tjones02

Happy birthday! It’s always great to see original owners still enjoying their cars!

A few comments on this subject… One that I’ve heard from a long time famous Berkeley BMW shop owner, recently retired. And I’m paraphrasing here… “Would you bring your own steak to a restaurant to have the chef cook it for you? I think not.” Now, I do know of restaurants connected with fishing boats that will cook what you catch. But that’s very special circumstances. As for specialist repair shops, and I’ve been involved in the industry one way or another my entire life. All repair shops have a ton of overhead, in the rent, waste oil removal, labor, etc., and making money on parts is actually a BIG part of their business. Most shops that work on daily driver modern cars like to source parts from their own suppliers. Even though many customers have access to look up and buy parts off the internet for sometimes less than the shop can even get them for from their regular suppliers. That doesn’t mean the shop is gonna go all over shopping for the best price. They have a good relationship with their suppliers, and that includes whatever warranty comes with those parts, and the brand knowledge too. A shop just can’t keep track of where they got every part if they have to shop all over for best price. It’s too much effort to figure out who’s gonna warranty what. Lets say you have a shop do the regular thing and supply all the parts for a given job. They warranty all those parts, and their labor to replace the part if it fails within the warranty period. When you supply said parts, the shop doesn’t have to warranty their labor, unless it’s an error of installation. Meaning, if you supply a part, the shop installs it, and it fails, you have to pay all the labor to have them replace it again. That’s for modern cars, and easily accessible parts. As for older cars that sometimes need parts to be sourced from alternative places, and sometimes from all over the world. Some of those parts have no warranty. Either because they’re used, NOS, or whatever. Some shops have been doing the old car thing and have a number of connections they can call on to source parts, others don’t. Sometimes the customer has a different connection than the shop and can source something that the shop either can’t or would take labor time to call all over… Part of sourcing old car parts is the time it takes to track them down, and that costs money too. Costs them money, which costs you that money. It all comes down to your relationship with a given shop and the ease of sourcing parts for whatever year of car.

Now, folks need to know that even though my old red ‘67 already had dents in the roof, and elsewhere, I was very careful not to add any more, the trailing edge of the hoods are rather strong and withstood my 170lbs very well. I was sitting on the very forward edge of the roof, right at and mostly on the windshield seal.

Duly noted.

@Milo Yes, I remember well, those great times in SLO, where North and South met in harmony. Sadly that 1800TI with a SUNROOF doesn’t belong to me, nor could I afford it these days. Times have changed, but there are still some who hold the torches of the past, and even some who are carrying the old school flame forward. A big part of why I support the BayArea02, SoCal Vintage, and here on the BMW2002FAQ is finding and supporting those that ARE keeping real. Hope you feel like making a road trip up north for the first Saturday of May sometime.

And this folks, is why I recommend picking at least a German car color from the period, if not any BMW color from the period. Or in the very least, have more color sense and taste than 99.99% of people out there, like Dakar yellow, Laguna Seca blue, or Imola red from the late ‘90s to early ‘00s BMW color palate. This is precisely why this car didn’t reach $50k plus, when a few otherwise similar ‘02s in “normal” colors have done that.

1. I am one of the organizers of the BayArea02 Swap&Show and have been around these cars literally my entire life having been brought home in the Tii my parents bought new fifty years ago last February, and drove to the show together. Our show and other gatherings welcome ALL enthusiasts of ‘02s whether they are original owners, or bought it that day at the show, whether they spent multiples of six figures on a restoration, or zip tied it together to push onto the lawn. We don’t judge the socioeconomic position or taste of anyone who’s a fan of these cars we all love. I’m sorry that you feel a need to. 1.5. With over 80 ‘02s in the lawn, many more in the swap area and more yet in the lot who only came to spectate, there was enough variety for everyone to enjoy. I suspect you would’ve liked it too. We usually pack 100 plus on the lawn. Sorry you weren’t there to add to those numbers. 2. Yes, we have seen a change of how some choose to build their ‘02s, some with mods that I wouldn’t choose to do on my own car. Yes. But, does that keep me from appreciating their enthusiasm, or respect them for showing their skills? No it does not. I respect that they would join me in messaging our legislators in support of allowing us all to keep driving our cars on public roads for the foreseeable future. Same as I respect the builders of cars I saw at the Sacramento Autorama the weekend before. 3. While I know whether that was an 1800TI or a TI/SA, I won’t tell you which. You’ll just have to wish you were there to see it in person. ?

While I was wondering the same thing, I saw the personalized plates and figured I’d wait for the owner to answer the questions about the license plates with the story, he did, and it’s a good one.