Early 1600 VIN trivia answer, for fans of the earliest model

[bmw_jeff]

Merry Christmas everyone! I wanted to share some recent news about the "1966" 1600-2 in the BMW Museum [Munich] main lobby. After seeing it last year, I suspected it was not at 1966 but a 1967 car, but could not find anyone to open the hood to check the VIN. I just contacted Andreas Hartz at BMW MT and although he would not reveal the exact VIN, he said it was a later VIN than mine (1517644) and is in fact a 1967 car, not a 66 as it claims on the display. He also does not know of BMW owning any other 1600's with earlier VINs, such as a true 66 (150xxxx). SO the earliest known VIN remains at the baby-blue Canadian '66 of 1503010. What happened to the first 3000 cars? And you would think BMW would have kept at least one of the test mules from 66, or the first car off the line? But alas, no. I attached some pics of the museum car for those that have not seen it. Same color combo as mine, but with [incorrect for 67] Tobacco vinyl instead of Dark Brown.

[a54atii]

That's a bit of a surprise. I also assumed that they would have a couple of early 02s. I guess my '67 may still have a shot at being the earliest surviving sunroof 02.

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,50/page,viewtopic/t,351530/

It would be nice if BMW would at least provide accurate descriptions for their displays.

Karl

[malagalaga]

I saw the car last March (2010), too. I also wondered about that tobacco interior - I'm not much of an '02 historian, although I'd like to be.

I was rather impressed with how close that interior is to my own car's... I replaced ripped, tired center sections of '71 tobacco seats with a cloth in a vague attempt to imitate early Euro-model seats.

Here are a few more photos of the BMW Museum's 1600 in case anyone is interested. I took some random detail shots.

[malagalaga]

Forgot to "answer" your question... I'm guessing that BMW's perilous financial conditions in 1966 meant that they weren't in a position to hold onto anything they couldn't sell. From what I understand, they - like most car companies - have had to reacquire most of their early models.

[eastsidebimmer]

Not sure, but for $50 Bucks....you can own a small slice of 1529630:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Bmw-1600-1967-2-dr-Title-2002-TT-RARE-/350424741603

[jmon0261]

When did they use this 1600 badge ?

[Guest Anonymous]

Was that kidney used on any other cars or is it specific to early 02s?

[SamAdams]

When did they use this 1600 badge ?

Hey Joseph

Maybe Tom Jones or Jeff Goss can give a more definite answer but the February 1967 Car and Driver review of the BMW 1600 showed that script on rear. And also the car has "BMW 1600" on the dash as well.

And from what I have read 1966 models had a more rounded center kidney grille than later models. Again I do not know when this detail changed. Apparently sometime in 1967.

[Mike Self]

in Los Angeles. It belonged to the original owner of 2002AD, when it was located in Sun Valley, before Bill Merican bought it. IIRC the VIN was 1500512--the earliest I've ever seen--and had a whole bunch of detail differences from even the 1967 cars. At the time the car was intact with its original engine and what appeared to be the original interior, trim etc. The same guy also owned the 8th US tii--2760009 and another early tii whose VIN escapes me, but it was under 100.

He was selling off these cars after he sold 2002AD; wish I had some way to get that early 1600 back to Ohio...

Anyone know what ever became of it?

cheers

mike

[malagalaga]

I just noticed that the museum car doesn't have the early hood and trunk chrome trim. Interesting.

[bmw_jeff]

When did they use this 1600 badge ?

This is the 1966 badge. That's the main give-away for 150xxxx cars. As someone stated they also had a plastic "BMW_1600" badge on the dashboard. I would say this badge (the dash one) is the most difficult part to source. I've only ever seen one well-worn example for sale anywhere, several years back.

In 67 they went to the small, but thick and concave (to match the body curve) Roundel on the back with the 1600 script. Then in 68 you got the bigger flat Roundel that is common to most years, and the 1600 script grew about 33% in size too. So both 66 and 67 have unique 1-model-year emblems on the back. A few of the earliest 68's, likely the ones built in 67, had the small Roundel too.

[bmw_jeff]

Was that kidney used on any other cars or is it specific to early 02s?

The kidney was only used on 66-67 02's, however it was originally used on and "borrowed" from the 1500-1600 NK sedan of 64-66.

[southgabimmer]

I was there a year and a half ago and remember that 1600. i remember thinking, "the gaps on this thing are huge!"

[bmw_jeff]

I was there a year and a half ago and remember that 1600. i remember thinking, "the gaps on this thing are huge!"

The gaps are pretty large on the early cars at least; never really compared them to a later 02 but maybe they improved the production process over the years. However, based on my visual of the alignment or lack thereof of the front panels I think that car was wrecked and repaired by BMW for the museum. You can see in the pic above of the side-mirror, vs the pic of mine below. The gap is way too close and not uniform on the museum car. So the gaps may be worse than average. But even on my car that has never been hit, the gaps are pretty large but uniform throughout. Here is the only pic I could find showing the gap at the door to front fender.

[thaddeussmith]

do they start these cars up and run them, or are they forever destined to rot sieze up in their protective cocoon?