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The
BC '02 Owners Group
A Special Interest Group for British Columbia BMW 2002 Owners |
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Member Gallery Jeff
Roberts
A long-time performance '02 enthusiast who's first BMW was an original, made-in-Buchloe 1971 ALPINA 2002, Jeff has owned this full-on racing 2002 since 1981. Jeff teases us with this cursory description of the car's construction: "The car has many trick and unusual parts - an Alpina Dry-sump, Schnitzer vertical motor (like the F2 twin-cam), dual Weber 50dcosp's, Schrick 328 cam, custom pistons, Pauter rods, Pauter lightened crank, Tilton Alu flywheel with race clutch, Quaife straight-cut dog engagement 4 speed transmission, blah blah blah". Given all that exotic gear, it is not surprising that Jeff says #66 is "very fast and a challenge to drive". In 2004 at Spokane, he qualified 6th out of a 34 car field. That sounds pretty good on the surface but when you also consider that the cars ahead of him were two tube-frame Nissan 240 SXs, a tube-frame Fiero, a Z06 Corvette, and a Viper Competition Coupe, it is simply amazing for a ~30 year old veteran racecar! Unfortunately for us lower-mainlanders wanting to see it in action, Jeff does not race at Mission any more because the car is simply too loud and makes "less power than a LawnBoy sidebagger" when it is muffled enough to comply with their very low noise limits. His favorite track is Seattle, though, which is not really that much farther from Vancouver... Jeff has promised
to eventually supply more pictures and details of the engine and the
many other rare racing components. Blah blah blah, indeed. Karel
Jennings
UPDATE, December 2004 - Karel lost this car to a garage fire while it was in mid-restoration. Fortunately, he and his friend escaped serious injury, though the garage and all its contents were destroyed. He has vowed to find another 2002 and start again. In 1997, at the tender age of 16-and-a-half, Karel became the second owner of this rust-free sun-belt '02. Not a bad first car for a punk kid! While still living down south, Karel made sure it saw its fair share of track time. Unfortunately, after a few years of fun in the Florida sun, he was banished to Grande Prairie, AB - a land so barren that his is the only '02 for hundreds of miles around and where BMWs in general are very rare and '02s, e28s, and Ladas are considered interchangeable by most of the truck-luvin', mouth-breathing denizens. So, it's no wonder he hangs out (virtually, for now) with the BC crew! Regrettably,
as a poor student, he subjected the car to four harsh oilpatch winters
and four hard years of dirt roads and rock chips from "dualies"
(that's redneck for "big-ass pickemup truck"). But, he just
couldn't get enough of driving it. "Even when it burnt coolant,
I couldn't stop" he confesses. The picture above was taken after
the poor '02's Year of Storage - outside! Karel admits, "so...
yeah, that actually wasn't very good for it". He also notes that
he had started the "resto" work and removed grilles, AC crap,
etc. "I didn't realize AC was a rare option, or I would have kept
it intact but changed to a rotary compressor." He adds, laughing,
"that's water under the bridge, though - I don’t need no steenking
AC... I need a shiny 2002!" So far, under Karel's watch the '02 has received a new head (that figures, eh?) with mild porting/polishing, a Weber 38/38 carb, and Bilstein HD shocks in the rear. Current near-term plans include a Megasquirt EFI, coil-over suspension on all four corners (so he can easily raise it for rock crawling sessions, no doubt), a complete interior restoration, paint job, and Recaro seats. Future plans might include a turbo or more likely a 5-speed and 3.90LSD. No stranger to cross-country '02 motoring having made the run from Grande Prairie to southern Florida (via Toronto) five times so far, Karel hopes to one day join the BC '02ers for an event or two. "To dispel all these Albertan claims that BC sucks, I gotta come down. Maybe with some resumes in hand..."
Originally Riviera Blau, Lee's '02 left the factory on Feb 2, 1972 and came to Canada on April 4. Either the third or fourth owner, he bought the car in 2000 from a cow-orker who was leaving for the brighter lights of Lotusland. Lee figures he did well, paying only $1200 for the car along with two boxes of spare parts and the sexy Jetta GTX rims. Says Lee, "I honestly didn't know anything about 2002's before buying it. Seemed to be ok though, really no rust to speak of except the rockers. A great deal for such a fun car." In addition to the nice wheels and subtle paint job, the car came with a pair of SK Racing 45 carbs (similar to Weber 45 DCOEs) on a TVM intake, piano-top pistons, and what is alleged to be a Dr. Schrick 284 cam. It was also running a cracked no-name header, which he had to weld up. Lee laments, "the car needs lot's of little TLC: rockers need to be replaced, it's missing lot's of chrome, paint is starting to chip in places, the seat's are all torn up, door seals... I'm depressing myself now." Lee freely admits that what he really wants to do is strip it out, build the engine up properly (it doesn't run that well now), and turn it into a race car. "I do have a turbo Caravelle here I could steal some "parts" off of... hmmm... would love to turbo the thing one day..."
Andy's 1973 Agave (it's the cactus plant source of tequila, ya know) '02 was born to a lovely California couple on February 19th, 1973; Bill (Not William!!) Theodore Sommers, and Alicia Loudis Sommers. The "Sommers" specified a Gold und Saddlebrown interior, and the Bill of Sale shows a cash price of $5119.15, with A/C (the fugly Frigiking POS) and an "AM/FM Multiplex stereophonic radio special installation"... what-ever. The speakers are in the kickpanel under the rear seats though so one can imagine the Sommers digging the phat and phunky bass on NPR talk radio or something jazz lounge-y. The car moved, with the Sommers, to Virginia in 1979. The Sommers kept receipts for every piece of work done on the car (e.g.: balance 4 wheels, $16.00, in 1977). They sold it after 25 years of loving, in 1998. The second 'stewards' put on brand new BMW OEM "turbine" alloys wrapped in Yokohama AVi's. They also added new front fenders (rust is suspected), new brake master/lines/rotors/etc., and other large ticket items. Andy's stewardship began in February 2002 - he's the third care-taker. Falling upon it was probably the one thing that kept him sane during a two year 'purgatory' visit to the "capitol of the new south". Y'awl. Friends from the South East '02 community straightened him and the car out and he soon stopped thinking of Alpina e21s and what could have been... A new e21 rad helped draw more swelteringly hot Georgia summer air into the engine after a DIY 'flush' session on the '02 rad went horribly wrong. Tokico gas-shocks and unidentified springs from an ITG '02 racecar sorted out the bumps, and beefy anti-roll bars didn't allow any rolling. Recaro seats, Weber 38 DGAS carb, tii dizzy, and a Pertronix ignition module round out the key upgrades. Andy then had a smooth move from the South East, to the Pacific Northwest, where his '02 lived happily... NOT!
Bought from lifetime BMW nut Martin Meissner, Kirin repatriated this former BC '02 from Chicago in July of 2005. He has since repaired the floor pans, re-done the upholstery and headliner, and installed new Bilstiens and driving lights. Kirin's first 2002, it was Martin's fourth and had an unusual family connection - it was sold new in Victoria by his Martin's father, a BMW dealership owner, in 1975! The first owner was the aptly named "Mrs. Brown", who was a dutifully doting custodian and had had all the service done at pop's dealership until the summer of 1992, when she traded it in on a new Nissan of all things. At the time, Martin just happened to be looking for a car to take to school in Ontario when dad phoned and said "I have a 2002, are you interested in it?" Which, of course, he was. However, Meissner senior then mentioned, "there's only one problem... it's Nazi brown." But that didn't dissuade him and so it was that he drove the '02/Panzer from Victoria to Toronto. It served Martin well over the next 3 years of college, even though he spent more money on beer than on things like oil changes. After graduation, the poor, neglected '02 was parked in a barn for about two years until one day the guilt was too much to bear and he took it to the HUMMER dealership that he was working at - where the forlorn '02 was restored along with Martin's karma. It became his summertime-only toy and was spared from the harsh Chicago winters. Martin's upgrades included Eibach springs, Bilstein HD shocks, a Weber 32/36, a short-shift kit, and, perhaps inevitably, a ZF quick-ratio steering box. (What? No ZF LSD?) "Carcar", as Martin lovingly refered to it, became a great runner and in 2002 took him all the way from Chicago to Keystone, Colorado for the BMW CCA Oktoberfest - without skipping a beat. Siennabraun
is not a colour you see very often anymore and for a while was out of
favour, but Martin said it got a lot of positive comments. Martin even
brags that "those of you who know your BMW literature will know
that it was an identical car to this that was in the 74/75 2002 brochures."
So there! Trevor
Westerhoff
VIN: 2781552 Trevor is the fourth owner of this original Vancouver car and happily gives credit to the PO Bill Jecks for a fantastic ground up restoration that took place in a small garage in North Vancouver. Since Trevor is a useless nimrod under the hood, he has come to rely on the compassion and friendship of other local owners to keep his car running smooth. He appreciates it very much and is trying to learn as much as he can.
Modifications include: Front and rear euro-chrome bumpers, flush turn indicators, Bilstein HD shocks, Eibach springs, urethane bushings, beefed swaybars, Pertronix electronic ignition, and sport steering wheel. Ron
Dempsey
Ron's newest toy is possibly the ultimate manifestation of the '02 sickness - a racecar! Affectionately dubbed "The Flying Pig" by the previous owners and sporting tasteful pink/yellow/purple colours, it spent many years racing in SCCA events all around the eastern US. The car is a tii, however to comply with the pre-1970 equipment rules of the SOVREN vintage racing series, it has been converted to dual Weber DCOE carbs. It is now painted in period-correct "Beach Auto" colours.
VIN: 2585275 Ron's first
impulse was to to re-paint the car in another, more current, colour.
Fortunately for posterity, he changed his mind after a single polishing
session resulted in a beautiful, original finish! Now, the Sahara colour
has really grown on him. "It is very indicative of the period when
the car was designed, and I think all of the quasi-industrial flat german
colours are kind of cool now - like Riviera, Colorado and others"
enthuses Ron. Ron's plan for the car has been to keep it looking stock while carefully upgrading performace items in keeping with the car's character. Modifications to date include a Weber 32/36, 320i radiator, H&R Springs, Bilstein HD's, complete 1977 320i brakes with vented rotors in front, stainless braided brake lines, sway bar end links with urethane bushings, and a set of 320i turbine style alloys with 175/70/13 Bridgestone Potenza RE71s. Ron has driven the car in many driving schools and track lapping days and reports it has performed wonderfully. "It certainly takes more work to drive it versus a modern car, but it's amount of driver feedback has taught me lots."
This exceptional
1973 2002tii is Nic's first car, ever. He had to have an '02... nothing
else would do. Not knowing anything about cars except which ones look
good, he knew he needed to find an '02 in basically brand-new condition.
So he searched and searched... and emailed the local BMW club execs.
Nic's persistence was rewarded when he received a reply from our very
own Ron Dempsey with a hot tip on a sweet Ceylon '02tii that was for
sale in Burnaby. So, Nic hooked up with the Ceylon tii on March 3, 2001
and has driven it every day ever since - except when it has issues...
Nic thinks his car is the nicest '02 you will ever see and that the
colour is without a doubt the best colour ever made. Nic has no plans
for his car other than to keep it the way it is now. Nic is a 4th year
UBC student and does mostly skateboarding photography. You can see some
of Nic's work on his personal website. Renato
Teh
Renato's three
criteria when he was searching for a 2002 were that is must be a tii,
have no rust, and be useable as a daily driver. His high standards were
eventually met when he found this "dry as a bone" California
car in Kitsilano in January of 2002. It had been imported by its previous
owner, a computer engineer. Renato happily paid the full asking price
and drove away quickly, before the seller could change his mind. The
car is unrestored and is in very original condition. Channeling Muhammad
Ali, Renato says he loves the "enigmatic and charismatic pleasures
that this tii delivers whether they be aesthetic or athletic" and
that his affection and respect for the tii has only grown with time.
His favorite tagline: "It's old but bold!" Future plans for
the car include some H&R springs (1.25" drop), Bilsteins, Cibie
fog lamps, and the removal of those awful front spacers. Renato has
owned other BMWs since the early 80s, including a cinnabar red E30 M3.
Renato's current quest is for what he describes as the "OH TWO
holy grail": a rust-free, factory 1972 Alpina tii. Kyle
Scotland
UPDATE, May 2004 - Kyle's beloved Judith was terminated by an inattentive driver who abruptly turned left into his path while he was travelling at 30MPH. In a testament to the advanced safety engineering of these old cars, Kyle was only slightly sore even though the poor '02's body was bent beyond repair. Not being able to bear the thought of perhaps losing another '02 after investing so much TLC, Kyle now drives a euro-spec E30 325i Touring. He remains an '02 owner in spirit. Kyle and his 2002 met each other nine years ago after his last car was totaled by a drunk hooker who had fled California on bail (seriously). The car was originally delivered in early 1972 to Nivo Motors in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan for a Frau named Judith - the car's namesake. She had ordered it in Nevada (colour code 001) with a rust interior. The car somehow found her way across Canada to Kelowna, where Kyle bought her for $2500 without so much as a test drive. Considering he knew next to nothing about cars, Kyle managed to luck out - Judith was in pretty good shape and had a decent paper trail. Upgrades have included a Pertronix ignition, inertia belts welded-in to replace the scary Klippan belts, a 32/36 Weber carb to replace the fussy Solex, and a set of 14" Panasport wheels to replace the odd-looking alloys that the previous owner had scavenged off an Audi Coupe. In the summer of '99, after several seriously half-assed body jobs, Judith was sent over to Vancouver Island to have the job done right. About five layers of paint and buckets of bondo were removed along with patches of lurking rust. Front fenders, rear shock towers, trunk floor, driver's door, and giant chunks of rocker panel were all replaced. She emerged six months later looking like the day she was born. Kyle says the paint colour isn't the original Nevada ("so sue me"), but is a "kinda' metallic champagne" hue. He decided to call the colour Ryholite (colour code 001-b) after a weird Nevada mining town he and Judith had visited together. Seemed appropriate. Over the years
she's been the perfect companion for tens-of-thousands of (relatively)
worry-free miles and has even made has even made a token trip down to
Mexico to pick up some cheap beer and pork rinds. Plans are in the works
for a trip to Louisiana for some moonshine and crawdads. You can see another view of Judith along with Kyle's design portfolio by visiting his website. Bob
Johnston
Bob saved this '02 from the crusher in 1978. Literally! The previous owner, a Mormon minister, bought the car in September 1971 and drove it from Vernon to Calgary every weekend to attend his "flock". The car had quickly accumulated 79K miles by the time he drove it into a fence post in November '75. He took the remains to an el-cheapo body shop where they welded-on a '74 outer nose panel then ground away all the paint along the bottom of the doors and quarter panels. At that point, the minister abandoned it at the shop. There, the broken '02 sat with no hood, rear window, or driver's side window, and served as the shop's dumping ground for unused paint, until the shop went out of business in 1978. Enter Bob. Just as he was asking the body shop owner about the sad-looking '02, a tow truck came to take it to the crusher. "If you want it, pay me $200 for the work I have in it," said the insolvent bodyman. Sold! Bob didn't know what to do with the car right away and so put it into storage. In the spring of '79, he moved it to his garage. This turned out to be very good timing because, just two weeks later, a massive fire at the storage facility immolated over 30 cars and 50 boats! The blue '02 was spared once again. That summer, Bob salvaged a good nose panel, hood, fenders, and interior from a '74 that had been hit by a train. When Bob took the battered interior out of the '70 and noticed that the floors were like new with not one sign of rust, he knew that it was well worth keeping the car. He completed the body repairs and put the car back on the road. The original colour was 'Riviera' blue, but Bob changed it to 'Biscay' blue during the repaint. Bob drove the car until the spring of 1990, when an "old fart" ran a red light, swerved, then with the rear corner of his car folded the '02's hood under the windshield wipers. Since at the time the '02 didn't have a front bumper installed, the fenders weren't touched! The car looked bad but, with a little coercion from Bob, ICBC paid for the repairs. In addition, Bob sprung for some new rear quarter panels and had the car painted again. Not long enough after, however, the "new" quarters were rusting out. To his disgust, Bob discovered that the so-called bodyshop had simply welded the new parts on over the old rust! And so, Bob's lucky-yet-unfortunate '02 went in for yet another round of bodywork in September of '96, but this time at a very good-but-slow shop recommended by his brother-in-law, a Cadillac collector. The restoration work was finally completed around Easter of 1999. Over the years Bob has done something of a "ti" conversion by installing dual Solex 40PHH sidedraft carbs, the complete interior from a '70 ti, 2002ti grilles and emblem, battery tray, the registration plate, bumpers, and numerous other small items from that same ti parts car. He's also added 1" sway bars, Bilstein Sports, an '84 318i head warmed-over by Wray Nixon, 3.76 LSD, an electric radiator fan, a Delco 60A alternator, and has had many trim parts re-chromed. Bob believes the fact that all the mechanical work was done by Wray is why he can honestly say "this car has never let me down." Michael
Wimmer
Pictured
above at the Albion Ferry, Mike bought his "relatively decent"
'74 '02 for the whopping sum of $1600 in February of 2003. The previous
owner - a high-school shop teacher - had done quite a bit of body work
and repainted the car. However, only a week or so passed before Mike
purchased a second '74 '02 parts car, mainly for the trim parts. Mike
explains that "horrid things had been done to nearly all the trim
on my new '02!" In the brief time he has owned the car, Mike has
also added a header plus 2-1/4" mandrel-bent exhaust system, a
Weber 32/36 carb, a Pertronix Ignitor, and brand new tires. His short-term
goals include upgrading to a Weber 38/38, 3.90 LSD, and a 320i 5spd.
Mike would eventually like to install what he describes as "the
most incredible naturally aspirated 4cyl" - the 16-valve, 190HP
S14 motor from the E30 M3. Of course, he also plans to do some suspension
and brake improvements to help keep the car balanced and the shiny side
up. However extreme the performance modifications, Mike says he plans
on making all it look VERY stock - a true q-ship. More details on current
and future modifications can be found on Mike's personal web
page. Philip
Mew
Philip is
a very long-time 2002 pilot, having purchased "Herman" way
back in November of 1978 - from the original owner in Cloverdale, of
all places. Philip happily states that the car is "still runnin'
strong, and I fully intend to drive it for another 25 years!" Herman
was born in November 1975 with a tan vinyl interior and no sunroof.
Modifications include a 13" Momo "Jackie Stewart" steering
wheel with satin silver spokes, Suspension Techniques springs with Koni
Heavy Duty shock absorbers, 320i aluminum radiator, Weber 32/26 carb,
electronic ignition, electric fuel pump. In this picture, Herman is
sporting 14"x6" alloy wheels (aka "bottlecaps")
from the '84-'91 BMW 3-series. Herman was repainted once, in October
1996, but all the sheet metal is original except for the front fenders.
He still has perfect rear shock towers and (touch wood) has never been
in an accident. Al Larson South Surrey, BC
In January
of 2002, Al rescued this and a matching Sahara '74 parts car from Mission.
The previous owner was planning to restore the rusty '74, using the
clean '76 for parts! Fortunately, Al bought both cars for $750 - the
"greatest deal I've ever come across," he gushes. It has taken
many more dollars to get it where it is today, though. In addition to
many new stock parts, Al upgraded to 14" BBS wheels (from the late
80's BMW 3 series "s" package) with Yokohama A520 tires, a
Weber 32/36 carb, flush-style euro turn signals, a brand new custom
3 core radiator, and - the jewel in the crown - a pair of custom-reupholstered
Recaro sport seats (from a 320is), along with a rear seat reupholstered
to match. Future plans include a euro-style chrome bumper conversion
in the hopefully not-too-distant future.
Al rescued this one from
an alleyway in Burnaby. It belonged to a body shop and had been very
neglected for some time. It followed him home for the bargain basement
price of $350. It's a little rusty, and the paint isn't very nice,
but it runs quite well and will soon have a purpose in life - as his
daily driver. It is all stock, except for a Weber 32/36 carb, and
the soon to be deleted factory smog equipment and PO (previous owner)
hacks. Zenon Holtz
Zenon has been obsessed with '02s for over 17 years, starting with this Fjord metallic-blue '73 purchased in 1986 by his younger brother. The picture above was taken in 1991, still looking good after he and his brother repainted it in 1987. Sadly, and despite all good intentions, the car was just too rusty in critical structural areas to save and was retired in 1997 to become an organ donor for his "new" '02.
Happily the spirit and many parts of that first '02 live on in his Verona red '73, acquired in 1996. Despite the outer ugliness, the insides are beautiful and it is in fine structural and mechanical condition. It is presently his year-round daily driver. In July of 2002, he drove it over 3000 Miles (5000km) round-trip to the annual BMW CCA Oktoberfest in Keystone, Colorado, where the 2002 model was the featured "car of the year". The car is mostly stock with moderate upgrades, the most significant of which is the user-programmable, crank-timed electronic ignition and fuel injection system featuring a home-built Megasquirt ECU installed in October 2004.
The reverse of his Verona '73 in terms of appearance vs. function, the non-driveable but pretty "Golf Cart" was liberated in February of 2003 from an underground garage in Kitsilano. It had been stored there for a year, after two years of sitting outside, broken and unloved. The engine now runs OK after some TLC, but the car still needs much more work. Zenon's goal is to bring it into driveable condition so that it may fill in for the '73 as daily driver during the big EFI conversion. His long-term plan is to repair the considerable rust and mechanicals as required but leave it completely stock, to act as a foil to his modified '73. More details about Zenon's '02s, along with tech tips and many photographs, can be found at his personal website. If you would like to be added to the BC '02 OG Member Gallery page, please contact Zenon for more information. |
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