engine and drivetrain Now oldest is '67 1600-2 , where is good source my car Hx?

[king02]

How do I find out more about my car given serial number or VIN? The engine bay tag and impression in the metal fender/body are the same #1532271. I went to 1602.com site and noted only 357 or so were imported to US, is this true? I will be making this a stock setup racer maybe, suggestions please.

[Napes]

I wonder if your car was originally a European version, because the first imported ' 67 1600 was VIN 1560001? Maybe Mike S. can help here.

Bob Napier

[king02]

Thanks for the interest and help. The car used to be green, now neon blue (too much for me). I want to maintain the original nature of the car. Want to know as much about this one as possible. Looking forward to this ride being done right. And an aside, how do I get 7 meg pix up on the site, do I need to lower my picture quality. Would like to share pix.

Richard King

[NickVyse]

email the VIN and he'll give you date of build, colour and delivery info

[ray_]

Falls as a U.S. '68 on this chart....

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/content/view/13/32/

Cheers,

Ray

I wonder if your car was originally a European version, because the first imported ' 67 1600 was VIN 1560001? Maybe Mike S. can help here.

Bob Napier

[Mike Self]

US-destined cars didn't get their own VIN runs until the beginning of the 1968 model year, beginning with 1560001. Reason: 1968 was the first year for federally mandated safety and emissions stuff that wasn't required on Euro models.

Prior to that, cars bound for the US were mixed in, VINwise, with all the other cars coming off the assembly line--differing only in that the instruments spoke English and the steering wheel was on the left.

1600-2 production began with VIN 1500001 and went up through 1550000--US cars are a small percentage of these cars--no more than a couple of thousand out of 40k cars, and most were '67s.

Some years ago I recall seeing in LA a very early 1600 with a VIN around 1500512 or so--it would have been the 512th 1600 built. It belonged to the guy that originally owned 2002AD and had a bunch of little detail differences from later cars. Hopefully that car still exists...

cheers

mike

[tjones02]

Prior to that, cars bound for the US were mixed in, VINwise, with all the other cars coming off the assembly line--differing only in that the instruments spoke English and the steering wheel was on the left.

1600-2 production began with VIN 1500001 and went up through 1550000--US cars are a small percentage of these cars--no more than a couple of thousand out of 40k cars, and most were '67s.

Some years ago I recall seeing in LA a very early 1600 with a VIN around 1500512 or so--it would have been the 512th 1600 built. It belonged to the guy that originally owned 2002AD and had a bunch of little detail differences from later cars. Hopefully that car still exists...

cheers

mike

Sorry Mike, but 155xxxx 1600's are Voll Cabriolets. As far as I have seen, '66-67 1600 production went only as far as 153xxxx then the '68 US cars were 156xxxx. I have seen that there are 154xxxx 1600-2s but never in the US as US bound cars.

Yes the 150xxxx cars have a few very unusual detail differences, as well as the different "6 Volt" nose panels for all of the early 6 volt cars up to the end if '67 production. My 1508028 Bristol late '66 production car has all of these early details.

The differences between '67 US bound cars and rest of world 1600-2s were the sealed beam headlight buckets, US English speaking gauges. Mid 153 production the bumpers lost the license lights, lost the early skinny five slat kidney grille gaining the four slat one, gained the optional in Europe over riders and a few other minor differences. My 1530962 Granada car had the US tail panel license lights and over rider bumpers originally, it also had a factory installed US Blaupunkt Frankfurt US AM FM SW radio, and had the four slat grille. I have seen earlier US bound 153 cars that still had all the euro bumpers, the wide euro rear license plate holder and five slat grille.

Very early '68 production 156 cars still had the remote booster brakes as well as the chrome trimmed dashes and the badge above the taillight as earlier cars but gained many later details such as the later door latches as evidenced by my friends 1560847 Manila car.

HTH and Cheers,

[king02]

Thanks for the info, i emailed him today. I will post answer. THE JOURNEY CONTINUES. And also many thanks to everyone else, I am enjoying my learning curve.

Richard

[02Les]

Prior to that, cars bound for the US were mixed in, VINwise, with all the other cars coming off the assembly line--differing only in that the instruments spoke English and the steering wheel was on the left.

1600-2 production began with VIN 1500001 and went up through 1550000--US cars are a small percentage of these cars--no more than a couple of thousand out of 40k cars, and most were '67s.

Some years ago I recall seeing in LA a very early 1600 with a VIN around 1500512 or so--it would have been the 512th 1600 built. It belonged to the guy that originally owned 2002AD and had a bunch of little detail differences from later cars. Hopefully that car still exists...

cheers

mike

Sorry Mike, but 155xxxx 1600's are Voll Cabriolets. As far as I have seen, '66-67 1600 production went only as far as 153xxxx then the '68 US cars were 156xxxx. I have seen that there are 154xxxx 1600-2s but never in the US as US bound cars.

Yes the 150xxxx cars have a few very unusual detail differences, as well as the different "6 Volt" nose panels for all of the early 6 volt cars up to the end if '67 production. My 1508028 Bristol late '66 production car has all of these early details.

The differences between '67 US bound cars and rest of world 1600-2s were the sealed beam headlight buckets, US English speaking gauges. Mid 153 production the bumpers lost the license lights, lost the early skinny five slat kidney grille gaining the four slat one, gained the optional in Europe over riders and a few other minor differences. My 1530962 Granada car had the US tail panel license lights and over rider bumpers originally, it also had a factory installed US Blaupunkt Frankfurt US AM FM SW radio, and had the four slat grille. I have seen earlier US bound 153 cars that still had all the euro bumpers, the wide euro rear license plate holder and five slat grille.

Very early '68 production 156 cars still had the remote booster brakes as well as the chrome trimmed dashes and the badge above the taillight as earlier cars but gained many later details such as the later door latches as evidenced by my friends 1560847 Manila car.

HTH and Cheers,

You should know better than to challenge Mike (lol).

1500001-1550000 prod '66.3 - '68.2 - Euro 1600-2

1850001-1900000 prod '68.2 - '70.6 - Euro 1600-2

2650001-2676591 prod '70.6 - '71.3 - Euro 1600-2

1550001-1553252 prod '67.4 - '71.3 - Euro (RHD) 1600-2

1560001-1572930 prod '67.8 - '71.3 - USA 1600-2

1557001-1558682 prod '67.9 - '71.6 - Cabriolet 1600-2

HTH

[king02]

GOOD STUFF, back ground found through these discussions are awesome. Thanks. SO I received a reply from Andreas Harz (thanks for the suggestion)

Dear Mr King,

Thank you for your email.

The BMW 1600 VIN 1532271 was manufactured on July 14th, 1967 and delivered on July 21st, 1967 to the BMW importer Hoffman Motrs Corp. in New York City. The original colour was Turf, paint code 073.

The BMW 2002 US VIN 1669196 was manufactured on October 16th, 1969 and delivered on October 22nd, 1969 to Hoffman motors too. The original colour was Colorado, paint code 002.

We hope this information is helpful for you.

Yours sincerely,

Andreas Harz

Thank you MR HOFFMAN MTRS GROUP NYC for bringing these cars to our shores...So now I guess I own a euro 1600 and us 2002. Now I must see how original the items on my car are...More to come....maybe I should start a blog or something.

Please help or suggest good avenue to post my pics to share and how to proceed with the 1600-2. Prior owner used for cca/autocross so I need to assess which are original, and what ain't...

[Swamp Lizard]

king02, I owned 1669196 from 1980 to 1993 and would be happy to share a detailed history on Emily, at least while I had her…l loved that girl!

Edited September 10, 2023 by Swamp Lizard