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I finally finished my custom carpet install! I’ve been working on this for almost 2 months now. It’s been a lot of effort and a lot of learning, but I’m super happy with how it came out. It all fits and lays well and feels really custom tailored, which is exactly what I was hoping for. Initially I wasn’t sure I was up to the task and I almost went with an Esty kit, but I’m really glad I took on the project. I learned a ton about sewing and even tried my luck with some minor embroidery. 😬 The German square weave is beautiful, I love the charcoal and brown combo, and the floor mats make me happy. Progress!

Completed my Esty carpet and Recaros installation - that was a job!!!

It is hard to believe that it is 02/02/0224. Because of all your help, we have survived for the last twenty two years and seem to be striving somewhat. Sometimes things are tough, but ingenuity keeps this site and our cars going strong. We are a couple of years older than Facebook and 8 years older than Instagram. We might not be as big, but that was my stupid idea to start a site that, at most, could bring together the owners of only about 350000 cars. Keep them going, and enjoy the ride! I sure do. To celebrate our twenty second revolution around the sun, I am setting the price for all T-Shirts to $22. Enjoy! And I added a new design, Racing Through the Streets. Steve K. You can find all our T-shirts at our Store Or pick them here View full article

Last night was the culmination of seven months of work replacing the drivers side front floor, fixing PO's crappy speaker cut outs, rebuilding the pedal box, removing tar, removing paint, painting, sound deadening, and installing Esty's awesome carpet. Still small touch ups and the center console/AC to tackle. Photo dump of the progress: Where it started Rusted out floor and a bit of the rocker Removing tar with the last bits of dry ice Down to clean metal in most places POR-15 3/4 done Driver's side floor removed. Went a little too far with the spot weld drill on a couple. New floor welded in Second skin installed through out After second skin was ensolite(EPDM foam). Then the awesome carpets from Esty

Busy driving back from Mid America 02Fest yesterday so didn't post, but on 3 May 1969 I took delivery of my Nevada sunroof '69, after waiting over three months for it to arrive due to an East Cost dock strike that held it up in Hamburg. Still graces my garage and does its duty. First picture taken outside Bavarian Auto Sales, Woodside NY, 3 May 1969; second picture is at 3 Rivers in Pittsburg, July 2019. mike

Hello fellow 02 people, As mentioned in another thread, my girlfriend and I are driving our '73 2002tii from Santa Barbara, CA, to Fairbanks, Alaska, to participate in a Lemons Rally (our original plan of a silly old French car fell through). We still wanted to take an old car, and while the tii isn't exactly a "lemon," it is scruffy and we are not afraid to traverse any frost heaves and dirt roads in it. Due to a lack of time and cell/internet service during the last few days, I must offer the spoiler alert that we already made it to Alaska this morning, but I plan to do a recap of the trip so far and update as we have time and wireless service. Both my girlfriend and I had to scramble to tie loose ends at work all last week in addition to getting the car packed and ready, so we got a late jump on Saturday and did not leave Santa Barbara until about 2 PM. Our overnight stop was in Redding, CA, north of Sacramento, and we realized that it would be one of the only truly dark evenings we would experience during the trip. No fun roads, just 101 to 680 to I5. Day Two started with the "fun" part of I5 near Shasta Lake, which would be a preview of the many hundreds of lakes we were about to see in the next few days. We stopped in Hillsboro, OR to catch a single-A baseball game between the Hillsboro Hops and the Everett AquaSox, which was a lot of fun. Then back in the car to cross into Washington via the Lewis and Clark Bridge, which we have traversed before in our Alfa Romeo GTV6 during a previous Lemons Rally trip. The overnight stop was Tacoma, WA, which is an interesting place, would have liked to spend more time there. We saw a friend in the hotel parking garage. The morning of Day Three began with various errands around the Bellingham, WA area for coffee beans and supplies. We saw the first and only 02 of the trip so far, a dark blue roundie, we waved and flashed lights, but I couldn't get a good picture. Hopefully the owner is reading this and chimes in! We crossed the border into Canada at the Sumas checkpoint without incident, and then into beautiful British Columbia. We took scenic highway 1 to Lytton, then peeled off to take highway 12 to check out a cool little brewery in Lillooet. 12 was an unexpectedly fun mountain road, and we also got our first rain of the trip. That's all I have time to post for now, time to hit the road! I'll post updates as time/wireless service permits. View full article

Hello 2002FAQ, I thought I would introduce myself and share the progress on this 1971 BMW 2002ti project. The car has been in my family since 1976 when my uncle purchased it from the original owner here in Alberta, Canada. From what I understand, this is one of the "North American 50," a detail I learned about here on this forum. The car is a 4-spd, in Colorado yellow, with the original sidedraft Solex 40PHHs. It was driven by my uncle until the late 80s when he moved to Ontario, at which point it was parked here at my grandmother's house where it remained untouched for 35 years until August 2023: This past summer, on a trip back to Alberta, my uncle entrusted me with seeing if we could get it back up and running A bit of context: I am a long time old-school JDM enthusiast, as you may be able to tell from my username. AE86s, 510s, Zs, etc. have always been my thing. This will be my first time working on a vintage BMW, but I'm no stranger to working on old rusty cars, having worked extensively on my AE86s, including replacing rockers, floors, and rear towers on my last project AE86. Suffice to say I was the ideal person in the family to get this thing back on the road. I should note that I am not by any means a mechanic by trade, just your average weekend warrior. The car has undergone a respray but remains remarkably original and surprisingly rust-free for the most part. Here's my uncle turning the crank to verify it wasn't seized. So far so good! Luckily, he was a heavy duty mechanic at the time, so he had the foresight to put oil in the cylinders when he parked the car. The battery had physically cracked into two, the rad had a massive leak, but everything major seemed intact. The tires had dry-rotted and so the first challenge was physically moving the car out of the spot it had sat for all those years, as it was also boxed-in by decades of garage clutter. We had these vintage Campagnolo wheels with 40 yr old unused tires stashed in the basement... they had never even lost air! With these on we could roll the car out and have it towed to my garage where I would be able to work on it more easily. The first time the car has moved an inch in 35 years! Back at my garage I spent the next few weeks tackling all the usual maintenance items you would expect for a car sitting this long. I drained the old fuel, oil, installed new distributor cap/rotor, spark plugs, battery, and we sent the radiator off to get re-cored. The car clearly needs a deep clean but I'm just focused on the major mechanical side of things at this point. Getting ready to see if the car would start, I took the cam cover off to pour oil on the cams. Looks pretty good in here! Put the new re-cored rad back on, some new fluids and a few other maintenance items. One of the fuel lines to the carbs was all gummed up and the T-fitting had practically disintegrated. $10 in fuel lines and a new fitting at the local hardware store fixed that. And it runs! It's a huge relief to know that the motor is still operational. One of the few upgrades done to the car was an aftermarket oil pressure gauge, which read about 60psi on a cold start, dropping down to 25-30psi at operating temperature with Castrol 10W-40. Within the healthy range for this car, from what I understand. The brakes/clutch were still operational, but were in much need of a bleed. After that, the car is ready for a test drive around the block! First time moving on it's own power in 35 years 😎 A few other maintenance items done. Car still needs a deep clean but unfortunately there's no running water at my little garage/workshop that I rent. 😑 Here it is with the original airbox back on A pic with my 86. Sadly, the drivers side fender sustained some damage during a hit-and-run in the 80s. That'll have to be addressed, as well as some rust bubbling up in the rear quarters. More updates to come! Sadly, winter is starting here in Canada, and so it's time to put the car away for storage for now. Please let me know if you have any pointers for someone new to this chassis. Thank you for reading!

A neighbor dropped this by my house. They submitted a picture to Jones Soda of my car in front of my house last fall who liked it enough to put it on a carton of soda. I checked my local Walmart and it was on the shelf. I guess this my qualifies as my 15 seconds of fame. https://www.jonessoda.com/products/new-jones-special-release-orange-chocolate-soda-bmw-label-only

Just thought I’d share a project I’ve been working on. About 2 years ago I started the big task of making a hand formed aluminum hood for my 2002. It’s quite a challenge because this was never meant to be made by anything other than a press! I’ve been chipping away at it - taking a ton of coachbuilding classes and working on it at the class every 2 months or so (mainly because he has every piece of metal shaping equipment known to man)…I’ve built out my own workshop now to have most of the critical equipment so hopefully the rest gets finished soon but I thought I’d share some pics. It’s going to be about 400 hours total to build (about 200+ so far into it) so obviously no rational person would do this for money but it’s a passion project I’ll be posting about this more on my IG handle @carsandwhisky as progress continues!

@Mark92131 Like the bracket solution. Looks slick. Painted the uprights and the areas behind the headlight brackets black. Authentic brush stroke pattern, haha. Also painted the front portion of the radiator with Eastwood’s radiator paint. Test fit the front grill to make nothing visually jumps out from behind. Fun fact, I bought the grill in 2012 when BMW did a batch of them. Price was $107. Glad to finally see it on the car. Got the header back from ceramic coating from the boys at Raw Powdercoating (LongBeach). They do fantastic work, enthusiast owned/operated. Thanks to Jesus at CK for the E9 3.0cs OE spark plug wire loom, another little period touch. Mounted it with some standoffs, but will likely get some more thermal protection for the wires. ….. and it’s finals week! First final is tomorrow morning.

Decided to start tackling my scratched up bumpers. Orbital sander 300,400, 600, 800 grit. Hand wet sanded with 1000 grit. Polisher with three levels of McGuires. Still work to do but starting to look solid.

We installed my new shop sign this afternoon with the help of my wife and my son… my wife named my retirement operations.

Just back from a terrific 500 km (310 mi.) birthday weekend romp over six swiss mountain passes: Brunig, Susten, Furka, Gotthard, Lucomagne, and Oberalp. The FunMobile performed flawlessly, and especially today over the Lucomagne and Oberalp passes I had the road virtually to myself, so very little braking!🤪 Over the Brunig Pass to Giessbach Falls overnight. Then the Susten, Furka, and Gotthard passes down to Ponte Brolla in Ticino. Today up the Lucomagne Pass and over to the Oberalp pass and down to Altdorf and home in Zug. Great food, wine, driving, and friends for the weekend! Passes Video 2023-08-03.mp4

To paraphrase Bob Dylan, Bill Watson had forgotten more than I’ll ever know about BMW 2002s. Bill, an avid bicyclist, sadly passed away on February 29 after a tragic bike accident. I was beyond fortunate to have him as a friend. We had met in the late 1980s when I was a San Francisco newbie and he was heading up Phaedrus, the City’s premiere BMW shop along with his partner Spencer. I was driving a $500 2002, and later a $1,000 1600, and Bill was kind enough to fix what I couldn't. After Bill had run his course with Phaedrus, he set up shop at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA with plans to build efficient and powerful classic BMW race motors with a focus on CSLs. As a graphic designer, I traded time-for-time with Bill, exchanging branding design for his new Road Rockets endeavor for an artful engine rebuild. Bill got some hard-working branding with the right gestalt, and I got a motor that could joyfully pin my shoulder blades against houndstooth at the punch of a pedal. Superb parts went in, but Bill’s real artistry was matching, polishing and blending all carburetor/intake manifold/cylinder head faces for maximum flow and efficiency. He was enthralled with the science of engine building. Beyond the master mechanic persona, Bill was brilliant, funny, eccentric, empathic, kind, and beyond willing to share his vast BMW knowledge and experience. Bill’s healthy motor still resides in the Baur Targa. And every time I turn the key, Bill lives on. There is a memorial service for Bill on April 20 @ 2:00pm at Stafford Lake, Novato, CA. RIP, my friend.

I took a wood turning class a few weeks back at my local maker space. I wanted to turn a shift knob and after about 5 practice knobs, I got one that I'm pretty happy with. It's walnut with a piece of baltic birch ply sandwiched in the middle. It made my car a lot cooler.

i finished trunk floor boards. vinyl top (not german vinyl, but good enough for the girls I go with) and speaker carpet remnant on the bottom. the rest of the trunk refresh took me a few weeks...

Diamond quilting continues. I’m working my way toward the drivers door, I’ll leave it for last and hopefully best since I’ll look at it the most. Today was the passenger door. The french seams are getting easier with practice, same with the diamond quilting. I wasn’t expecting the big curve at the front to be so difficult, but it gave me fits. With the sew foam it gets bulky and doesn’t want to bend around backwards for that hidden stitch. Took me a few tries to get that figured out. I’m really happy with the end result, though. The whole passenger side is finished, now I need to push to car over and do it all again on the drivers side. Drawback of a narrow garage…

Manufactured 9th Nov 1973 and delivered to BMW Concessionaires G.B. Ltd., London 19th Nov 1973. It was originally sold by Eric G. Hunt Ltd, a BMW dealership in Bramhope, Leeds (UK) to its first owner (Mrs. Ivy Green) on 7th September 1974. In 1984 it passed to its 2nd owner in London, and then I purchased the car (£800) in Bournemouth on 23rd July 1986. After a 10 year storage, it was imported to the US in 2000 and joined me in Texas. It has been a proper Tourer - not only UK and Belgium, but various events in Texas, a vacation to Las Vegas, several trips to Bo's events in Arkansas and in 2009 a 2600 rountrip to the Vintage, NC. 2014 we moved to Manchester, Tennessee and in 2016 a needed refurbishment was done locally and now she looks real good. Like me, she has now retired from events but takes me (weather permitting) a couple times a week to the local inn.

Not to bad for a 50 year old, engine rebuild and a couple of small bits of rust this year all ready for the new garage! A few pics of the old girl over the years.

Assembled 19 December 1972 (so to the factory, he's a 1972 model, but we all know he's really a '73), and shipped off to Hoffman Motors West Coast facility. Sold new at Mill Valley Imports in California to an AF Captain, who brought it to Ohio when he was transferred here. I became Ludwig's caretaker in June 1978, 45 years ago this past summer. He just rolled over 275k miles, and sports new rear subframe mounts (finally!). Looking forward to Mid America in April. mike

I started working on the car a year ago March, and finally - finally - got to drive it this week. Still have lots of odds and ends to work on, but it goes down the road. Then: And now:

Did anyone know that Dustin Hoffman's uncle was none other than our favorite Hoffman, Max? And that's why Dustin drove an Alfa Duetto in The Graduate. His uncle loaned him the car. I never associated the two names as "Hoffman" is a pretty common name. mike

Big day for me, first 2002 drive in a while I’m 5 1/2 weeks post rotator cup surgery… took the Turkish automatic for nice ride this morning.

Starting my first attempt at metal fabrication and welding to fix PO’s previous sins. Figured I should learn on the parts covered by carpet. Started with a hammer form to create the bead. lots of hammering later I had the beginning of something. fitted up quite well. Hopefully, I’ll get to welding it in tomorrow.

Today was a day of sanding... guide coating... more sanding, and some more. Just when you think you may be done, another spot missed rears its head and away you go again! It's a battle to attain a goal that shifts ever further away. Fun! I did get the trunk and hood wet-sanded in prep for the base coat though. And no, that's not gloss black finish coat... just freshly sanded black primer, wet!

We had the most wonderful weekend attending Terry Sathyer’s 2002 gathering in Kerrville, Texas my two sons attended with their cars / wives as well as my daughters son Breyden, who drove my baur… My son Kane and his wife Kate in his car / my original car My son Ellis and his wife Kelsey in his car.. My grandson Breyden

Introduced my daughter to the 02!

Upholstery work continues. The headliner and pillar covers are in, and last weekend I finished the dash. It was a bit of a cluster since I paid somebody to cover it, but they shit their pants and everything below the tray was crap. Glovebox and climate controls didn’t fit and it didn’t look great. I only paid half, then I reworked the whole area and am happy with the result. This weekend I started on the armrests. I’m still learning to sew, so this is the first French seam I’ve ever done. I covered the rears first because they’re easier and I’d like to learn on something I’ll see less of. The end result was very promising. Then it was the drivers door, which is much more complicated. The seam is curved, which is a pain I learned. Frenching it was hard, but I did okay. I also laid two stitch lines where the cover will meet itself. The plan was to butt trim the vinyl at that seam and do a steering wheel style hand stitch to close it up. So much careful stretching and glueing, but I got there eventually. It’s not perfect, but I’m actually really happy with the result. Considering I didn’t know what I was doing, I’m proud of my work. Next up is the passenger handle, most complicated of them all. Then custom door skins, then custom carpet kit, then custom back seat… The good news is I’ll probably be really good at sewing by the end of all of this. 😂🤦‍♂️

On this day some 10 years ago, I stumbled on this page as I was searching for some help and a few ideas. I was hoping it would help me in trying to restore my car that had remained on blocks for 37 years, untouched and unloved, broken due to my neglect. Much has transpired since that day. Some 6 years after my first post my car returned to its rightful glory, ready to live up to the reputation as the ultimate driving machine. Much to the thanks of the contributors of this forum. For that I will remain eternally thankful. It was such a treat to climb back in that seat and relive those feelings I experienced the first time I drove the car. If it was not for the support I am not sure if I would have completed the car. Although the last 4 years have brought me as much satisfaction and joy as I could have imagined, unfortunately the last 2 years, the last 12 months especially have been I struggle for me. I am a retired firefighter. I have been retired now for some 18 years and now after some 30 years of service I am beginning to deal with the physical side affects of those years. Just like everyone on this earth as you get older things change. You are now unable to move as well as you once did. You may be lucky to grow old gracefully, or be able to live our your life on your own terms. Unfortunately my profession has dealt me a hand that I was not prepared for. First, please indulge me for just few more minutes. Not quite 2 years ago I lost a number of friends, some fireman, some not. All, I considered very good friends. One in particular was Paul Winterton who I am sure you have likely come in contact with. The impact of his passing did not strike me until many months later. After all I have become somewhat numb to have friends pass away because it happens way too often when you work in this profession. (Thanks to Cancer) It was a painful time, COVID was at its height, so isolation was the world we all lived in. Once the restriction were lifted we could all breath again, unfortunately for me I was not quite so anxious to hop in the car a go for a burn. To this day I have yet to drive the scenic highway to Whistler, a road that travelled every other week , or so it would seem. I have yet to attend any local C&C events either. What embarrasses me more than anything, is to bail on our plans to attend Car Week last year, hanging out a few guys that planned on the trip with Paul and myself. My health deteriorated to a point my doctor was emphatic that I do not travel because of a pre existing heart issue that was now problematic. To cap it off, 2 months later two friends committed suicide and another failing in his attempt shortly there after. I was devastated. Since then I have been suffering the affects of all these episodes. I was in a very dark place for a period of time many things suffered. As a result I am now apart of a support group that deals with retired firefighters who suffer from the affects of PTSD, I am better, but still have those days that are very much a struggle to get thru. So I will now get to the point of this diatribe. I have decided to withdraw from this community as soon as I can make the necessary arrangements to sell my car. I have struggled to no end in this decision. I will no doubt regret it but I do not wish to put my family through the pain and heartache of trying to sell a car nor the excess of parts that are still taking up space, not to mention my need to maintain any degree of wellness. I should add I am not interested in placing the car on auctions sites. I am not prepared to further risk my mental health in defending any perceived deficiencies or shortcomings of the car by those who lurk on those sites. I want to take this final opportunity to thank you all that have taken the time to indulge me here. , this decision has weighed greatly on me for a long time and very much appreciate you allowing me to get this off my chest. Thank you all for your support, and friendship the past 10 years. This is a special site with special people I consider myself fortunate to be included in it. Hopefully my car can find someone here. At the risk of repeating myself yet once again....Thank you Mike

Had a day off and instead of jumping into a comfortable and modern 5 series, I hopped into the 02. Running my errand I decided to take the long way. Took my time, but revved the car up doing it. It started running better and better until a huge grin was on my face and I was blipping the throttle on downshifts and throwing it into corners. Even needed a tune and a suspension refresh and to fix a cracked header…this thing is a blast!!! Thats it. This is just a simple I love my 02 post.

The jig and software have Been passed on to the new owner. He will be keeping the bracket name and making a good quality bracket for our community. Thank you all for your support over the years. I was close to 400 brackets sold. Dosn't seem like that many unless you think of if I had not made the first one. What started out as just a bracket for my car. Turned into something for the whole community. Thank you Dave

This weekend I worked some long hours in the diamond quilt mines. Rear door cards are done, fronts to follow eventually. First I straightened out the warped cards. Spray with water, wait, spray some more, wait again, then squish/clamp them into the shape you want. They dried overnight and are good for another 50 years. I gave them a bunch of polyurethane to help protect them from future moisture. Then I started into the diamond quilting. The first one took awhile, but I was getting better on the second. Sewing one panel took more than half of Cliffhanger. Then I moved on to the top cap and Edge of Tomorrow. Even though it was extra work, the seam at the top gave me a convenient transition away from the sew foam. I don’t think the chrome clamp strip would handle the extra thickness, so beyond the seam is vinyl only. The sewing took me three days, but mounting them up went quick. Patch approves. I’m really happy with the end result. This will be a great match with my custom carpet install and recovered Recaros. I can’t wait to see it all come together.

2023 Price Report -BMW 2002 ©Peter H. Beren 2024 Well, it has not been a great year for 2002s; no records were set in the pricing department. Prices for 2002s continue to fall across the board from the highs of 2021. On the other hand, most market services reported similar results for 2023. This year, 82 2002s traded hands through various auction sites across the country (and a few international sales noted as well), with an average price of $21,635, down 22% from 2022. Tiis did not fare any better this year, with prices dropping 18%, and an average price of $33,323; 39 were sold. The sell through rate was 73% for the sedans, but only 62% for the tiis. For other 2002 models, we find 3 out of 5 cabriolets sold, with an average price of $64,952 (note that two of these cars sold in the low to mid $40s and one brought $105,000, the latter greatly influencing the average). Only one S14 powered car sold this year, and it went for $55,000; again, the S14 adds about the value of the engine on top of the car. Turbos saw 5 cars offered, but only 2 sold. But those two did very well, one went for $119,000 and the other for an astounding $220,000. The other three went unsold for $75,000, $95,500, and for $96,250. These unsold values have been on par compared to those offered over the past several years. For Touring fans, four cars were offered, but only one sold for $20,500. The average price for all four was $17,660. Only one Touring tii was offered this year, selling for $35,000. These figures are in line with 2002s and tiis. 2002 pricing is influenced by its model, its transmission, if it has air conditioning or a sunroof, its color, and its condition. Using the past 36 months' sale figures, we find the following: We have already noted the price difference between the base sedan and the tii, but here, a model year makes a difference as well. This year, roundies in the base 2002 carry a $1700 premium. In contrast, the Roundie premium for tiis is nearly $14,500. Of note here, this years’ base 2002 Roundie premium is the lowest that I have seen since I started tracking 2002 sales in 2016. Transmission impacts the price significantly. 5-speed overdrive tranny adds an average of $6500 to the value of a car. Automatics added $1000 in value this year. This has changed over the past few years, swinging from a negative value a few years ago to near parity last year to adding value this year. Wonder what 2024 will bring for automatic values? Dog-leg (1st is left & down, close ratio) 5 speeds, add a whopping $16,575 in value. Air Conditioning, which used to add value, is now starting to slide in value vs. non-AC cars. This year, we see a $100 decrease in value for an AC car. On the other hand, Sunroofs continue to add almost $1500 over slick-top cars. Of note here, this is only a 5% increase in the car values, not the 15% that Hagerty calls for. Color also affects prices. Using the past 36 months' sales, we find that yellow continues to be the most valuable, yielding a 62% premium (note that there were only 2 yellow cars in the lot). White cars carry a 21% premium; gray, orange, red, and green carry 10%, 9%, 7%, and 2%, respectively. Colors that decrease in value are black, blue, maroon, silver, tan, and brown. These colors will cost 7%, 8%, 9%, 17%, 20%, and 27% less than the average value of a 2002. But the largest single determination of the value of a car is its condition. Most of our cars are number 3, daily driver condition. Condition 2002 tii 1 = perfect, concourse ready 55,751 75,185 2 = excellent, everything redone, updated, gone thru 41,293 55,140 3 = daily driver, some faults or rust showing 26,956 37,830 4 = rusty but drivable 16,369 21,211 5 = project, basket case 6,613 11,293 Hagerty shows slightly higher numbers, but they have access to a larger database, including a lot of agreed values on cars. They also don’t show pricing for #5 cars since no one insures cars sitting out in a field. So, there you have what 2002 prices have done over the past year. And many will ask, what will prices do in 2024? And here is where I guarantee that I will be wrong. Looking at the numbers over the past year, I see a resurgence in tii pricing each Quarter thru the end of the year, following a drop off in the 1st. Prices for 2002s improved every quarter this year, peaking in the 3rd quarter, then dropping in the 4th. Thus, I feel that we will see continued flat prices through the first half of 2024, and then prices will begin to improve. We saw a lot of cars not meeting reserve this year, meaning that there are a lot of sellers waiting out there. They could jump back in to catch the incoming wave when they see a bottoming out of prices or slight increases. If this happens, then prices should take off. It's probably not as exuberant as 2021, but an improvement. Or not. If you want to buy on a budget, Facebook groups or marketplace is the place for condition 3, 4, & 5 cars. Bring A Trailer is the largest market for 2002s; there are usually 2-4 2002s each week on there. Commercial auction houses like Barrett-Jackson or Mecum’s typically have a handful of our cars sprinkled about annually. The really big auctions think RMSotheby’s or Bonhams, to name a few, will sometimes have 2002 in their ranks. Or ask around your local BMW club or local BMW parts department. The latter knows who is buy parts for these cars. As always, Caveat Emptor, buyer beware. Do a pre-purchase inspection before handing over your money. In the meantime, as Rob Siegel says, “Gosh, these little cars are fun to drive!” View full article

May 2024 bring all the best to all of you! Steve K.

Fun little project this weekend. Took a little page from the aro/astro book of how to do things. When finishing titanium or aluminum in something other than anodizing, alodine/chemfilm is frequently used. It's a corrosion inhibitor and can leave a slightly-iridescent gold finish. Nasty stuff, but thought it'd be fun to incorporate into the car. -blast -rinse -acetone/IPA bath -chemfilm bath (3min. warm. 2/3 deionized water dilution) -rinse (chemical process will keep going until rinsed. too long of bath leaves a very flat mustard finish. Also installed choke delete kits, little white air bypass set screw caps, and drilled/tapped the bottom bosses for the upcoming vacuum manifold.

Got the rear brakes done and fixed a spacing issue I had with the front ones. Also got the wheels on and the car back on the ground for the first time in over 2 years

Ray give free ice cream, I give out free artwork with select packages of items I sell. Just ask Dasfrogger and the others.

Got a lot done today at Barney’s Money Wasters (BMW) New brake master cylinder Bumper re-set and mostly straight New bushings for rear sway bar Re-hung the muffler, it’s way more gooder Adjusted window frames Installed grills… looks so much better now Re-bled #3 injector line A very good day. Road tests coming up soon IMG_0924.MOV Barney’s beautiful early Inka is setting the standard. 😎 Barney was a huge help again today Ed Z

If you're curious what all I'll be hauling for a journey like this, here's an outline: I'll be carrying all my computer equipment to work remotely out of the AirBnBs, a bunch of camping gear for the road trips and weekend activities, camera gear, 2-3 weeks of clothes, a stash of food and water, a Yeti cooler, and a variety of other odds and ends. I'm sure you're wondering how the heck I'm going to fit everything in the car... Well, I've been quite busy trying to figure that out myself. Over the last few months I've been making a number of tweaks to the 02 to expand the cargo capacity. Luckily the rear seat had already been deleted by previous owner Mike D, so I had a pretty clean slate to work with. In the trunk I hand built two custom road cases: one to hold my computer and camera gear, and another to act as a camping supply loadout bin. For my clothes I had three heavy duty duffle bags custom made to fit the dimensions I had to work with, and then to support them I designed and welded up a little luggage rack. The center section of the rack is hinged to allow access to the camping and emergency supplies below. Not pictured here, but I also made new trunk floor panels which are broken up into smaller access panels, allowing me to easily retrieve smaller stuff stashed in every nook and cranny around the spare wheel. Like I said, the rear seat was already deleted in my car, which was fantastic for hauling supplies during my previous multi-week road trips around CA. However it was always a pretty big unorganized mess back there, so I knew I'd need to improve on that for any sort of long term use. I used extruded aluminum to put together a framework which houses 3 drawers, has hinged access from the top, and has space for the cooler. It's pretty spacious back there, so behind the drawers is room for 2 good sized toolboxes and then tons of spare parts nestled into any craves I could find. The rear floor wells are especially filled to the brim with parts and maintenance related bits. I'm a 3D artist by trade and hobby, so I was able to scan the interior of my car and then build a CAD model of everything prior to construction. For you purists, trust that I made a conscious effort at every stage to drill as few holes as possible! Like I said I just now departed this past Friday, so it's a bit too early to say how well it'll work long term but it absolutely feels promising. The first weekend out I camped in Big Sur, which worked out great. There will always be adjustments and adaptations to be made along the way, but that's all part of challenge!

My next project… Started negotiating to purchase this car about four years ago, made the deal, and actually got the car back to my house about a year ago it’s been under a car cover ever since . Starting to get my game plan together today, plan I’ll start disassembling the car in the next few weeks…

Replaced the original seats with a pair of E21 Recaros that someone reposted from Craigslist here a few years ago. Finally summoned the courage to do it myself with the help from Dave @ Aardvark BMW for the adapters. Straight forward fit and install. New seat straps as well. I used muscles I haven't called-up in years to get this done! The seats do transform the ride; I was surprised by this. So supportive and I like the look as well. Yet, I do miss the old look of the originals which I need to store properly. The old ones have the original vinyl which I want to keep for future go-back to classic look. Cheers

I go back to the first exposure I had with a 2002. Circa 2008, I was a broke country-kid/ski-bum from Idaho/Montana who somehow thought it would be fun to hop on an airplane and attend an automotive design school in Turin, Italy. The college was in a renovated 19th century four-floor conjoined building. We had our first semester of "History of Design" on the ground level in a big room with herringbone-patterned wood floors and white walls. Our professor was a chief designer at Bertone by day, and lecturer in the evening. His first lecture initially contained the usual power point slides extolling the virtues of swoopy Italian design. The usual beautiful cars you'd expect filled each page. However, mid lecture he stopped dramatically and, with a very stereotypical flourish, stated, "However, it is not just about pretty curves! Also important are good proportions!" , and he clicked again to reveal a picture of a clean early 2002. "Proportions, proportions, proportions!" He yelled, enunciating each syllable in a heavy Italian accent. You could say it made a big impression on me.

My partner surprised me on Valentine’s Day with an oil painting of my ‘74. We paid a visit to this estate back in July, known as the Eustis Estate in Milton, MA, designed by Boston architect W. Ralph Emerson and built as a wedding gift for a young couple (!). Now owned by Historic New England and open to the public. Big week for VIN 4222575, paint code 025 Granatrot metallic, turning 50 on Feb 20! Happy birthday 02. Tom

Yeah man, happy to help. Keep in mind that I’m just leaning, so my process may be far from correct. I did watch some YouTube videos, so I can’t be that far off.🤣 Here’s how I did it: Step one: start by running the standard blind running stitch along the seam. Fabric is face-to-face with the stitch line along the back. I’d recommend having the stitch run 3/8” back from the edge (you’ll see why in a second). I learned that for this stitch, match the thread to the fabric, in my case black. Step two: spray tack the ends over so they’re down flat next to the seam. Not too much spray, it really only needs to stay down for a minute or two. Step three: now you run your topstitch. Contrasting thread is nice, but to each their own taste. I did mine 1/8” offset from the blind seam. There’s a marker on the deck, but it gets covered by the fabric so I put a tape marker on the foot. Worth noting for this stitch run, use a longer stitch length. Most home machines max out at 4, use that. You want your French stitches to have some nice separation. You can see how I’m keeping the original blind seam on my tape marker. Step four: enjoy! The straight seams are pretty easy actually, but I found that it gets much more complicated when the seam gets curvy. Go slow and you’ll do okay. Hope that helps. Like I say, I’m just learning, but I’m getting more comfortable each day. At first it took me half an hour to get the damn machine threaded!🤦‍♂️

Haha! My ears were burning. 😂 Enjoy that LSD, and I love that color. Great looking car. I finished clipping the headliner today. I did the last of the sewing on Tuesday and started clipping yesterday. Maybe 2 hours total of stretching and clipping? It really wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. I’ve been worrying about this project for years, so it’s been good to make successful progress. Hopefully I can get it all glued up this weekend. The perf alcantara looks pretty deluxe, I’m really happy with the results so far.

Do these count even though she’s not complete?

Dipped mine..... was pleasantly suprised.... 52 year old like new shell

First drive on the 76! Ran well, steering a little loose, front toe is in need of attention. Much more to do... cut/polish, console, aim headlamps, check check check everything....again. Changing distributor (play in the shaft) and tuning next. Happy to be rolling.

I've had this 1968 Manila 1600 for a decade-and-a-half now. The ownership was the result of an inadvertent attempt to place a "low-enough" bid for a listing on the usual internet auto auction site on a lazy Sunday. Thinking that the attempt would easily be outbid by someone more knowledgeable than me, I went out to brunch only to return to a congratulatory message that I had purchased a vehicle - sight unseen - and I had no clue (or interest) of what an early BMW was. The pictures posted in the auction listing certainly did not do this car any justice when, accompanied by my family, I picked it up from a warehouse on a vineyard in Sonoma, CA and saw it up close for the first time that it was no more than a little tired. The family spent that weekend at the Russian river before embarking on the 3-hour drive south mostly on the US101, somewhere along which we passed by a Silver 5-series driven by Gordon (one of the FAQ members) who gave a tums up to us. That was the point of realization for me that this car could be appreciated by some. Over the years, some minor works were performed to spruce up its appearance and functions. It has been a journey of some sort since, but mostly pleasing. That journey was made possible with a lot of help from members of this forum. For that I thank everyone here. I have attached some photos of its current status. Again, my sincere appreciation for the help. Gurmail