Jalopnik: BMW 2002

Bavaria In The Rockies: A Trio Of Colorado BMW Survivors

Murilee Martin — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:00:00 EDT

This is Down On The Street Bonus Edition, where we check out interesting street-parked cars located in places other than Island That Rust Forgot. I've got quite the stockpile of photographs from Denver, thanks to Kitt, EJacobs, and my own bimonthly visits to the Mile High City. Today we're going to have another 3-Fer-1 Colorado-palooza, with one BMW from each of us!

First up is this BMW 633CSi, found in northwestern Denver by Ejacobs. This car looks about as nice as it's possible for a 25-year-old driver to be, particularly in a town with snowy winters and harsh sun.

Now it's Kitt's turn. This 2002 was shot last winter- yeah, it sometimes takes me forever to get to these photos- in the parking lot at the Arapahoe Basin ski area. Yes, Colorado BMW owners know you don't need a damn Explorer or Forester just to go skiing! This car's a little rough, but it still gets the job done after all these decades.

Here's a Malaise 2002 I found near the University of Denver; the square taillights and 5 MPH bumpers mean it's a '74-76 model, and it appears that Denver-registered vehicles newer than 1959 require biannual smog checks, so the owner of this rough-but-serviceable 2002 can't do much about the lo-po engine and remain legal. Can't they get rid of wood-burning stoves instead?

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Berwyn Car Spindle Up For Sale!

Murilee Martin — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 08:00:00 EDT

We were all quite sad when we learned that the Cermak Plaza Shopping Center overlords had decided to remove the legendary Berwyn Car Spindle from their property. But now the Berwyn Spindle may be relocated... to your front yard! Yes, it's up for sale on eBay, with a starting bid of $50,000 (and a shipping cost of double that, so you'll probably elect to go pick it up yourself. Make the jump for some video of the Spindle. [eBay]

BMW 2002 With Hidden Gun Compartment

Mark Arnold — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:00:00 EST

If someone told you their modded BMW 2002 had a secret weapon, you'd likely guess they meant that it was packing some heat under the hood. Perhaps a big turbo, or maybe an S14 engine swap. But that's not the case here—this BMW's secret weapon is a loaded handgun in a secret compartment. Regardless of how you feel about carrying a gun in your car, you've gotta admit that the combination of classic Bavarian, a custom body kit, and a loaded pistol is a bit unusual. Although, it might just make for the perfect two-car garage occupant, parked next to the BMW M1 owned by the former PM of Qatar. Of course, we're not Gun-lopnik. So if you'd like to help ID the gun, just ~~shoot us~~ submit a comment.

[eBay]

Look What Parked In Front Of My House: 1976 BMW 2002

Jonny Lieberman — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 10:30:00 EDT

You can't escape BMW Week, you can only hope to contain it. When people ask me if I liked living in San Francisco I say, "No." When pressed, I will admit that I miss the burritos (El Farolito and Cancun FTW!). When pressed even more, I'll cop to loving that there were more BMW 2002s on the streets than there were krusty, homeless, single-issue, performance artists. Kidding on that last bit, but there were an awful lot of two ought-ought twos to be ogled. No big surprise that when I walked out to get my morning... whatever it is I get on Saturdays, I was STOKED to see this gray-skinned beauty. Even better, she belongs to my neighbor and he let me open her up and shoot away. It's a project car that he doesn't have time for (his insanely great sounding, blue-printed 1966 Mustang 289 is quite demanding) so he's had the little Bimmer in storage for the last few years.

Look how clean this guy is. Stee-rait, totally straight. Even the chrome is fab. Only in California. And you could park your Vespa on that back bumper.

Mick Dundee Impression: "You call that a Malaise Era bumper? This is a Malaise Era bumper." Crikey. And another thing, what is with that indicator light?

Need another reason to love this 2002? Feast your eyes on the tiller. Man, I want to lick that wood. What? I'm weird. And I'll lick the near perfect leather, too.

The engine is clean, but (surprise) leaks oil. And the sunroof (bigger surprise) leaks water. In fact, I've yet to meet a 2002 that doesn't leak water through the roof. We love that back in the day German makers would stamp their logo (Hi VW!) on every single engine component. I mean, they even stuck the roundel on top of the carb cover. So very, very cool.

Anybody left unbowed enough to argue that the new 3-Series is somehow good looking? We're smitten with this little sucker. Though, the bumper has to go.

Una mas para la caretera. Oh, also, it's for sale. $4,000. E-mail if you're interested.