Junkyard Find: 1973 BMW 2002

by Murilee Martin

Published: March 20th, 2013

For some reason, BMW 2002s are easier to find in self-service wrecking yards (in Colorado and California, anyway) than are 320is. Most of the Crusher-bound 2002s I see are pretty well picked over— probably before they ever got to the junkyard— and so I don’t photograph them. However, a round-taillight 2002 ~~with automatic transmission~~ is something you don’t see every day.

I spotted another ’73 2002 with slushbox at this very same yard, about a year ago; that one was more complete than today’s junkyard find, but there’s a certain “abandoned project car” similarity to them.

It makes me sad when I see an old car with the instrument cluster totally destroyed by a junkyard customer, all the parts scattered around the car’s interior and nothing purchased.

Automatic transmission and air conditioning! This unit has an aftermarket or dealer-installed look about it.

Not much of this engine is left. Still, there are some usable parts remaining on this car.

#1970s #1973 #1973BMW2002 #2002 #BMW #BMW2002 #Denver #DownOnTheJunkyard #Junkyard #JunkyardFind #Malaise #MalaiseEra

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.

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Lon888 on Apr 05, 2013

A man i worked with in the late 80's drove a totally clapped out 1st -gen Omni/Horizon POS that he literally drove the wheels off. Then suddenly, somehow came up a totally mint 2002 with fuel injection. I couldn't believe it but he kept that car absolutely mint for about the next 7 years. There's not many BMW's I lust over, but a FI 2002 is defintiely on my short list.

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SISLANE on Mar 17, 2014

BUMP! 8-) Keep them garaged, away from salt obviously and avoid rain & snow whenever possible. They'll last a long time & you'll have a fun driving car! Enjoy some photos of North East 02's on our site: http://bmw2002.us/index.php/events/past-events Scott

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