling these sleek "Bimmer Beauties" in 1959.**

 

* Hey, I like to think it really did and really was.

 

** Legal issues and challenges later forced Sears to call these BMWs "go karts" after it was discovered "go karts" were invented three years earlier in 1956 by Art Ingles.

 

  

[Mike Self]

Obviously a roundie--no 5 mph bumpers--feet don't count!

 

All that and whitewall tires?  Really?  What self-respecting 02 would have whitewalls?

[bavariaboy]

they are actually "Portawalls" had them on my 50's hotrods. The days when white walls were extra!!  

 

 

[Mike Self]

3 hours ago, bavariaboy said:

they are actually "Portawalls"

I think they're "whitepaintwalls"...

[Hans]

4 hours ago, Mike Self said:

 

 

All that and whitewall tires?  Really?  What self-respecting 02 would have whitewalls?

Scroll down the page....

[bavariaboy]

Mike, never heard of "whitepaintwalls." The "Portawalls" of my errant youth were rubber rings, painted white and fit between the lip of the rim and the tire.

 

Perhaps somewhere someone painted the side wall of the tire to copy real white walls. The Portawalls deteriorated pretty quickly with the road salt and acid rain. Ah, those were the days.

[2002#3]

The tires in the OP were original run-flats, all-seasons, and were real whitewalls.

The Portawalls on my '47 Dodge were metal, painted white, snapped on/off, and lasted through 4 years of college.  

[Mike Self]

4 hours ago, bavariaboy said:

Mike, never heard of "whitepaintwalls." The "Portawalls" of my errant youth were rubber rings, painted white and fit between the lip of the rim and the tire.

I was joking...way back in the last century, it wasn't exactly unknown for folks to actually paint their sidewalls white with that (then) "newfangled" latex paint.  Even cheaper than portawalls...

[bavariaboy]

Got it. When I travel back to the last century I too go way back. The 50s and early 60s were a rich time to be a teenager in America. Provided you belonged to what then was the Real Middle Class.  And of course White. 

 

The world was our playground. But we still knew a bargain, like "whitepaintsidewalls" and "Portawalls" and cheap paint jobs for our hotrods, i.e. Earl Schibe the godfather of Maaco. Or you could always put a coat of rattle can primer followed by a dozen rattle cans of "Candy Apple Red" paint. Yeah, a bit of masking but overspray was fine. 

 

Wouldn't trade my errant youth for anything.

 

Steve

[JsnPpp]

My goodness I love go-karts!

[Dudeland]

Thanks so much for sharing such a wonderful memory.  Hold onto those, let the bad ones go. 

[Mike Self]

On 3/6/2023 at 9:50 AM, bavariaboy said:

Or you could always put a coat of rattle can primer followed by a dozen rattle cans of "Candy Apple Red" paint.

Back before WWII, my father-in-law painted a car with a Flit Gun.  Look that one up, especially you folks who don't remember the time before spray cans...and think how long it would take to do that...

 

mike

[Lorin]

9 hours ago, Mike Self said:

Back before WWII, my father-in-law painted a car with a Flit Gun.  Look that one up, especially you folks who don't remember the time before spray cans...and think how long it would take to do that...

 

mike

I can’t imagine choosing that over a quality brush !  
 

[bavariaboy]

Mike, I did look up Flit Gun. I am 81 and remeber them but not the name. Your Granddad must have ended up with biceps like Charles Atlas. Look that one up younguns.

 

Speaking of DDT, a friend of mine grew up in a rural Illinois town. The kids would run behind the DDT Truck in the spray of DDT(look it up, hint, a lethal pesticide) to cool off on hot summer nights. He is still alive with no chronic illnesses, walks three miles a day, is 86 years old.

 

I wonder how many of his fellow runners can say that? If they can say anything at all.

[jp5Touring]

3 hours ago, bavariaboy said:

Mike, I did look up Flit Gun. I am 81 and remeber them but not the name. Your Granddad must have ended up with biceps like Charles Atlas. Look that one up younguns.

 

Speaking of DDT, a friend of mine grew up in a rural Illinois town. The kids would run behind the DDT Truck in the spray of DDT(look it up, hint, a lethal pesticide) to cool off on hot summer nights. He is still alive with no chronic illnesses, walks three miles a day, is 86 years old.

 

I wonder how many of his fellow runners can say that? If they can say anything at all.

I have crossed paths while getting treated of a gentleman that did just that.  He had blood cancer of sorts.

He didn't know if it was the trucks or the fact he worked with Roundup for over a decade.

He was giving it a pretty good fight for his age.  

Stay healthy people.