babypuppi: [7] 1975 Bmw At Annually Picture

Monday, December 31, 2018

[7] 1975 Bmw At Annually Picture

eBay Find: Rare, almost new 6,000-mile 1975 BMW 2002!Mar 19, 2010, 3:41pm ET

It's hard for any car enthusiast to ignore the power of the BMW 2002; the unassuming, boxy coupe with a high-performance (relatively speaking), smooth and efficient 2.0-liter four-banger shaped the world of sports sedans as we know them. A Colorado owner has put up for sale this remarkably original, rare Italian-market 1975 BMW 2002 on eBay - and it shows around 6,000 original miles!

A brief overview of the 2002's history must start with North American importer Max Hoffman. An Austrian by birth, Hoffman was integral in opening up the importation channels for virtually every European brand into the lucrative North American market following World War II. Hoffman's creative product strategy, his strong marketing skills and his uncanny ability to conduct business the old fashioned way - with handshakes instead of contracts - convinced thousands of Americans to overcome postwar anti-German biases and turn their attention to Mercedes-Benz and Porsche sports and luxury cars. Yet arguably his longest-lived, widest-spread success was in convincing BMW to stick its high-output 2.0-liter four-cylinder in the boxy 1600-02 two-door to create the 2002 sports sedan. Glowing reviews from contemporary press proclaimed the 2002 as the car that would make dedicated, compromising roadsters a thing of the past for one car households. It was a "cult car" the day the first one rolled off the boat into the Land of the Free.

The 2002 provided nearly the level of driving thrill as England, Germany and Italy's best non-exotic sports cars in a package that seated four in dry comfort and could carry plenty of baggage. Forget iDrive: The sports sedan was born in 1968.

BMW was ready to launch its first generation 3-Series in 1975, so to close out European market production of the 2002, the German automaker released a series of about 1,000 Schwarz (Black) Series cars, each equipped as luxuriously as a 2002 could be. Although the 2002 was a premium car in every market, its daily driver status ensured that few cars were genuinely treasured the way that a less practical sports car would be. Thus, it's unusual to find a low-mile, all original 2002 - especially one from Europe, where scrappage incentives have all-but-wiped out many classics from the '60s and '70s. And it's almost impossible to find one of these rare limited edition variants.

This eBay offering shows less than 6,000 miles. Sold new to a gentleman in San Cataldo on the island of Sicily, it managed to avoid the Sicilian mob under the care of its original owner until he passed away and left it to his daughter. That Italian woman sold it in 2005 to its current owner, an enthusiast then living in Milan. The owner later moved to the United States, where it resides today in Boulder, Colorado. Although the owner had the car repainted - a $11,000 job, he says - it is otherwise an all-original car. We doubt that the 2002s in BMW Classic's collection in Munich are as nice as this one.

It comes with a number of rare original upgrades, including the two-tone Italian market-only turn signals, Mahle alloy wheels, dual side mirrors, a locking glove box and a trunk organizer. The owner says the car was featured in a German-language 2002 history book, as well. Those sheepskin sheet covers are just a bluff, according to the listing; they are there to protect the original cloth.

From the auction's limited photos, the car is obviously a veritable time warp. It is certainly one of, if not the nicest examples of a rare BMW 2002 on the planet.

Source: eBay