Late Christmas pressie ?

[martyyn 2]

So there we are cruising in the 7 today and the wife turns and says.....'You know what we should get for days like this ? A classic BMW'

I nearly crashed !

For years she has been ridiculing me for washing the car most weekends, meeting you lot (and the lot I was with in the UK) and now she comes out with this bombshell.

So my mind is immediately off....we could sell the Scooby wagon and get a 325 wagon as a run about and a 2002 for the weekends, leaving my 7 as the daily driver

Then Im thinking sell both the Scooby and the 7 and get an E30 M3 for me, an e30 cabrio for the weekends and an e30/e34 wagon for the hard yards.

But very quickly Im reigned in as she has been reading the latest Dixi (BMWCC Mag) and has seen a 'cute' 2002 for sale. I wasnt aware she even knew I was getting it never mind her reading it.

So does anyone know anything about these cars. I have tried (and will continue) to try for an e30 cabrio. Im thinking fire engine red, with black top and 16' alpinas with a nice skirt kit :pimp:

But I know the 2002's in the Dixi mag have been available for ages and have not been sold, so does anyone know anything about either these two cars, or 2002's in general.

Im looking to spend a mint, but it needs to be sound for cruising the family around on the good days.

[BMW POWER 2]

Thats really cool about your wife coming out with that

I was looking at buying a 71 or 70 (cant remember) 1602 (1600cc 02, kindof rare) for a first car (manual and classic doer upper)

I decided against it because the rust was going to be too expensive to fix. So watch out for rust, in the tire well, door skins and generally everywhere else rust is usually found.

vonripsnorter (Paul) has a whole book on the 2002 series which he loaned me. You could possibly PM him and ask him if he could send it up to you and you send it back. Hes parts manager at the local BMW dealership here, so he knows his stuff.

Yeah I can remember about the early 2002's having failing clutches (some) and just basically rust.

Do Google searches, go to www.bimmerforums.com and find the 02 forum, get opinions from a few people, go to some BMW workshops and ask what generally is wrong with them etc. I'm sure you'll know this though.

Godo luck and report back what happens. There was a couple of 2002's for sale on BMWCC a few months asgo.

-Emma

[Jazzbass 1]

Yes, I agree. the rust was a major problem.

However - if you're dealing with classic cars - rust is always a problem - goes with the times. The smell of fisholene used to permeate my old cars...

IMO, if you want to restore and use a 2002, (or for that matter any 30+ year old car) be prepared to sink more money into the project than you expect.

It can be a rewarding past-time, but almost never makes sense financially.

Speaking of 2002s, I was disappointed that BMW didn't do a 2002 RI in the year 2002. I thought that would have generated some sales....

[shadowninja 0]

I have a friend who owns a classic 2002... it spends on average 2 days on the road for each 3-months off the road getting repairs. IMHO, stay away.