I was first exposed to the BMW 2002 by my friend Eric. He has several which he plans to restore and I had seen them on several occasions. I liked them and thought they were interesting, but didn't really have a desire to own one. In fact, I generally didn't care for the older BMW's (or so I thought). At some point I drove and rode in a couple of e30's and had a change of heart. I found myself developing a real interest, but still didn't have any plans to make any purchases.
One day, on the way to Hot Springs, AR my wife and I saw a nice looking blue 2002 driving on Highway 70. It looked amazing, so different from anything else on the road. I'm not sure what it was about the car, but I really liked it.
After that day I found myself reading more about the 2002 and it's history and doing the occasional Craigslist search for 2002's. I found a few, but they were either really cheap and in need of a LOT of attention, or they were completely redone and very expensive. Still, I kept looking, just for fun.
Late February 2012 I came across an ad for a 1974 riveria blue 2002 that was 'rust free' for a fairly reasonable price. I was very interested, and also skeptical. I had decided I'd be willing to do some minor repairs (such as patching a floorpan) as long as the rest of the car was in decent condition. So, I contacted the seller, got more pictures. I talked to him on the phone and was feeling pretty good about the car.
I showed the car to my wife Amy and discussed it with her. She was open to the idea as well, although she was not as enthusiastic as I was. As any of my friends will tell you I can be a bit impulsive when it comes to cars. I know this about myself so I try to take that into account, but it doesn't always guarantee I make a wise decision.
On March 2, 2012 Amy and I drove to Lenexa, KS to see the car. It was cold and I had a cold and wasn't feeling the greatest. Still, I decided to go as I didn't want to miss out on a good deal. We arrived that evening and checked into our hotel, kids in tow. The next morning we all packed up and headed over to see the car. The weather was clear and cold. When we arrived the car was sitting in the driveway and looked great. I could see it had been repainted at some point and that the work was not the greatest, but it still looked nice from a distance.
I looked the car over as best I could given my limited knowledge of 2002's. Under the car I saw a good bit of floorpan rust which had been sprayed with undercoating. I also saw some repairs had been made in the trunk, including the shock towers (known to be a real pain to fix). Other than that, it looked pretty good. The owner and I took the car for a drive and it ran and drove pretty good, though I had nothing to compare it to. There was a fairly strong fuel smell in the car, but I knew from my research that this was very common for these cars and the likely causes weren't too serious. We told the owner that we would grab lunch, talk it over and let him know.
At lunch we talked about it and I decided I was pretty concerned about the rust. On the other hand, a lot was right about the car and I really liked the color. Also, I had a pretty serious case of '02 fever. Still, I decided we should just go home. As we were driving I decided to text the owner and make him an offer for about $1000 less than his asking price, noting my concern for the rust. He responded with a counter $200 higher than mine and we decided to pull the trigger. So, we drove back over and made the purchase. Now it was time to drive it home!
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| Me in a parking lot just prior to hitting the road to Little Rock. |
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