One day in 1998 while walking home from work, I randomly stumbled upon a 100% original and complete Sahara 1972 BMW sunroof 2002tii covered with dust and sitting forlornly in a Manhattan Parking Garage. It had been sitting there for many years and had been appropriated by the garage due to non-payment of parking fees by the car's original owner who had simply vanished. After some back and forth discussion, I bought the car from the garage and discovered that it only had 49K original miles which was supported by extensive service records in the glove box going back to 1972. Also in the box was the car's original window sticker. In the trunk were all tools/jack, spare (with XAS tire), factory mud-flaps in plastic, factory styrofoam replacement kit (bulbs, filters, belts), etc.
I got the car back to my shop and we got it running without too much expense or problems beyond fluids, filters, belts, hoses, tires, exhaust, etc. I started driving it around NYC and it ran extremely strong...like a charm in fact without any smoking or oil burning whatsoever. I was in love!
Several months after buying it, my ad agency boss and friend convinced me through various pressure tactics to regretfully sell him the car and to manage a complete cosmetic restoration for him (he was no car guy). I found a high-end place in Stamford CT that restored vintage Astons, Porsches & Lambos (they also had a BMW 507 there for complete restoration) and he spent $55K on a bare shell, rotisserie restoration. Total originality (with the exception of a color change to Baikal Blue as he hated the Sahara) was the focus and nearly every piece of sheetmetal, chrome & rubber was replaced (East Coast car so it did have some rust). Mechanically, seals, belts & hoses were replaced but nothing was rebuilt or restored to the level of the cosmetics.
In 2000, I moved to San Francisco. In the 14 years since my friend/former boss had the car back from restoration, he drove it a whopping 4K miles. Well, to make a short story long, I just bought the car back from him and had it shipped here to the Bay Area! It is still cosmetically flawless but is a big leaky mess (engine, trans, diff, etc). The car is currently at my shop in San Rafael (A1 Imports) where we are bringing all mechanicals to the same level as the cosmetics. The car should be done within two months and will hopefully be one of the nicer, more original and lower-mileage '72 tiis in existence when it is complete. I am SO happy as it feels as though destiny led me to find the car in that garage 16 years ago...and now destiny has blessed me with the opportunity to own this wonderful car again. I can't wait for Brisbane as that will be the car's "debutante ball."
Thought I'd share,
COOP
PS: The purists will note "incorrect" '73 bumpers in the picture which we are in the process of addressing! At the time of the restoration, I donated the bumpers from my '73 S14-powered tii as the bumpers on the '72 were nasty.