02Anders

Rick I'm curious, with that speed, which diff ratio were you running?

Another one back on the road! Great work. She looks lovely too... And much as I'm a manual-guy myself, I really do appreciate an auto being saved and kept stock. At least here in Europe, there are truly no auto's left... You ought to find a set of correct trapezoid door mirrors though. It would suit your early 02 so much better...

Great little video Paul! Mr. Magoo looks lovely...

The fastest I've ever gone in an 02 was along an extremely twisty switchback countryroad. In an 02, speed is all about corners - not straight line speed.

Great to know that parts of the younger generation are taking interest too! I bought my first 2002 when I was only 16 years old. Now - some 24 years later - I still own that same 02, heh... and a couple of others! Oh, and a parts stash that just seems to constantly grow. Keep at it mate - there are certainly worse hobbies out there...

Love the pics. Some thoroughly awesome classics on display there. That Porsche 904 is just beyond stunning! Your TiSA is well and truly fabulous too! Restall's and all...

To me there is no doubt that a 1600ti came with 4.5x13. The 5x13 were reserved for the 2002ti and the 2002tii. @Mike, that surprises me too. I'm convinced that the so-called "Sport Paket" alloys produced by FPS were seen first time with the introduction of the touring.

@mm1600ti, best of luck with the rebuild! Please keep us up-to-date with tons of pics...

I am very inclined to agree with Steve about going Euro '72 with the engine bay stickers. @fiminod, I ought to be able to help you with some decent pics to get you on the right track with those stickers. Furthermore, imo the current repro trapezoid door mirrors are actually very faithfull to the originals. I bought my last set from Stefan Ries in Germany.

Let me first stress that I do not know the following as fact...! But many, many years ago an extremely knowledgable BMW technician working at a BMW dealership in Denmark, told me that up through the 80's BMW offered two different type of replacement M10 engines. The cheapest option was a factory recon, which had the original engine number removed from the block and then had the two X's stamped on the block instead. The more expensive option was of course a brand new engine, and these apparently came with a totally blank engine number area. No X's or anything. I could add to the story that this BMW technician was the third and previous owner of my '73 Verona red 2002, which he owned from '81 right up till I bought it from him in '92. He also worked as the Head Technician at the BMW dealership which my father co-owned in the late 70's. When my father bailed from the auto industry, he of course continued working as Head Technician at the same dealership. The story goes that in the late 80's he ordered a recon M10 from BMW for his 2002. But when the Bavarians learnt that it was for his own 2002, apparently they sent him a brand new M10 engine instead, and still only charged him for a recon. And yes! the block in my 2002 is totally blank - no engine number, no X's, no nothing...

@fiminod, welcome to the faq... They're quite a pleasant bunch in here, and the amount of knowledge that's on tap is just astonishing! I think you'll enjoy it...

Whooooaar.... I seriously need to rest my poor brain after attempting to read that...!!! You lost me half way through point 3. Steve, I believe we need a separate thread so that we can get to the bottom of this!

Steve, did all 1600ti and 2002ti not have the low battery tray? I'm not 100%, but I think this was the case...

So I was home alone. Kids at school. Wife at work. And the sun was even out How to pass all that time?? Easy! A 60-odd mile run through the Peak District of course...

Excellent save!!! Well done Sir - I salute you... And thx for the engine pics. So it's clearly a 12V car, which is interesting as the low ti VIN suggests that all 1600ti's were 12V. Maybe?? It would appear to be running Webers now rather than the original Solex carbs. I hope you have the original airbox somewhere among all the spares that you got with the purchase of the car...

Whoooooaar....!! That's just utterly spasstasticly fabulous.... What I wouldn't give to have a genuine 1600ti - matching numbers and all. I can't possibly stress enough how much you ought to listen to Conserv and Son of Marty here. Please, please, please do not mess this one up! Keep it original, and just treat it to a very light restoration which preserves its authenticity and character. You have got something hugely rare here! All that Mike says here is obviously both well-spotted and correct. Furthermore, there's the dashboard sans ribs on the tray in front of the passanger. You've even got the early inside rear view mirror with that beautifully sculpted alloy foot. And original salt & pepper carpets are a nice touch too. Hopefully they aren't too worn and you might be able to save them with a thorough clean. Only non-original parts I can spot are the Borrani steel wheels, the front seats, the steering wheel, the roll bar and the auxiliary fuel pump residing in the boot. The Borrani's are of course perfectly period and equally cool! I personally love the original early wooden 1600ti steering wheel, but if that is indeed a correct Alpina Momo Prototipo steering wheel, then even I would be in two minds as to whether I would want to return to the original steering wheel. If you have no need for the rear seat, then I might very well keep the roll cage too, as it really suits the sporty 1600ti, which when first launched was of course the most sporting of the 02's and was used widely in motorsport. If you keep the Borrani's, Momo and roll cage, then the boot mounted auxiliary fuel pump really fits the whole picture nicely. However, those front seats are not period for a '67 car. They are probably some 10 years newer than the car - possibly even a bit more. Along with a light general restoration of the 1600ti, I would suggest looking for a more period set of sporting front seats from the likes of Recaro or Scheel. May I also suggest that you email BMW Classic Archive with your VIN, as they will then tell you the exact date of production and the cars original colour. info.grouparchiv@bmwgroup.com Last but not least, I'm very interested to know whether this car is 6V or 12V. Would you please let us know, and a picture or two of the engine bay would be great too... Thx!!

Steve, If only you could get that message across to every 02 enthusiast worldwide! Maybe - just maybe - you and I could both end up with a set of bi-metal Borrani wheels. I currently have 28 different sets of period 13" wheels in my rather obsessive collection of 02 wheels!! Yet, I would quite happily give up 20 of those sets if I could just get a set of those Borrani's... As for the tourings. Yes, they probably are an acquired taste. Personally I think they're awesome. I still miss the Colorado '72 BMW 1600 touring which I foolishly sold about 18 years ago... Scott, I realise that there are indeed some very good looking touring in the US too. Thankfully not everybody is a hater... None the less, I believe the touring is generally better received here in Europe than it is in the US. As for what the market wants, it seems that the classics that reach proper top-money in Germany are all about originality, authenticity and documentation. There's of course always an exception to the rule, but this seems to be the trend.

In all honesty, in the current market I was expecting this one to go a fair bit higher than it did. I mean just think about it. Recently that modified SRL 2002tii saw 70-something grand on BaT. Yes, I do realise that it was in better condition than this Alpina touring is. But so what?? For starters it's not like this touring was a project or even anything near that. It just had a few minor issues that needed seeing to. But you can fix that with time and money. That modded 2002tii might have been in better condition, but no amount of time or money will ever be able to buy the kind of documented heritage that this touring is oozing with!! How many road registered fully documented Alpina 02's does the world have?? I don't know the answer to that one, but I'll guesstimate around 20 - 25. If someone knows better than me, then please do correct me. But even if we're talking double that number, this Alpina touring is still among the most rare and coveted breed of 02's in existence. Okay, sadly the first owner had left the tii engine untouched by Bovensiepen. No doubt, if the touring had been spec'ed with the A4S engine from new, then I have no doubt that bidding would have continued way beyond the $ 45,5 that it achieved. But regardless, it's still a fully documented Alpina 02!! And it even had the full vented discs set-up front and rear, which is a whole lot rarer than the A4S engine is! Add to that the negative camber Alpina front struts, adjustable Alpina anti-roll bars, the 75% LSD, the super rare quick rack, and not least those thoroughly amazing bi-metal Borrani Alpina wheels, and this is really a massively collectable package. Waaaaay more collectable than any recently modified SRL 2002tii will ever be - regardless of condition... I guess I just don't understand the market. Even if I had the cash, I would have never paid $ 70-something grand for that SRL 2002tii. On the contrary, I would have happily forked out a fair bit more for this Alpina 2000tii touring if I had the means. I suppose the seller would have been wise to present the Alpina slightly better?? Arguably he should have made sure it was uniform Polaris all over. I'm not even talking a full respray, but just spray in the anthracite grey areas in Polaris - the car would have looked heaps better. At this point he could have just as well put two correct trapezoid door mirrors on, and then last but not least have treated the complete suspension to new OEM rubber bushes. Hmmmm... and considering all the hate the touring always receives in the US, he should have perhaps considered putting the car up for auction in Germany. I reckon the above steps would have given him at least $20 grand more on the hammer price...

If it's a genuine 1600ti, then we're truly talking the Holy Grail of 02's!! Quite possibly the factory 02 I dream the most of adding to my garage. Only built in 8670 examples. But check that VIN must be between 1580001 - 1588670. If the engine number is the same, then things are really looking up for you! If it's the genuine article, and you should decide not to bother with the restoration, then please send me a PM...

Consider it done...

Ouuuuu... I'm liking that Chamonix NK-goodness...

Okay, so for starters I sadly don't have the spare cash to be bidding on this great little touring. Just so we're clear about that. But allow me to dream for a while... Let's just say I ended with the winning bid. What would i then do?? - I mean besides dancing the jig in pure joy... Well, I would start off by getting the car back to all Polaris. Those anthracite lower sides just don't look right to me. Correct door mirrors, engine bay stickers and windshield wipers in stainless steel would also sit high on the to-do-list. But what then...?? I mean at this point I would have a rather unique and very historically important piece of Alpina history in my garage. And well documented too! A true collectors item, which clearly needs to be preserved as is right?? Hmmmm... therein lies the problem! Because with Alpina's beautifully balanced suspension set-up with negative camber front struts and all, quick steering box, those awesome disc brakes front and rear, 75% LSD and of course also the 5-speed dogleg, this sweet little 02 is just screaming out for more power. Temptation to start collecting all the right bits to build an authentic A4S spec engine would simply be quite unbearable!! Ohhhh... how awesome would that not be? Perhaps add to that a set of period Recaro Ideal S front seats, and at least from a drivers perspective, this would quite frankly be the ultimate road-going Buchloe package you could possibly dream up. Heh... but then that all-important documentation would of course no longer be true to the cars current spec. From a historical point of view - and a collectors point of view too - it would be ruining this rarest of rare Alpinas. So what would you do??

Indeed Steve, I too received the same answer from BMW Classic Archive today. I have just posted an update on BaT, so both the owner and also any potential bidders can be properly informed...

Happy to help...

Okay, we need to know beyond a shadow of a doubt! So I've written a email to our friends at BMW Archive. We obviously won't receive an answer during the weekend, but hopefully they'll come back to me before the auction ends with the colour the touring was delivered in and date of production...