I had never come upon a single parked BMW 2002 in my life, and then I found two in two days. My wife and I were on a weekend getaway to Louisville, a terrific little city. We like historic architecture and walking around photographing stuff, and all the better when we can tick both boxes. The historic Old Louisville neighborhood looked like it would do just that, and it did.
This one got a custom paint job along the way, and is missing some of its trim bits. Looks like it’s been well used, but not horribly abused. I’m not sure of its year, but it’s not from 1974 or after. BMW switched to rectangular tail lights that year, and used big 5-MPH bumpers rather than these thin blade units. For that matter, this 2002 is probably not from 1973, either, as BMW inserted a spacer that moved the bumper out a little farther from the body than what you see here. That’s how they accomplished that year’s 2½-MPH rear-bumper standard.
The owner has it registered as a historic car. In Kentucky, that means you can use it only for exhibition in shows and parades, but not for regular transportation.
This owner is a Deadhead.
We found the second 2002 on our way home to central Indiana the next day. We made it a point to stop in Bloomington, Indiana, as one of our sons lives there and we like the Irish pub that’s downtown. This 2002 was parked on the courthouse square.
Given the license plate, anyone want to bet this 2002 isn’t from 1970? Looks like it wears Agave Green paint, which was an official BMW color for the 2002.
The BMW 2002 is a nice, tidy size, with a big, airy greenhouse. They are said to be good drivers even five decades later, with good steering and brakes and passable power.
We’ve covered the BMW 2002 extensively here at CC:
- Tom Klockau shared this ’76
- Tatra87 found this ’75 in Japan
- Paul N wrote up this ’72 he found near home
- Sam shares a ’76 that he owned
Been a while since I’ve seen one. I recall more than once driving around with my dad and seeing one – “Love those,” he’d always say, “coming and going cars.” Because, of course, they look the same coming as they do going. He says the same of Corvairs and Karmann Ghias. Hope I’ll see one out on the road with him again someday.
Count me as a 2002 fan, and a Weir fan too!
2002×2 – I love it! Your experience is a seldom-seen variant of the CC Effect.
I think the reason I like these so much is that they contain all of the goodness but none of the baggage that came from being adopted as the official car of the yuppie boomer. I think that’s the same reason I like the 1964 Cutlass and the early Honda Accord too – they were really good cars but had not yet become middle class status symbols.
In regard of the large green house – you may even call it a glass house – and the modest curb weight of these cars, I’m a little bit worried about crash stability.
That’s fair. Old cars will cheerfully maim or kill you.
Very nice. Everyone loves a 2002, and drivers love ones that are well-preserved like these. At least from outward appearances as these have a tendency to be rusty in places that you’ve never even thought about. All the more reason why ones that one way or another have escaped that fate (or been brought back from it) are so loved and desirable.
This time of year – summer and fall – we see a lot of these on the road here in New England. But they’ve become valuable enough such that they go into proper hibernation during bad weather.
I love the agave green one. It looks to be in exceptional shape. The Weirwolf represents what’s starting to be a declining breed…that is, someone who is willing to run an modified car versus restoring it to how it looked in the showroom. Nevertheless, good on that owner for personalization. Also makes sense that it was in KY, as there are quite a few states where running a car without a front bumper is strictly verboten.
These were quite popular with exchange students when I was attending San Jose State back in the late 1970’s. I’ve always admired the open greenhouse, but they seemed kind of old fashioned. A couple of years later my brother bought a new 320I. This was more like it in my eyes. The styling was contemporary, it had the new 5 speed, a/c, and sunroof. I really liked that everything was manually powered, it was a basic car. I guess that these 320s didn’t hold up over time, they are now also very thin on the ground.
I have been enamoured with these since reading the first review in Car and Driver, even though it was several years before they were sold in Canada. When the 320 was announced I realized that I had to make my move. I was well enough established to be able to afford it, so in March 1977 I went looking. The 320 had been introduced so there were only 2 2002 available in Toronto, both demonstrators/company cars. The maroon one had a sunroof, which I did not want, so I went with the other one which was Inka Orange. A wonderful car that was my daily driver for 10 years, and then after rust repair, my summer car for another 20 years.
Wow, you surely made me feel old when you said that you had never seen one parked…
My brother had a 1971 one in 1980. It was a 1971 car, locally assembled in Uruguay, with a 5 speed box with a dogleg 1st, and…a vinyl top. It accelerated well and was nimble and nice. But to park it was to park a truck.
These cars were all over the place when I moved to SoCal in 72. I quickly made a new friend (trust fund baby) who had a new 2002 from Vasek Polak BMW, in white with auto and A/C (Behr, I think, which wasn’t adequate for our climate). Not only great vision with the large greenhouse but great space utilization. A very useable trunk under that large lid. I really loved the simplicity of that little car. My first intro to BMW.
The green car is a beauty. IU Bloomington is my undergrad alma mater. A beautiful campus and a charming area that I still enjoy visiting when I’m back there. Louisville is a great place to visit. Did you see the Speed Museum? I really enjoyed visiting there last fall.
One of my all-time favorites, and when I see these (rarely, but more often that in the Midwest), I’m always reminded of the one that I came close to buying. Back in the late 1980s when I got my driver’s license these could still be bought cheaply, and a used car dealer in my town had an early ’70s 2002 that looked great.
I desperately wanted to buy it, having read plenty about 2002s in magazines – and this one looked good. One weekend my father and I went to look at it while the dealership was closed – the car was unlocked and dad poked around, finding heaps of problems, both mechanically and related to old accident damage. I was crestfallen – dad had said that car sounded too good to be true, and he was right. Haven’t thought about buying a BMW since then…
I don’t know n about 1970, but I bet that green car is from Munich, or the owner is, based on the reg plate
I was going to say you must be pretty young. Then I realized that, while I checked out not one, but TWO used 2002s in January 2018, I cannot remember the last time I saw one out in the world (and NOT at a cars and coffee or other classic car event).
A great car, one of my first “favorite cars”, though I have no interest in owning one, I still like them.
I was smitten with these in high school. Went to an auto show with my dad circa 1970, saw a 2002 and immediately fell in love with the simplicity, purposefulness and uprightness of the car. The dashboard had three dials with just enough information in each and all switches like fan, headlights, and cig lighter were all in front of the driver. From dashboard all the way to the passenger side door was a handy shelf. Just enough and nothing more and easy to work on!
I had three; a ’69 2002, ’71 1600, and 1972 2002 Tii.