My BMW's have a birthday tomorrow

[Gordon]

I have two BMW's that have a birthday tomorrow.

My 70 Euro spec E3 2800 turns 40 and my 74 tii turns 36.

The BMW 2800 VIN 2308632 was manufactured on December 18th, 1969 and delivered on March 12th, 1970 to the german BMW dealer Stapelmann in Dьsseldorf. The original colour was Granada, paintcode 023.

http://www.coupeking.com/product_id-407.html

How it got to CA, no one knows, diplomat, military...? It came over before gray market DOT rules were in effect so no federalization was ever done on this car. We do know that it did arrive in CA in the early 70's. There is no rust on this car and it sat for years outside in the CA sun. The interior was destroyed by the sun but it had no rust and the body panels are straight. I'll take sun damage any day over rust and salt damage. As far as we can tell (Bill Holmes and I), the mileage on the car is authentic. 112K kilometers. Bill thoroughly went the car and said nothing had ever been replaced on it. He's been turning wrenches on BMW's for 30 years so mechanics know original parts. I bought this car for $300, just don't ask me how much I put into it.

I am in the process of trading Peter Sliskovich my 85 Euro spec E28 525e 5 speed http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?t=59271&highlight= for the below 74 tii shell.

The BMW 2002 tii US VIN 2780763 was manufactured on December 18th, 1973 and delivered on February 22nd, 1974 to the BMW importer Hoffman Motors Corp. in New York City. The original colour was Sahara, paint code 006.

My current 74 tii is a Frankenstein, so I decided it would be easier (and much cheaper) to transfer all the mechanicals/interior from my frankenstein to a clean shell then spending a lot of money on body work on my current tii.

My new tii is an aborted M20 project but thankfully no body modifications were done. The PO converted the windows to electric but I'm going back to the original roll up windows. This will be a fun winter project. Yes, I'm keeping the car original, it will stay Sahara.

G-Man

[craaaazzy]

my 74 02 has a similar story in that it was delivered to a non US dealer. andreas mentioned it may have been a US citizen living in Germany.

"The BMW 2002 US VIN 2361393 was manufactured on November 14th, 1974 and delivered on November 28th, 1974 to the BMW dealer Wogatzke in Kaiserslautern"

[Gordon]

Wogatzke was the local BMW dealer in Kaiserslautern. Odds are high that the first owner of your 74 2002 was a local US serviceman stationed in the Kaiserslautern area. German BMW dealers can order US spec cars (military personnel can buy them tax free over there) and BMW dealers located near US bases in Germany sell quite a few US spec BMW's to servicemen before they rotate back to the states. Ramstein and Sembach Air Base and numerous US Army garrison's are also located in the Kaiserslautern area. The first US spec 2002 I owned, (74 2002) I bought from an Air Force Capt who was stationed at Sembach in 1982. I had a Euro spec 75 1802 and wanted an 02 to bring back stateside and US spec E21's didn't excite me. The PO had brought the car over from the states and destroyed the motor (74 M10 had ring problems). The PO had Wogatzke install a new Euro spec motor into the US spec 02. Then I bought the 02 after he had did all that motor work. I brought that 02 back to the states until it was killed in CA by a car that ran a red light in the 90's. I pulled the motor and installed it in my former 02. I traded the motor to Jack Fahuna for work he did for me and he installed it in a customer's 02. It's probably still running today. The VIN on that motor is 4224378 if anyone ever runs across it.

G-Man

[John_in_VA]

12/11/73. Happy b'day to your rides, Gordon!