Look at this Squaretail now on sale

[02Les]

I guess, me being me, wonder about the 1st service 7500kms being 1 Mar 2022 (i'm assuming those 2s are 2s) and that FINAUTO concesionnaires is still in business since 1974 or earlier.

 

[Gordon]

3 hours ago, fastricky said:

Uniroyal RainExpert 3 tires. Never heard of those, gonna research them as I'm looking for something that can challenge the CN36s. Anyone know them? 

They are only sold in the Euro market. I have asked this tire distributor if they will ship to the US, they said no.

https://www.reifendirekt.de/

 

[Gordon]

This sweet Euro spec 2002 is a text book example of how BMW intended a square tail light 02 to look like, not the US version with diving board bumpers and side marker lights/reflectors.  The pics in this ad should help motivate square tail light owners to convert from diving boards to Euro bumpers. My first 02 was a 75 Euro spec Sahara 1802 that I had while in the Air Force stationed in Germany in the early 80's. I wanted my current Sahara tii to replicate that clean Euro spec look I remember from 40 years ago.  No regrets.

Edited October 5, 2022 by Gordon

[tech71]

50 minutes ago, 02Les said:

I guess, me being me, wonder about the 1st service 7500kms being 1 Mar 2022 (i'm assuming those 2s are 2s) and that FINAUTO concesionnaires is still in business since 1974 or earlier.

 

I used to look at classic cars for sale in Germany, its amazing how many nice nice Mustangs, Camaros were for sale over there. Most were listed as restored and showed little or no miles. I think German TUV allows restored cars to "reset" their mileage, probably the same for Italy.

Whats also interesting is the 30,000+ kilometers racked up between service intervals only a few months apart.

[Mike Self]

Soon as I saw the wheels, I knew that was originally an Italian delivery car, as those were optional wheels for the Italian market; believe they're FPS, same folks that made the early and late factory alloys.

 

mike

[Gordon]

3 minutes ago, Mike Self said:

Soon as I saw the wheels, I knew that was originally an Italian delivery car, as those were optional wheels for the Italian market; believe they're FPS, same folks that made the early and late factory alloys.

 

mike

Mike, I have no doubt that these Italian market 02 wheels would go for some serious coin if a set would come available on this side of the pond.  

 

[Tommy]

3 hours ago, 02Les said:

I guess, me being me, wonder about the 1st service 7500kms being 1 Mar 2022 (i'm assuming those 2s are 2s) and that FINAUTO concesionnaires is still in business since 1974 or earlier.

 

Comparing to inspection at 1000km on the other page seems it is -77.

40 000km all there, unrestored they say, pretty amazing. 

Edited October 4, 2022 by Tommy

[saaron]

Jason has those wheels on the Beer Snob.

 

Scott

[John76]

I thought all the squaretail cars had the reinforcement panels in the trunk. 

Looks like this was a diving board bumper requirement only.

 

 

[Son of Marty]

That rear brace was fitted to the N/A big bumper cars only.

[2002#3]

From Gordon above:  "The pics in this as should help motivate square tail light owners to convert from diving boards to Euro bumpers."

 

Excellent suggestion, Gordon.  Yep, it can be done and some of us have.  As I started to drill into the nice rear bumper to mount Euro license plate lights, my wife yelled, "Do you remember how much we paid to have those damn things chromed?"  Thus, no Euro license plate lights. 

 

 

 

[02Les]

21 hours ago, Tommy said:

Comparing to inspection at 1000km on the other page seems it is -77.

40 000km all there, unrestored they say, pretty amazing. 

 

I don't know Tommy. On the 1000km page I see a normal 2 and a normal (Euro) 7.

The 7500km page seems to show 33, thus I assumed 22. For sure it's an odd wat to write 77 even for European number writing.

 

I'm sure if Oldenzaal say it's a 40k km car, then it is 🤨, especially as Oldenzaal has 'stamped' the 45k km slot.

[JsnPpp]

love the italian FPS alloys!

[Gordon]

2 hours ago, 2002#3 said:

From Gordon above:  "The pics in this ad should help motivate square tail light owners to convert from diving boards to Euro bumpers."

 

Excellent suggestion, Gordon.  Yep, it can be done and some of us have.  As I started to drill into the nice rear bumper to mount Euro license plate lights, my wife yelled, "Do you remember how much we paid to have those damn things chromed?"  Thus, no Euro license plate lights.

 

I used US spec corners, bought the seam covers, rubber strip and center piece (with license plate light holes already cut out) from WallothNesch

https://www.wallothnesch.com/en/vehicle-trim-glasses/bmw-1502-2002-turbo/catalog-picture-51-05.html

 

Edited October 5, 2022 by Gordon

[Conserv]

19 hours ago, 02Les said:

 

I don't know Tommy. On the 1000km page I see a normal 2 and a normal (Euro) 7.

The 7500km page seems to show 33, thus I assumed 22. For sure it's an odd wat to write 77 even for European number writing.

 

I'm sure if Oldenzaal say it's a 40k km car, then it is 🤨, especially as Oldenzaal has 'stamped' the 45k km slot.

Les,

 

I don’t trust Oldenzaal any more than you do. And I am a natural-born-skeptic when it comes to low-mileage claims. I believe that few are true. But I also don’t see how a stamp by Finauto, whether it was made March 1, 1977 or March 1, 2022, changes the value of a car that, visually, sure-as-tootin’ looks like it could well be a 40,000 kilometer example.

 

I am, however, also eager to learn, and I might be missing something in this dating issue that others see. So here are my thoughts, and a few questions.

 

I can see the possibility of both “77” and “22”. But whichever it is, it is clear that the first and second numbers are identical, so we’re only left with two likely choices, 25 years apart!

 

In favor of the “77” argument, a mileage of 40,000 kilometers today could be roughly supportive of it taking 2 years, 3 months (December 1974 to March 1977) to cover the 6,500 kilometers since the 1,000 kilometer service (resulting in a 7,500-kilometer service). That’s also reasonable, given it took 6 months to cover the car’s first 1,000 kilometers (June to December 1974), a period when the excitement of a new car tends to generate more use. And the condition strikes me as “in the likely range” for a car with 40,000 kilometers. It is, indeed, exceptional.

 

In favor of the “22” argument, vaguely, could the car conceivably have 140,000 kilometers (87,000 miles)? It could. My ‘76, bought new and driven with reckless abandon by a wild-ass youth — who has since reformed — looked pretty darned good at 100,000 miles in 2011, save for the disintegrating metallic paint. But the Oldenzaal car does look more “fresh” than my ‘76 looked in 2011, although my ‘76 had certainly not been detailed in 30 years. So there’s that! Given the shine under the bumpers, I’m guessing the Oldenzaal car has been detailed to within an inch of its life. I’m not certain, however, how precisely the “22” helps the argument that the Oldenzaal car is a phony, or has more mileage, or is worth less. If Finauto stamped the 7,500 kilometer service in 2022, what does that indicate? Did the car actually have 107,500 or 207,500 kilometers and they were fooled into believing it was 7,500 kilometers? Was the odometer swapped? Did Finauto lie to help out Oldenzaal, or whoever owned it before Oldenzaal? I’m struggling to figure out the “link” behind Finauto stamping the service booklet in 2022 and increasing the car’s value today.

 

On the other hand, 40,000 kilometers is exceptionally low mileage for a 48-year-old car. So careful scrutiny is warranted.

 

My experience with the factory service books in my ‘02’s was that no one bothered to stamp them unless you really bothered the dealership to stamp them. And I mean “hounded”!

 

Below, in two photos, is the service book from my ‘76. I was a royal pain in the butt to get my book stamped, but still… I only got stamps for 9 of the required 16 services (6 of the 8 major Programtests). I, thus, had to write in the information myself for the services missing stamps, referencing the actual invoices — which I largely retain. Lots of missing stamps on the Oldenzaal car’s books don’t concern me. Although, like Les, I do look at stamps when it seems important to authenticate mileage or service history.

 

In this particular case, however, I’m struggling to understand how a 2022 date could make a difference. Actual service service invoices would likely unravel any mysteries, but they are apparently absent. Does that heighten the mystery, or describe most owners, who have no interest in saving automotive records?

 

All I know for certain is that what I see in the photos appears to be in exceptional original condition.

 

Thanks and best regards,

 

Steve