2761533

“The BMW 2002 tii US VIN 2761533 was manufactured on May 02nd, 1972 and delivered on May 04th, 1972 to the BMW importer Hoffman Motors Corp. in New York City. The original colour was Chamonix, paint code 085.”

Legal delivery to: Hoffman Motors Corp on May 4, 1972

Port of Entry: Los Angeles, CA (based on the customary use of the Port of Los Angeles for Southern California dealerships)

Delivering dealer: Ocean View Motors, 1537 Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90401.

Date of delivery to original owner: July 25, 1972

Original owner:

R. Mitchum

9229 Sunset Boulevard

Los Angeles, CA

We are fortunate to have a surviving Service booklet for this car, as well as a surviving Behr air conditioning Warranty Policy. The Service booklet is currently in the possession of forum member @resra and the Behr Warranty Policy is in my possession, @Conserv. We would be honored to hand these documents over to the current owner of VIN 2761533. Inspecting these documents — and doing a little Googling — the actor, Robert Charles Mitchum (1917-1997), had an office at 9229 West Sunset Boulevard address in 1975. And the Behr Warranty Policy has a signature saying “Robert Mitchum.” So it’s reasonable to conclude that Robert Mitchum, the actor, was the original owner of this car. The Service booklet identifies the car as the “Chamonix demo tii”, I cannot interpret the “demo” term, as the car appears to have had an odometer reading of only 10 miles on July 24, 1972, the day before the initial registration, July 25, 1972, which was — presumably, but perhaps incorrectly — with Robert Mitchum. The A/C was not installed at initial delivery. The Behr warranty policy shows the air conditioning was installed on February 8, 1973, when the car was showing an odometer reading of 5,020. And there is a notation in the Service booklet. “Feb. 9-73 Extended warranty up to 17,000 miles at Ocean View Motors...”

Much of the above data is based on the original Service booklet, currently in the possession of forum member @resra, shown in the attached photos. In addition, a Behr air conditioner Warranty Policy, shown below, fills in some details.

The car was seen in an eBay listing in 2008, being sold out of Los Angeles (the first two automotive photos below). The car appeared to be Chamonix at that time and appeared to be in very good condition — of course, two photos is not a lot to base that judgement on.

Fast forward: July 28, 2021. The car is listed for sale on eBay. It’s now registered in Tennessee, and is a tired powder blue (maybe not, but… whatever color the exterior is, it’s not warm creamy Chamonix!). The trunk interior has been badly painted black, to complement the (surface?) rust. The engine compartment, still bona fide Chamonix, has rust building in the crevices. The front seats have been recovered — 10 rather than the original 12 pleats — in a too-light blue. But it’s complete and appears eminently restorable. And it still has a tii radiator support: God bless its somewhat sad little tii soul! And, interestingly, the 1973 Behr A/C has been replaced by a Frigiking evaporator and center console… 

The car was discussed in:

and:

The 23 automotive photos following the initial two are from the 2021 eBay listing.