Insanely nice '74 2002 on BAT

[Hodgepodge]

Price: $1

Location: Cullman, Alabama

Description:

In my never-ending quest to find super-nice 2002s, this one is way, way up there on the "holy crap that is nice!" scale.   It is a 100% stripped and restored 1974 2002 on Bring a Trailer.  (Not my car...) 

 

Restored 1974 BMW 2002 on BAT

 

What impresses me the most, besides the car itself, are the terrific images outlining all the details of the car plus many shots during the rebuild.  There are detail shots here that you will really want to keep if you are looking for good images for your restoration project.   Every nut and bolt on this car is restored or new.  Images include every detail of the car plus many images of the extensive rebuild.  You don't see engine and transmission teardown images in for sale listings very often but there are many for this build.  The car almost looks like it hasn't even been driven since the rebuild as there is no dirt or read grit anywhere and the underside looks practically sterile. 

 

At first glance, except for the Getrag 245 5-speed transmission, the car looks to have been restored to 100% stock, right down to the original carb and intake air diverter.   On closer examination, all of the emissions controls have been removed and a header has been installed.  The car does have Recaro seats and a nice BMW wheel from an E21, but it all looks right at home.  I am also not sure I like the leather covered dash, but it has been very nicely done.  

 

As perfect as this car looks, I see only one area where the owner/restorer may have missed something.  The hood/cabin fresh-air gaskets are not in the right place or are missing.  (i.e. hood latch side gaskets missing and the hood gasket is on the body of the car instead of the hood. As a result, the engine fumes will end up in the cabin.)  The sound insulator pads on the hood are not quite in the same as the originals either.   Those are tiny things, though, in a restoration that is truly impressive.  

 

The car has already been bid up to $27,500 with 6 days left in the auction.  This one will be very interesting to watch! 

 

Take care, 

 

Scott

  

 

 

 

 

[ray_]

Also the side markers are wrong. Oddly.

 

Cheers,

[iinca]

when have you seen the hood gasket on the body?

 

It def' wins for cleanest undercarriage.

 

Might hit 35 grand?

Edited November 12, 2017 by iinca
ggg

[Hodgepodge]

55 minutes ago, iinca said:

when have you seen the hood gasket on the car?

 

It def' wins for cleanest undercarriage.

 

Might hit 35 grand?

You mean the pads or the seal gasket?   Well, my one-owner car gives me a pretty good idea of where they are supposed to go.  :-)  

The seller says he has $45k in receipts, so I'll be he wants at least $50.    The price already hit $35,350.  Might get it.  

 

 

Edited November 12, 2017 by Hodgepodge

[Hodgepodge]

1 hour ago, ray_ said:

Also the side markers are wrong. Oddly.

 

Cheers,

I didn't even notice those!   For a moment I thought maybe they were E90 side markers but they follow the curve of the car and all the other BMW side markers are flat.  Must be a euro thing but no idea from what car or country.....

[02Les]

2 hours ago, ray_ said:

Also the side markers are wrong. Oddly.

 

Cheers,

Not to mention the wrong gauge cluster.

[Conserv]

Looks like a very good paint job in a very good color.  I suspect the owner will recover his $45K of costs.  As a collector car, the replacement engine and the car's original status as a 1974 2002A will impose some sort of cap on the car's value down the road.

 

Like many restorations, it could have benefitted by having been critiqued by all of us SOB's.  There are lots of missed details -- some noted already, most easily correctable -- that make the difference between a very good restoration (this car) and a "holy sh*t" restoration (COOP's Baikal tii).  Yes, COOP's Baikal car that showed us where 2002 values could go! Besides having the legendary Delia involved in the restoration, COOP threw open the door by posting photos here of his tii during its restoration and asking publically, "What am I missing?  What am I not seeing?"

 

The most glaring deficiency -- in my view -- is that wrinkly leather-covered dash board.  Why not spend $1,000 on a perfect dash -- un-cracked one-piece dashes are out there -- rather than, what, $500, on the cheap-looking cover?

 

I'll assume the January 1, 2012 date on the photos is not correct.  Why would you take beautiful photos of a car, only to have the photos' dates -- and hence the historic value of those photos -- negated by that wrong date?  It's somewhat sad that the car was not driven post-restoration and pre-sale. Or were these photos simply taken before the car was driven?  Were the photos -- well, the most recent photos, since some of the photos were obviously  mid-restoration -- taken just prior to the listing?

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

 

 

Edited November 16, 2017 by Conserv

[ray_]

Yeah the seller apologized for the camera date stamp; the (new) pics are current. 

 

Also I think it is BaT who said it's a resto -- not necessarily the seller. 

 

That is a less-than-pretty dash. My re-stitched vinyl one is nicer, I think...

 

Cheers,

[iinca]

Conserv great points! Why not get some real restoration tips from 3000 heart breaker' fanatics lol.

 

How do you miss that hood gasket placement? The stitched leather dash to a laymen might seem cool and euro'.. but it looks cheesy and appears saggy to me...

 

If your going for the big $$ up to date photos would be a good idea too. Like yesterday pics

 

Question. Why not post a video walk around? Or a drive along... I see that all the time in ads for nice cars

[joebarthlow]

IDK, I think the leather cover on the dash looks a bit janky. Look at other cars with leather covered dashes and these covers look uncraftsmen-like. Throwing $45K into a car, I'm sure the perfect condition dash could have been sourced.

 

those front side markers look like something from JC Whitney. full body restoration with euro conversion... makes no sense to keep them, let alone attach those.

 

Regardless of some details, we're about to see a new BaT record for a square tail light base model... if it meets reserve. The last three 2002/1600 auctions have not met reserve. 

[Hodgepodge]

Well apparently the little things we all noticed also made a difference to whomever was bidding on the car.  The auction ended at $35,850 with the reserve not met.  As nice as the car is, I think it may be a while before the seller get's his $45k+ investment back out of this car.  I'll bet the seller would have done much better had he just run everything by us first.  :-)   

[iinca]

Potential bidders could have read this thread

 

Car still wins the 2017 clean undercarriage award...

[jp5Touring]

As a novice when it comes to 02's,i love reading what has been pointed out on some of these cars.

If you want the big money it darn well should  be correct, but the lower price cars it seems no one cares if numbers match or how many times its been painted. I love that part about it. 

[Conserv]

4 hours ago, Hodgepodge said:

Well apparently the little things we all noticed also made a difference to whomever was bidding on the car.  The auction ended at $35,850 with the reserve not met.  As nice as the car is, I think it may be a while before the seller get's his $45k+ investment back out of this car.  I'll bet the seller would have done much better had he just run everything by us first.  :-)   

 

Or, even a great paint job in a great color on a fairly stock 1974 2002A, with a swapped engine and trans, doesn’t have a wide appeal.... ?

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

Edited November 18, 2017 by Conserv

[Hodgepodge]

10 hours ago, Conserv said:

 

Or, even a great paint job in a great color on a fairly stock 1974 2002A, with a swapped engine and trans, doesn’t have a wide appeal.... ?

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

Well...  I think maybe we are all forgetting that the car DID bring several offers over $35k.  $35k for a mostly stock 2002 is pretty impressive.  It doesn't matter if the car has wide appeal or not as long as one person is willing to pay the seller's price for it.  The real trick for these (I think) professional restorer/resellers, of course, is how to sell a BMW for $35k without necessarily putting more than that into it.  That is apparently something this seller was not able to do.  Several of the choices this seller made during the restoration took the cost well over $35k.    I will probably have nearly that much in my 2002 by the time I'm done with it and hopefully will make better choices.   It would be nice to break even when I get around to selling it but that's why restoring cars is one of my hobbies and not my profession.   :-)   

 

Take care,

 

Scott