Junkyard Find: 1973 BMW 2002

by Murilee Martin

Published: April 11th, 2012

Some of these Junkyard Find posts result in plaintive emails (usually several months after the car has been crushed) from car owners in far-off places: “I have been looking for parts for this car for years. I am in (the Netherlands, the Maldives, the Upper Peninsula, etc.). Please send me the contact information for this junkyard so that I can have them ship me the (impossible-to-find parts).” The record-holder is this 1981 Chrysler LeBaron, which has resulted in at least a dozen emails from obsessive Malaise LeBaron restorers. I suspect this car is going to be another example of this phenomenon. So, if you found this post on Google and it’s later than, say, June 2012, this BMW has been melted down in a Chinese steel factory!

2002s really aren’t all that rare in self-service wrecking yards, since thrashed ones aren’t particularly valuable and hopeless project cars eventually get sold for scrap after a couple of decades in the back yard. I see a half-dozen Crusher-bound 2002s in such yards every year. This one is a rare automatic-transmission car. Why would any 2002 shopper have selected the slushbox?

The Europeans weren’t ready for the early-70s US-market requirement for a Fasten Seat Belt light, so they had to add afterthought-style lights like this one. It got even worse in 1974.

This car doesn’t look rusty, but it would have cost plenty to make it nice. Since it’s tough to justify spending ten grand to make a $6,000 car, the price of scrap steel pushed this never-to-be-finished project onto the tow truck’s hook.

#1970s #1973 #1973BMW2002 #BMW #BMW2002 #Denver #DownOnTheJunkyard #Junkyard #JunkyardFind

Murilee Martin

Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.

More by Murilee Martin

Comments

Join the conversation

4 of 25 comments

Gasser on Apr 11, 2012

This car reminds me of the second worst mistake of my life. I had test driven a '73 2002 and put down a deposit, when I decided to wait for the '73 240Z (Datsun, to those of under a certain age). Turns out the Datsun for '73 was one of the worst lemons ever. The delivery delay was due to the importer having to play with the cars to get them to pass the smog regulations. Horsepower fell from 145 to 125. Driveability was so poor that the plastic choke handle wore out. In the eleven months I had it, it did not run for 30 consecutive days. Datsun had installed a much higher temperature thermostat and run the fuel lines (from a mechanical pump) alongside the engine block.....vapor lock even on cool days, and rendered the air conditioning unusable. Power and Driveability didn't return until the '75s when the engine went from 2.4 liters to 2.6 liters in '74 and finally to 2.8 liters in '75 with some rudimentary fuel injection and electric fuel pumps. The BMW engines ran with minimal smog modifications. Yes the price for this '73 was in the low $5K range, but so was the $4200 Z car when the dealers tarted them up with a chrome bumper bar, bigger tire and wheel combinations and various useless coatings. By the way, my Z car tire upgrade was the Firestone 500, just to add icing to the cake.

Like Reply
- See 1 previous
- Getacargetacheck on Apr 12, 2012
  
  That is no exaggeration about the '73 Z. Vapor lock (always at the most inconvenient times) was a constant problem for my brother's '73. The problem didn't resolve itself until the head cracked and the engine was replaced by a '72 unit from a junkyard. Yes, the choke lever was also busted on his. Interestingly, as revered as the 240Z is among the automotive press, it is not considered a really great collectible car. I wonder if it has to do with all those dealer add-ons you mentioned and all the owner add-ons popular at the time. Hard to find a 240 with original equipment and that hasn't been molested in some way.
  
  Like
- Joeaverage on Apr 12, 2012
  
  @getacargetacheck My father had problems with our family hauler back in the 70s. We had a 76 Toyota Landcruiser (looked like a hard top Jeep). A month or so after he bought it, we spend an afternoon removing all the smog add ons. He put it in a box in case it needed to all go back on for some reason. I recall him saying it ran better without it. I could imagine an owner of a Datsun from 1973 needing to de-federalize it to make it run right. Did any of the states do smog checks then? Would anyone notice if a guy stripped off the smog equipment in CA?
  
  Like
Jetstar 88 on Apr 12, 2012

I've never seen a 2002 in a junkyard. Of course, I have seen the world's rustiest 2800 CS, which was quite amazing. I took the kidneys, of course.

Like Reply

Recent Comments

Honda1 Unions were needed back in the early days, not needed know. There are plenty of rules and regulations and government agencies that keep companies in line. It's just a money grad and nothing more. Fain is a punk!
1995 SC If the necessary number of employees vote to unionize then yes, they should be unionized. That's how it works.
Sobhuza Trooper That Dave Thomas fella sounds like the kind of twit who is oh-so-quick to tell us how easy and fun the bus is for any and all of your personal transportation needs. The time to get to and from the bus stop is never a concern. The time waiting for the bus is never a concern. The time waiting for a connection (if there is one) is never a concern. The weather is never a concern. Whatever you might be carrying or intend to purchase is never a concern. Nope, Boo Cars! Yeah Buses! Buses rule!Needless to say, these twits don't actual take the damn bus.
MaintenanceCosts Nobody here seems to acknowledge that there are multiple use cases for cars.Some people spend all their time driving all over the country and need every mile and minute of time savings. ICE cars are better for them right now.Some people only drive locally and fly when they travel. For them, there's probably a range number that works, and they don't really need more. For the uses for which we use our EV, that would be around 150 miles. The other thing about a low range requirement is it can make 120V charging viable. If you don't drive more than an average of about 40 miles/day, you can probably get enough electrons through a wall outlet. We spent over two years charging our Bolt only through 120V, while our house was getting rebuilt, and never had an issue.Those are extremes. There are all sorts of use cases in between, which probably represent the majority of drivers. For some users, what's needed is more range. But I think for most users, what's needed is better charging. Retrofit apartment garages like Tim's with 240V outlets at every spot. Install more L3 chargers in supermarket parking lots and alongside gas stations. Make chargers that work like Tesla Superchargers as ubiquitous as gas stations, and EV charging will not be an issue for most users.
MaintenanceCosts I don't have an opinion on whether any one plant unionizing is the right answer, but the employees sure need to have the right to organize. Unions or the credible threat of unionization are the only thing, history has proven, that can keep employers honest. Without it, we've seen over and over, the employers have complete power over the workers and feel free to exploit the workers however they see fit. (And don't tell me "oh, the workers can just leave" - in an oligopolistic industry, working conditions quickly converge, and there's not another employer right around the corner.)