Quick advice needed! 1976 BMW 2002.. buy it?
 

Just found a '76 BMW 2002 for sale localy for $1500. Ad says it runs/drives good but needs interior/paint work/tlc. Supposedly a California car and has zero rust.

Is this a smokin deal? I know nothin about the 2002's other than they look kind o neat when tricked out in a sporting theme.

Please school me up here.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1220909485.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1220909520.jpg

What's the hurry. That car has been for sale on the BMW for sale board since August 27. For what its worth, I wouldn't give $1500 for that car.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?t=427278

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1219845857.jpg

Oh and in the ad I posted he is only asking $1200, or best offer.

Wow Kurt.... Thanks for the link.... Hell of a detective job. Those pictures and description tell a slightly different story. Still, what do these typically sell for and is a good deal? It is fairly close to me and still has me wondering.

What're you thinking of doing with it?

if it's OBO, toss out a "what the hell" number.

Go drive it... fling it around a little. It has IRS.

I don't know, I never really considered these cars, but I always thought they looked neat with the right paintjob. At that price and the original description on the local ad that was just listed today, it intrigued me. Anyone know what these things typically are worth?

Ebay is a good gauge for those cars, the real nice ones have some value. If it's truly dry and straight+running and complete, I'd grab it. I've heard that you're a pretty good painter, these cars are as easy as a VW Beetle to take apart for resto. No, make that easier. All of the interior stuff is 100% available, all it takes is $$ and time. They are popular cars with a huge following and great vintage drivers.

Tim, if it is REALLY no rust, and I mean really, no rust in the shock towers, no rust in the floors, drivers pedal cluster area, floor of the gas tank, front splash apron under the grille, well then, I would buy it.

Like SWB 911s I tend to doubt anyone who claims there is no rust. My '75 had rust EVERYWHERE after living in Phoenix its whole life and then moving to Detroit for a couple years.

Thanks Denis....painting is not an issue for me, just need to figure out if these cars are worth anything (IOW, worth restoring). I will check out Ebay.

Kurt's link above of an ad for the same car describes it as having a small amount of surface rust.... Living in NW Ohio all my life..... I know what that can mean ;)

I may still go check it out and if I do, I will check the areas you mentioned. Thanks

PS: I know, I know, I should be restoring or building showplanes instead of messing with these little projects ;):D My ambition lately is on a downward spiral :D

Check the rear shock towers in the trunk real well. A '76 normal 2002 is definitely not cost-effective to do a full, bare metal, rotisserie-style resto on, but once again, if it is truly dry and straight/no bondo it is worth painting and maybe replacing the interior on. You'd have a real nice driver 2002 and they're not making them anymore.

They're a lot like VW Beetles in the sense that they were not exotic, (at all), were extremely popular and consequently sold very well so they're not rare. But they have a strong following. Hope that made sense.

They were made better than $100k cars are today, so a dry one could last another 32 years.

Is that a "DUB" edition license plate frame on the car?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1220925701.jpg

If you are going to start out from a very low price car that needs a lot of work, you'd be much better of using a '73 or earlier.

Like 911, BMW went to big "accordian bumpers" in '74. Like 911, the value of the small bumper cars is higher than the later (74-76) cars. Also, with the 02, they went from round taillights to square in 74, and made other changes (interior, etc.)

Like most, I like the earlier ones much better.

With your skills, you'd be best getting a ratty '72 or '73 tii (mechanical fuel injection) and working from there. When you are done with it, you'd probably have a $30K+ car. You could work your magic on the '76, but when your done you'd be lucky to get 1/2 that, maybe 1/3.

Second best choice would be to get a regular 72 or 73 (carbed).

Third choice would be something earlier than that.

Last choice, IMO, and a deal breaker, is a 74 or up.

one of my college roomates had a 2002tii alpina. do i need to say how much fun we had with that vs. my other roomates punched out karmann ghia?????????



that alpina was a AWESOME GIANT KILLER! we ate a lot of cars lunch with that damn thing.

there is juan here in arizona that runs with pca and bmw clubs here. white gutted/fuel cell/alpina colors that i would give my left huevos to go run at the track. actually put it back to bare minimum street legal(a/c) and buzz around the southwests twisties. wayyyyy coooooool car!

its for sale, sorry dont know the guy or his number. will search my pics later and see if i can find some i took of it.

for that kind of bucks.........gut the crap out, put a stupid roll bar on it, replace what you have to to make it look fairly nice, big front air dam, (4) hella 4000's, a rear wing, a big assed super trapp, nice stereo and amp, make the a/c blow ice cubes and break the fun barrier.

we used to watch both roomates ICE RACE the ghia and the 2002tii at st marys glacier outside of denver.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1220931524.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1220931598.jpg

geez loooueze i got some pics on this puter. took supermoron effort to go thru all of them to find these. this guy just had plain FUN with this car. reliable as hell and cheap relative to our 911 insanity.

i bought one of those once...
 

put it up for sale a few weeks later after finding a rusted out front frame member (common problem due to brake fluid leaking from the master cylinder) which had been carefully disguised by the seller. I was suckered in by the fresh coat of Inka Orange paint...looked so cool. the car was actually pretty solid otherwise, but I had overpaid and couldn't stomach the time or $ to do the needed resto. Also, after cruising it around for a while, I just didn't think it was that much fun to drive...it was kind of a ho hum ride IMHO. I suppose if you modded it properly it would come alive though. my $.02

1500 looks tooo cheap
CHECK FOR RUST THEN DOUBLE CHECK

a true rust free shell, is worth that alone

I would love to build a 2002 with a early M3 4 banger swap

I had a 70 2002 and a 69 1602, saddly they rust quickly down here in the tropics but were fun cars while they lasted

I resently saw a 76 2002 asking 4500 WITH A ROD KNOCK!!!!

My $02 (get it?) --
Go roundie. I agree with the; you'll be putting money into it, and it's no more expensive to resto an earlier car than a later car and I (and the market) prefer the earlier cars. You may spend what the car is worth to resto an older car (though you have considerable mechanic-fu and might not need to pay others much) but you're likely to wind up underwater with a later one.

ATEOTD, If I could keep only one car, it would be the '02. No question.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1220986781.jpg

JP

Damn, that last picture makes me want a roundie, bad!