When you see another 2002 while driving your 2002.

[slowbert]

1 minute ago, walkinfool said:

I really needed my Subaru

Said no one. Ever.  

[walkinfool]

1 hour ago, slowbert said:

Said no one. Ever.  

clearly you've never owned a subaru, Mr. Bert 😉 

[Leucadian]

I would say 90% of my 02 sightings occur when I'm not in my 02, and that makes me sad.

 

Wave and a friendly honk if I do see one while I'm in mine!

[SydneyTii]

Yeah my Forester is bloody great, best modern I’ve owned…. Still love my 02 though….. just in case it thinks I’ve forgotten 🙄

[mike472]

Around the Northeast seeing 02's or any BMW built before 1977 is a rarity.   Nowadays to even see one on the road is just about an impossibility, never mind seeing one coming head on.    The only place I could see it happening is in California. The place seems to be filthy with them.  I used to go to San Fransisco every January to exhibit at the Fancy Food show up until about 10 years ago.  I would spend a week and a half out there working the show with a sightseeing trip north or south thrown in for good measure.  When I was out there I usually hung with my buddy Joe a fellow BMW" aficionado. He lived there and we had a running contest to see who could spot more 2002's in a day.  We got up to 8 between us in one day.

I think that Mike Self had it right.  You might see some flashing at the Vintage or 02fest, but that's about it.  I also remember what Mike was talking about when the E21 "Yuppiemobile" came out.  No flashes from most of those folks.  That was the moment when BMW starting changing and I can't say for the better.  There was a running feud between the 02 guys and the new wave E21's folks over whose cars were cooler, or faster. or whatever.  It was a completely new car that was styled by BMW in house and a lot of us didn't like it. I was one of the 02 holdouts.  The E21's style didn't appeal to me.  I have since come to appreciate them a little more.  When most of them didn't flash like the 02 guys, that sealed the deal for me.  I knew I was going to be forever hung up on our little cars. It was like being in a cult where the secret handshake between fellow cult members was a flash. 

It's funny how something like flashing your headlights meant something.  It signaled a rare occurrence even in the 70's.  You had to be a real car guy to buy one and I think we all felt like we had something kinda special.  We thought of ourselves as more discerning individuals. Especially in the face of all my idiot friends who went out and bought Monte Carlo's simply because they were cheap and had a V8.  They couldn't figure out why anyone would waste their money on something like a 2002.

My father and I traveled to Germany on business and I saw 2002's disappear from the roads pretty quickly when the new cars came out.  Again, they were nothing special. Germany, especially in the 70's, BMW's, especially 2002's were  commonplace and they definitely didn't get why Americans  like me thought BMW's were so special.  To them a Chevy Corvette or a Harley-Davidson was special.  Most German's would laugh at the notion of BMW's flashing each other simply because the people owned the same car.  To them, seeing another 2002 was like seeing another F150 to us.  Imagine if those guys all flashed each other.  We'd be going blind.

[tech71]

1 hour ago, Leucadian said:

I would say 90% of my 02 sightings occur when I'm not in my 02, and that makes me sad.

100% of my sightings have been in the wifes Kia, a grand total of one. 

A nice looking roundie in I think Agave sighted in the Trader Joes parking lot.

A horn tap and thumbs up from me resulted in an icy stare from the guy driving, now that was sad..

[conkitchen]

3 hours ago, walkinfool said:

clearly you've never owned a subaru, Mr. Bert 😉 

Have to say, Subaru's are likely the most "German" of the Japanese brands for their simple and smart engineering and reliable service. Had  a few GL 4x4 wagons back in the 90's. One was turbo and it was a tuff street fighter. I would pull 4000 rpm hole shots and red shift next to 6K and it never let me down.  Loved those cars in the snow. Tail happy drift car when just enough frost on the roads.   

 

And now back to BMW

[conkitchen]

P.S. My 1985 GL with the hill-holder clutch was F'n brilliant! Why did that technology stop? 

[visionaut]

Wait - you guys don’t make an immediate emergency u-turn, and race after the guy, honking your horn and riding up his bumper until he pulls over just to get you to stop? Oh, okay… yeah, me neither.

[walkinfool]

2 hours ago, conkitchen said:

 

And now back to BMW

haha it was starting to feel like the my Subaru Impreza forum. 

[walkinfool]

2 hours ago, conkitchen said:

P.S. My 1985 GL with the hill-holder clutch was F'n brilliant! Why did that technology stop? 

that technology is alive and well (and F'n brilliant) in my 2009 manual tranny Impreza hatch! 

[jimk]

Anyone know of a good BMW 2002 forum?

[JQ02]

When I had my 335i convt I would wave like an idiot when I saw a 2002 and they seemed to appreciate it.

I'm still disappointed, but no longer surprised, when I pull up in my 2002 next to a modern BMW at a light and they are oblivious to the ancestral magnificence that is the 2002.

[ray_]

22 hours ago, conkitchen said:

The elite salutation is to wave through the sunroof. 

Not sure I'd want you flashing me.

 

😋

[conkitchen]

28 minutes ago, ray_ said:

Not sure I'd want you flashing me.

 

😋

Not quite long enough to reach that far sir.