I grew up in a car family. We were in the Windy City chapter of the BMW Club my entire life, so vacations meant going to Road America, Mid Ohio or some other racetrack.
In the ’80s and ’90s, the BMW Club was filled with 2002’s, so I always dreamed of
one as a kid.
When I turned 15, I finally got my own project 2002, which we found in the local BMW club newsletter (called the Breeze). The car came out of the Chicago suburbs.
This car started out life in the proper 1972 BMW color agave green. The car was being sold as an incomplete budget restoration where the owner was aborting the mission, but it had a fresh paint job in a later year/euro color called Jadegrun that I just loved. When we got it there was no carpet, the seats were worn, the motor weak and stumbling, but it was $1,300 and it was all mine! My dad and I got it into running shape and I daily drove it.
After a couple of years, I sold it to a guy in Chicago who later became a BMW Club member. He drove the car once a year to a Tire Rack/Windy City BMW charity event, which is how I came to reunite with the car. As the years clicked by, at every event I would ask him if this was the year that I could buy the car back from him. His answer was always the same, ‘It’s not your year.’
Finally, in 2012, 20 years after I sold the car and 13 years after I started asking for it back, he said ‘This is your year!”
We had to completely restore it - new carpet, seats, body, paint, brakes, tires, suspension, you name it. When trying to find a shop to restore the car, no one wanted to take it. It was too far gone most said, but I knew it could be returned to it’s original glory.
Out of all of my cars, this one is special to me because it’s the car that started it all, it’s where my love for cars began.
When resorting the car we made sure that only proper era modifications were made. The whole car was block sanded by hand, trim holes were closed with lead, we went traditional Weber carburetor, Stahl Headers, Panasport wheels, an Ansa Exhaust- all parts you could have purchased in the 70’s.
And most important, yes it still even has points.
-by Aaron Reitman
