New-to-me '74 tii

[AlfaBMWGuy]

Greetings all,

 

After thinking I'd be out of the 2002 world for at least a few years when I sold my early '71 2002 on BringATrailer last November, https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1971-bmw-2002-45/, once I put it through a 3-year "sympathetic restoration" after buying it from the original owner, and then for good measure I sold my pristine low miles '91 318is in April, https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1991-bmw-325is-10/, I'm back!  This time it's a 1974 2002tii that I bought out of Calgary, Alberta, Canada (I'm in southeastern Washington state).

 

I got some crazy quotes for shipping in early August, like $3K to ship the car over the border from Canada to me less than 600 miles away, not including a broker they'd require me to use to get the paperwork to U.S. Customs at the border.  But once the border opened up for vaccinated U.S. citizens a few weeks ago, it only made sense to bring it home myself and I was able to transport it for a fraction of the quotes.  As a bonus, the U.S. customs office at the lonely northern Idaho border crossing I used didn't charge me the 2.5% customs duty so there was no extra cost buying from out of the country, so same as buying from a few hundred miles away within the U.S. and that would never happen if I was going with a shipper!  Having the original riveted VIN tag stating it was a U.S. model and the door jamb sticker stating it met all Federal standards may have also played into that decision by the customs agent.

 

The car was originally owned in Vancouver, B.C., and spent time in Kelowna, B.C. before Calgary, Alberta where I found it.  By this time Canada was getting U.S. spec cars, chassis number is 2781824 (tried emailing BMW archives to get the build date, but got the automated reply about their office move), and the only thing I can find that distinguishes this one is the metric speedometer/odometer.  Any help with getting a better idea when this came off the production line before BMW archives opens up again is appreciated.

 

Overall it is in cosmetically great condition with no rust and a nice quality repaint  (Granatrot appears to the original color as well based on what I see behind the glove box) that is holding up well after 20 or so years.  The only telltale from a life north of the border besides the metric speedo that I can spot is a thicker undercoating layer, which I think was a preventative measure later in the life of the car to keep rust from ever taking hold.  Clearly since the late 90's and early 2000's restoration work, it's been garaged and babied.

 

I've got a few things planned working with Steve at@BLUNTand a mechanic buddy of mine who used to own a repair shop locally doing the bigger jobs.  I'll be doing a 1-2-3 bluetooth ignition upgrade in the next week or two and likely turn a suspension redo over to my buddy during the late fall/winter.  There will be a few minor cosmetic items and anything else needed to bring it to top condition (new OEM door seals being one of those).  Fortunately, the to-do list is a lot shorter than when I started bringing back my original owner Granada '71.  I've figured out that any bigger projects like that will need to wait until I'm retired 5-10 years from now.

 

Then I'm planning a few fun changes in the personalization area.  That's starting with tossing the modern CD/MP3 player in favor of a period Blaupunkt or Becker.  A wood Nardi classic steering wheel and matching shift knob are also on that list.  Odds are also good that I'll be doing the bumper tuck thing front and rear--I don't mind the more bulky look of 5 mph safety bumpers at all, they just protrude way too far from the body so I'm willing to sacrifice function for form in that one area.  I'd consider a full Euro bumper conversion, but right now the paint and body is in just too good of condition for me to want to take it into a body shop to patch and repaint over the holes left by the original bumpers.

 

Right away most will notice from the pics I'll post next that the wheel arches are flared.  From what I was told by the seller, the owner who did the repaint and some other restoration also had this done where the original metal was reformed rather than anything being fabricated.  There is no evidence that this was for fitting wider wheels as those are the period OEM 5x13" FPS (same style as Mahle) bottlecap alloys on there (in amazing condition).  So that owner must just have really wanted that  later '70s/early '80s look (close to an E21 or E24 to my eye).  I would have kept it original myself, but the overall condition was so nice I couldn't pass on it for that reason--no snorkel nose panel and matching engine number were more important to me in addition to a great paint job--the ultimate reason I sold the '71 knowing how much a good paint job costs these days.  Then the final unusual bit is that the antenna is mounted just behind the driver side C-pillar on the rear wing rather than on the A-pillar.  If I ever go for the Euro bumper conversion, I would certainly move that and get that hole patched over as well.

 

Based on what I learned with redoing the suspension on my '71, I'm planning a few changes this time.  Before I went with Ireland Engineering stage 1 springs and sway bars with the recommended Bilstein HD struts/shocks.  While it certainly handled great, that was just a little too "track-ready" for my taste.  This time I intend to go one step softer with both springs and damping, but I'm sure it will still be a top handler.  My first thought from reading threads here is Eibach springs and Koni yellow/sport struts and shocks.  The tii already has ST sway bars so I'm not planning any changes there.  If it seems prudent it will get a full rubber bushings kit courtesy of BluntTech.  Any feedback on those plans, specifically regarding the choice of springs and shocks, is appreciated.  From what I've read, H&R progressive springs would also give a bit softer ride than Ireland stage 1, but those may still be a little stiffer than the Eibachs.  It's really hard to tell from the subjective impressions people give in FAQ posts.

 

I apologize for the length of this "introduction", at least to those who made it this far!  I'm a long-time 2002 and E30 enthusiast also into Alfas, as might be guessed from my username.  I'll post a pic of the '73 Giulia Super I brought over from Belgium back in 2007 and is now the stablemate for the tii.  This is my 4th 2002 and I've owned 4 E30s as well all over the past 30 years.  I was originally looking for either a Lancia Fulvia or an Alfa GT Junior (the bigger engines ones being out of the price range I could justify for this purchase) after selling my last two BMWs, most likely out of Europe and got very close to buying a couple times in the past few months, but never pulled the trigger.  Then this tii came on the market and it just felt too right not to act on even being not at the top of my candidate list (frankly, based on BaT prices, I thought I was priced out of a nice tii, even a big bumper square light '74 model).

 

Cheers,

Gary

Edited September 2, 2021 by AlfaBMWGuy

[AlfaBMWGuy]

Here are a few pics of the '74 tii:

 

[AlfaBMWGuy]

You might think there is some California history with this car given the grille badge.  Nope, the seller just really liked the flag design.  These are pics taken by the seller up in Calgary.  Here is a pic of the car loaded up on the U-Haul auto transport before I set out for back home a couple weeks ago.  Then the seller even bought and gave me this really cool Granatrot tii model even with the same alloy wheels as the actual car.  Only differences are the model has the Euro bumpers and is the Lux trim.

 

[AlfaBMWGuy]

Finally, here's my '73 Alfa Giulia Super (original Prugna color, very much an early 1970's period offering), which is a 2.0 transplant so it would be a pretty even race with the tii:

 

Edited September 2, 2021 by AlfaBMWGuy

[PaulTWinterton]

Nice cars, both.  I'll only make one comment.  Cocomats!  

 

Cocomats.com

 

Welcome back to 02 (and tii) ownership.  Cheers!

[AlfaBMWGuy]

13 minutes ago, PaulTWinterton said:

Nice cars, both.  I'll only make one comment.  Cocomats!  

 

Cocomats.com

 

Welcome back to 02 (and tii) ownership.  Cheers!

Thanks Paul.  I know Cocomats well.  If you look at the BaT auction for my Granada '71, I bought the red/black mats for that and went through the whole exercise of customizing them based on paper templates they sent.  They really brought out the Granada paint color even if the paint job on that car was way below this tii.

 

On this car now, I was surprised to find the original solid grey molded carpet in really nice condition minus a bit of tearing around the pedal box reinforced vinyl area--not quite reinforced enough I guess.  They are in too nice of shape to replace even though I've already been annoyed to find I can't just pull back a driver floor carpet and get in the pedal box to adjust the clutch MC pushrod length because the clutch engagement point is too close to the top of the pedal travel for my taste. Instead, unless I can unhook the pedal from the MC by feel, I'll need to take out the console as well as the under dash panels to pull back the carpet far enough to get inside the pedalbox.

 

I was originally thinking it was a multi-piece replacement carpet kit because there are actually salt and pepper carpeted floormats underneath the thin rubber mats--two layers of protection for the original carpet helps to explain why it is so nice.

 

Ooops, now you got me to look at the Cocomats website again and I see there is what they call a "Terracota and black" that would be a great match for Granatrot.  I was thinking I would need to go red again (bright red has never been one of my preferred car colors, another down the list reason I sold the '71) and didn't think I would want that.  Now that I know they already want Granatrot 2002 owners to buy Cocomats based on their color offerings, I don't think I have a choice ?

Edited September 2, 2021 by AlfaBMWGuy

[PaulTWinterton]

8 minutes ago, AlfaBMWGuy said:

I'll need to take out the console as well as the under dash panels to pull back the carpet far enough to get inside the pedalbox.

 

Yes, that 1 piece carpet is an issue with the later cars.  I do see that your clutch pedal looks a bit proud.  Too bad your carpet is so nice, otherwise you could replace it with an Esty carpet kit.

 

Look at it this way.  While the console is out you can inspect the pedal box for leaks and maybe add an AFR gauge for tuning the tii, if it doesn't already have one.

[AlfaBMWGuy]

An Esty carpet kit was my next thing to do on my '71 as it had original carpets showing wear in a few places, but I'd also want to do Dynamat and that's viewed as a way to hide rust in floors when selling (and that '71 was just incredibly original and solid so I didn't want to hide anything) so I decided to leave that carpet decision to the next owner.  The original carpets gave it a lot of patina as well without looking ratty so I think it was the right decision.  

 

That '71 did have the clutch MC go out on me and leak fluid in the pedalbox and I was glad at that point to have carpet that was quick to pull up and replace.

 

From all the evidence I have, this '74 tii has always been owned by "checkbook mechanics" rather than DIYers.  Fortunately, they've done right by the car even though it's amusing to go through a stack of invoices and see the same little issues like turn signals dealt with multiple times due to shops not doing the job right the first time.

 

-Gary

[AlfaBMWGuy]

Just put in the Cocomats order after seeing that terracotta option!  Might not be a perfect match for Granatrot, but I think it fits the character better than black/red since Granatrot is kind of a mellow red.  Maybe they've got more confidence in their template now and won't send out the paper pattern, we'll see.

Edited September 2, 2021 by AlfaBMWGuy

[Son of Marty]

Love both cars, for me if it hadn't been BMW it would have been Alfa, for sure, would love to find room for one. 

[AlfaBMWGuy]

6 minutes ago, Son of Marty said:

Love both cars, for me if it hadn't been BMW it would have been Alfa, for sure, would love to find room for one. 

The Lancia Fulvia coupes and Fulvia Sport Zagatos are just great cars too.  But, I was only finding good candidates in Europe ($90K for that Fulvia Zagato with the Donald Osborne provenance on BaT is too rich for my blood)  and given the extra hassle with buying that remote (Italy especially is a burden with "deregistering" cars), time before getting the car, importation costs and worry about it the whole month+ trip across the Atlantic (and through the Panama Canal and up the west coast to Tacoma for me), all added to a not very favorable Euro/USD exchange rate right now (feels better to buy out of Canada, probably how Europeans feel buying out of the U.S. now), and I just didn't find anything that worked for me 100% like I did with the tii.  I was also extrapolating my experience in trying to find a Fulvia with what it would be like for sourcing parts.  Both the BMWs and Alfas are known quantities to me for that in terms of knowing that what I really need I can get even if some of the obscure stuff like trim bits for any old car can be hard to find.

 

-Gary

[02Les]

Reportedly, 2781822 was manufactured 15 May 1974. Thus, there's a good chance yours was the same day.

[Gordon]

Welcome to the 74 tii square tail light club. Your tii is a blank canvas, perfect candidate for a restomod if you choose. It's rare to see a square tail light 02 with the original bus drivers steering wheel.   Square tail light tii's don't have the value of roundie's but I prefer square tail light 02's, they seem more solid and better built.  Purists will hate me but I'll take a square tail light 02 with a Euro bumper conversion and side marker light/reflector delete over a roundie any day.  Diving board bumpers won't save your 02 from a low speed impact by a SUV/pickup, AMHIK!  Now that you have a 74 tii, spend some time in this webpage to soak up the knowledge from someone who's been there, done that.  https://www.my2002tii.com/   Keith's build inspired me to do similar results on my 74 tii, here's mine.

[Mike Self]

Very nice car--and welcome back to the '02 fraternity/sorority.  That was a beautiful 318is you sold--when new BMW advertised 'em as "the 2002 of the 90s" and they really are.

 

Re-doing your own suspension (springs, bushings, sway bars, shocks etc) isn't that difficult; I did the fronts on both my cars, making bushing extraction/installation tools from plastic plumbing pipe, big, thick washers and all-thread rods.  Wrote a couple of columns on the process; PM me if you'd like a copy. 

 

Very cool--and rare--factory alloys too.

 

mike

[Conserv]

7 hours ago, PaulTWinterton said:

Nice cars, both.  I'll only make one comment.  Cocomats!  

 

Cocomats.com

 

Welcome back to 02 (and tii) ownership.  Cheers!

+1

 

I was about to say, “everything’s perfect”, Gary, when I spotted those rubber floor mats. They stand out. They really stand out — but not in a good way! ?

 

If the original multi-gray one-piece carpet is good-looking overall, I’d probably pull it out and find someone willing to sensitively clean it and patch the holes. Despite the declines in the quality of interior materials occurring during the square taillight era, the original carpets, with tasteful Cocomats, generally look great with an otherwise original interior! I’m a big Esty carpet fan, but original carpet, if in good or better condition, is a great answer.

 

By the by, RealOEM.com provides month and year of manufacture for 1974 and later ‘02’s, see below. But I’m confident Les has nailed the precise day with his post for VIN 2781822!
 

Congrats: two great cars!

 

Best regards,

 

Steve