Consider me surprised that my local BMW friends here in New England haven’t mentioned this honest-looking 1974 BMW 2002, hiding out in New Hampshire. The seller notes its owner moved away and isn’t coming back, which sounds like a father lamenting the son who moved to Utah for the excellent mountain skiing. Wearing the wonder period color of sienabraun and ugly period safety bumpers, this 2002 here on eBay has an opening bid of $7,500 and no reserve.
The 2002 looks nice and straight down the sides, but the New Hampshire location should still cause even the most optimistic among us to look deep into the chassis and strut mounts for rust. The OEM steel wheels retain their chrome trim rings, which is a great look for this car. Square tail light models tend to be less desirable, but when they present as cleanly as this one does, I could care less what shape the lenses are.
The interior is run-of-the-mill 2002, with flat-bolstered seats undoubtedly somewhat saggy at this point now that the horsehair has given out. The rip in the driver’s seat is a bummer, but swapping in a set Recaros from a later E21 is practically “Day 2” of ownership of a 2002. The steering wheel and dash look nice, although I can’t quite tell if there are any holes in the latter. Doors panels are tidy, too.
And on “Day 1”, you should swap these tasty basketweave wheels on, as they’ll make this 2002 look even better than it does now. Frankly, the seller would have been wise to mount these wheels and hit that paint with an orbital buffer – guarantee it would come back nicely and all but ensure he gets his number. This 2002 looks like a solid foundation for a project, provided there’s no New England ugliness lying underneath.
The presentation isn’t great, and you can’t ever say “mint condition” paired with “except for…”. No idea how it runs/drives/stops. The opening bid is fair given the unwashed/unknown condition, but I wouldn’t offer more unless I drove the car myself. The color combo is nice, though, and for those of us who don’t mind the bumpers and prefer square taillights over roundies, it’s worth consideration.
I doesn’t appear that the car was even washed before being photographed.
And since ebay is an auction website, the seller should use that to his advantage…start the bidding low to bring in the interested bidders, then let the bidders bid against each other and walk the price up. The seller can set a reserve, and let the auction do what auctions do best.
“Ugly bumpers” work. I have a 75 with “ugly bumpers” and the body is flawless because of them. The prettier, “ornamental” bumpers of earlier models do look beautiful, but as often as not they are dented, and there is body damage behind them.
These cars handle like true German sports car and are cheap to own and maintain. I hope someone grabs this one and enjoys many years of driving in it daily.
Douglas – having owned Bimmers for over 20 years, I take exception to your statement “cheap to own and maintain”, though I fully agree with their handling prowess. Love my current one, as it has been on the less expensive side re: upkeep, but I’ve also had friends with real “schtinkers”.(Money pits). The owner of this car just relisted @ $5500. I’m going to pass this info on to my retired dentist & his Club, perhaps one of the members desires this particular model…
Friends don’t let friends buy BMWs.