Any info on this old image?

[uai]

8 hours ago, Andersson said:

Alpina workshop 1971.

 

Looks like that pic was taken on my desk. I knew I‘ve seen it before in a period magazine

[Tommy]

8 hours ago, Andersson said:

Alpina workshop 1971.

 

So it's after moving to Buchloe! I was thinking that the shop looked too nice to be the place where they started.

[NickVyse]

On 6/28/2020 at 9:30 PM, resra said:

But look at the choice of wheels on the cars....cosmic, 100+ etc. looks more british to me. Alpina factory cars would probably wear what Alpina offered to their customers for sale at the time. 

 

The steering wheel on the left and the german plates should have put you off that idea ?

 

Awesome picture

[Epic]

They did offer tuning services to the average car owner though right? I’m sure there would have been other 2002’s tuned by Alpina that weren’t Colorado. 

[Oldtimerfahrer]

You could just give them an engine and they would return it with whichever of the three levels of tune you wanted...but they did not take "cores". You could order a car, or order just a four-speed to five-speed conversion with an LSD or suspension mods. Initially it was a small but professional tuning shop, that did most everything that a tuning shop does...Or you could buy a complete car. These usually did not come in racing livery if you were buying a street car. I would assume that most of the 2002s they did were either 1600 or 2002 variants, where the owner wanted to upgrade the car significantly. I have no idea what the "average" Alpina 2002 looked like in terms of tune or stripes or what percentage of their business was whole prepared cars vs. just updates to customer cars. Maybe there is an Alpina history of "the early years"...but I have not look for one.

Ray King sent me an article on Alpina in German that I am translating, I hope he will put it on FAQ in some way when I finally finish it and send it back.

Andrew

[uai]

I've looked it up

It's Auto Motor Sport 04/1971 13th. Feb. 1971

And BuBo always had a sense for Merketing. If he had a couple of Colorado Pigcheeks at hand he'd arrange them in a nice way to display when Seufert would come to take some pics.

Edited July 1, 2020 by uai

[Oldtimerfahrer]

Well, he also had the license plate KF BB 1...

Andrew

[Conserv]

Alpina became a BMW dealer sometime before 1972. Thus, you could order your new '02 with the right BMW options, e.g., 5-speed close ratio, and then have Alpina work their magic -- engine, suspension, brakes, rims -- until you were satisfied or broke.

 

These cars were generally street legal, which meant something very different in 1970 Germany (remember the TUV!) than it does in 2020 U.S. If you wanted to run 5.5" Alpina steelies, you had to have the KBA approval documention showing that that particular aftermarket accessory had been approved for that particular model.

 

Early Alpina cars were low-key, generally sleepers. Recall, the Germans probably started the craze of removing engine badges from the rear of their cars. Thus, your 1968 300SEL 6.3 was cooler if it didn't have the 6.3 badge on the trunk lid.

 

It seems as if the Alpina stripes and flashy stuff largely started around the time of the square taillight, so let's say 1974. And that was the same time BMW put striping and labeling on the 1974 turbo -- and then backed off the reverse script on the front spoiler because it was considered too obnoxious.

 

Below, first and second photos, is a 1967 1600-2 fully prepped by Alpina and delivered to its U.S. owner just before Labor Day of 1967. This is a flashy one: it has an Alpina sticker on the left side of the hood.

 

The third and fourth photos show a road test of a 1969 2002ti fully prepped by Alpina. It doesn't appear to have any external identification of its lineage.

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

 

Edited July 1, 2020 by Conserv

[skyking96w]

A page from an Alpina brochure circa 1969-70. (My car was built in Buchloe July, 1970).

 

 

[Conserv]

50 minutes ago, skyking96w said:

A page from an Alpina brochure circa 1969-70. (My car was built in Buchloe July, 1970).

 

 

 

And I see they're selling the Elektron (magnesium alloy) version of the Minilite: 5 and 5.5 x 13, and 6 x 14, the later I'd assume for NK and coupe models.

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

Edited July 1, 2020 by Conserv

[zinz]

4 hours ago, skyking96w said:

A page from an Alpina brochure circa 1969-70.

Alpina 2000CS FTW !!! ?

[visionaut]

Kinda on topic - because ALPINA.  Thought I'd share...

 

A 40-year Alpina History article from a few years back, which appeared in BMW Car Club mag. It's better before it gets into the more contemporary stuff. But sadly no early pics...

So I added a pic of Bubo with that original BMW 1500 Tuning 'crate kit'.  ;-P

 

"From Typewriters to Turbos..."

Alpina 40 years on (BMW Car Mag).pdf

[Epic]

Well I managed to complete my car ready for a local event, using the picture initially posted for inspiration. 
 

[Oldtimerfahrer]

Cosmic's look great! If you need caps, a friend of mine 3d printed caps, he might be willing to part with the drawing if you have someone to print them for you.

Andrew

[BarrettN]

On 6/30/2020 at 7:51 AM, Epic said:

These cars could well be Colorado. You're right.

 

Has there been any history of other colours prior to the original workshop in 1970?

It seems that Grenada was a favorite color for early Alpinas from 66-67, there was a Grenada press car that wore the number plate KF-N 999, it was wrecked rather solidly on the Nürburgring Nordschleife, and presumably retired as a different Grenada Alpina car shows up wearing the same plates later. Several of the articles in Motor and Sport as well as other magazines from the latest 60s also had Grenada Alpina cars. The Car & Driver car is also Grenada.