Do you remember your first ?

[jayamasaki]

attraction to 2002's that is!

Here is my story...

I have always been somewhat of a car nut, when I was small my uncle owned a local used car dealership in East Los Angeles, Ca and i used to start the cars in the morning during my summer vacay, help wash them, and loved every minute, that said it was 93 or 94 i went to my first battle of the imports at LACR in Palmdale, Ca. It was here i saw my first 2002 that i fell head over heals for.

It was a time when Honda were hitting mid to high 13's in the quarter mile, not too many Honda were fast at the time. Since it was called battle of the imports, there were VW's and a host of other non-american cars there. I saw a small car pull up to the staging tree, it was a square lights, light blue BMW 2002 with a rotary motor. Since that day, i have always wanted that exact set up and the bug never left me....

[jetdog]

oh yea, vividly. The year was '76 or early '77 I was 12 or 13 and already way into cars. Our neighbor Mr. Darling traded in his mid '60's Mercedes sedan for a brand new '76 in the brightest green I had ever seen on a car. Not sure what they called the color. Tan interior. He said it was one of the safety colors. You know, everything seemed black and white back then until I saw this '02. All I know is that I've been hooked ever since. I'm not sure he ever gave me a ride!

[jerry]

i must have been 13 at the time my older sister drove up to my parent's house in her brand new 74 malaga automatic with sunroof. my dad hopped in the passenger seat and i jumped in the back seat. it was clean and new smelling.

i remember the tight turning radius. of course, my father was shocked that she spent around $5000 or $6000 for a car back then when most american cars were considerably cheaper. he kind of nagged her for being a spendthrift. he wasn't won over by it....

later, i got a ride from an owner who tossed the car side to side on a local road. that was both scary and exciting. i was won over.

i had to suffer through a beige 68 VW Bug before i could graduate to the 02.

it wasn't till 1991 when i bought a used 74 '02.

[jrhone]

DOnt remember the exact year..My older brother was racing his 510 in SCCA GT2. There was a legendary Volvo guy Richard Gordon...IPD Volvo. He was racing a Volvo 142 and was the GREATEST guy. He was winning a race and there was a pesky BMW 2002 with Alpina Flares that basically hunted him down lap after lap until he passed him. I despised and secretly LOVED the 2002 at the same time for outlasting the Volvo. From then on I was a 2002 fan...I was also a fan of the GT Porsche 935, and the mighty 320 Turbo...those battles were legendary. Funny my 2 favorite cars of all time...my Carrera and my 2002...

[c.d.iesel]

1970 - mother in market for new fun car

road tested a 1602 - and then road tested

a MGB-GT - she bought the MGB-GT -

the MG was $1000 cheaper

1975 - installed fixed Neg Camber strut mounts

in friends silver tii

1979? - friend asked me to 'look over' his car before he

moved from CT. out to OR.

1970's - 1980's - diagnosed many Bavaria cracked cylinder heads

when BMW owner's were attempting to trade their blown-up

6-cylinder cars for a new Mercedes-Benz

1981 - bought new R100RS bike

1996 - bought used 1986 R65 bike

1999 - bought my 1976 2002

2005 - sold 1976 2002

2005 - bought 1964 R27 bike

[HarryPR]

Back in 1974, a lady business owner who lived near us bought a brand new Sahara 2002A. Suddenly the Datsun 1200 I had recently bought lost its charm.

Then in '75, she bought her daughter a brand new Amazonasgrun '75 4 speed '02.

In 1976, she bought her son, my buddy since childhood, a new Sahara '02! He let me drive it and I was hooked. By then, I was driving a new Dodge Celeste GT (Plymouth Arrow GT for you guys in the mainland). The search started and ended when I bought my first one, a 1970 1600-2 which had been imported from Colombia.

[MAD02]

Back in 1999, I was going to culinary school in Pasadena. During classes we would team up with other classmates to prep food. I was teamed up with an attractive Italian girl named Elisa. She drove a 1974 2002 everyday. We became good friends and during breaks in class we would take her 02 on food runs or quick trips to the local bar! I loved the car and told myself that I would buy one eventually.

I ended up buying her BMW OG blue binder manual and was going to buy the car but she had to drop out of classes because of some family issues and we ended up losing touch. I hope she is doing well.

[jayamasaki]

Back in 1999, I was going to culinary school in Pasadena. During classes we would team up with other classmates to prep food. I was teamed up with an attractive Italian girl named Elisa. She drove a 1974 2002 everyday. We became good friends and during breaks in class we would take her 02 on food runs or quick trips to the local bar! I loved the car and told myself that I would buy one eventually.

I ended up buying her BMW OG blue binder manual and was going to buy the car but she had to drop out of classes because of some family issues and we ended up losing touch. I hope she is doing well.

Italian, Attractive, and driving a 74 2002 wow. do you live in dream come true land?

I thought the story was going to end with : And we are happily married today....hahaha

[TEAEYE]

How can you forget your first? If you do you have no soul!

Halloween day 1979, I'm a young kid working at my fathers Chervon station, he's teaching me about cars and I don't have my licence yet.

At the time I realy like German and Italian cars, almost bought an Opel Kadett! Loved Fiat 128s but have hard time finding a good one.

So I see the ad for an 67 BMW, doesn't run $500, get all excited and ask my Dad if we can go look at it!

There, in an old mans back yard she was! Complete with a dead deer on the roof!!!!!! (man was a hunter!)

She was fadded to all hell Polaris silver, rust holes every where, but she had the most beautiful black interior with a wood dash.

The owner seemed honest that the car did in fact run, but would not start, my Dad agreed that we should take him for his word.

A peek under the clam shell hood revealed these wicked looking side ways carbs! (remember I'm a kid!) The Zeppelin-like lines and an almost sinister looking grill with 4 headlights!

I WAS IN LOVE!!!!!!!!

My Dad had the car running in short order, mostly points and some tuning.

To make a long story short, I probably should not have bought this example, over the 2.5 years I had her a long list of oddball things happen.

The 1" master cyl. blew out and I drove home with gearing and the e-brake (today being older I think too much and would never attempt!)

One time while turning right, the steering locked up until I muscled the bigass steering wheel until a gear tooth broke in the steering box! It only then freed up.

Another time I pushed the headlight switch in to the off position and it started steaming up! Boy did it stink!

Found out a year into ownership that an PO had put shims under the rod bearings! Can still remember asking my dad "WHAT ARE THESE?" LOL!!!!!!!!! I did not see them mentioned in my Intereurope book! LOL!!!

Still remember the day my used 6-bolt crank came from Bavauto (this may shock some of you but way back they sold used parts!)

Looking back I probably should not have bought the car, but can tell you this, I AM GLAD I DID!

Found out first hand what a good car she was when I later wrecked her at high speed! Impact atleast 60mph (my buddy said 80) couldn't even get out an "OH S!" before the hood went straight up and we ended up on her left side. My buddy fell on me (no seatbelts as in the car did not have any!)

and we then kicked out the windshield unhurt but very lucky!

Even today, 28 years after she left me I still carry her TILUX badge in my e28 at all times.

[beammmer]

another guy had a 1600 all in Colorado. I got out of College and had to have one. Moved back to Minnesota, bought a Sahara in 1978 and put it down in 1984 due to rust. It was fun while it lasted.

Oops, my brakes where better than the car behind? Nope, you should see the front.

[auggiemize]

Yep. Road & Track pretty much ruined me. The BMW ad agency at the time hooked me in a big way. Small town western NC, you understand...we did have a Fiat dealer, and that was about as exotic as it got. Except for Tommy Abernathy, who was inporting Rolls Royce's and doing a little rehab and flipping them...Wow! You could make a living doing such foolishness? My father would usually change the subject when Tommy's name came up....So after getting my brother Bruce's R&T's and Sports Car Graphic's into my bloodstream, I took all of my golf course working money and bought a 69 Manila 2002, at the ripe age of 16.5, for the royal sum of $695 in the summer of '72. Other than the pictures of 2800 and 3.0cs' (and Ferrari's and 911's and...), I couldn't imagine anything better in the world; except maybe some syncros for 2nd gear that made a happier sound....Dave V. in NC

[roadhog0]

Well, I really had no clue what a 2002 was until the day I bought mine! It was in my friends dads garage (original owner) and it had been there for 20 years covered in boxes non running. I found out about it and asked how much I could buy it for just for the heck of it, I wanted a 280z (to turbo ) or a Datsun Roadster at the time so i wasn't super interested. They told me they wanted 1000 bucks for this 60k mile car, I had it in my barn within a week of that phone call! Runnin within in 2, and roadworthy within 4. It took a little for me to really love the car but after a month of driving it I was REALLY hooked! I've about bought a second one now. So a year down the road I still have my first car and am smiling every mile I drive it!

[jprocket]

My first was during my senior year in high school. My dad made me a deal: If I stayed home and went to a Jr College he would buy me any car I wanted. I knew my dad didn't have loads of $ to spend on a car so the Porsche 914-6 was out of the question. So I searched all the used car lots for something affordable and saw a white 74 tii with turbine wheels. I wanted THAT car. We were going to test drive it but before we could jump in my dad shot it down because of all the rust. I swear it was just surface rust but Daaaagummm! So I ended up getting a full ride to college as far away from home as possible (so no help $$ from dad) and vowed that when I got out of college I would buy myself a 2002. Now I have two 02s ....... and if I had garage space I would be searching for that tii.

[Fishhead]

In the mid '80 (SOT-you have officially gotten old when you can reminisce in decades), I was in my 20's and I rented a garage and in the garage was a '73 BMW '02 I thought it was neat so I bought it for $25. It had a cracked head, so I bought another '02 from a junk yard for $50 for the head and black interior. The junkyard buy was a Ti, so I pulled the head and used it in my '02 and put in an electric fuel pump and I probably put 200,000 miles on it in the years I had owned it.

Out of all the cars I have owned, the '02 was the most reliable car I have had. The only problems I had with it were owner induced (2nd gear went out, rear end went out, from banging 2nd gear all the time and then some). I ended up selling the car in the late '80's (and the Ti carb stuff and other '02 stuff) for $500 to a guy that I had met through owning the '02 (Mac from Manchester,MD, he owned a bunch of '02's). (Are you out there Mac?)

Since that 1st '02, I knew I would eventually own another '02, So now I have 1974 '02(with Ti stuff).

[schwarz75]

A professor where I was attending college had imported a Fjord blue 3.0 coupe from Germany. I was taking a photography class and discovered the beautiful coupe in one of the university's parking lots. I shot some photos, and would look for that car when walking in the vicinity of the parking lot.

This sparked an interest in learning more about BMWs from friends, and I was determined to have the more affordable BMw 2002 once I had full-time employment and some money.

After a long search, I bought my first 2002 (1974 Amazon/tan) in June of 1978 at a small BMW/International truck dealership outside of Joliet, Illinois (Plainfield, IL). Sold it 11 years later when going back to school at Ind. University. Bought my next 2002, Schwarz '75, in 1997.