My latest acquisition: A 1971 BMW 1600.This BMW was built in January of 1971 before being delivered to the BMW dealership in Fort Worth, Texas. It was acquired by a gentleman named "Mr. Johnson" of Lubbock, Texas, and it made its way through a handful of other North Texas owners before I bought it a few weeks ago. It has somewhere around 120,000 miles on the body, but the real kicker is under the hood.
In place of the standard 85-horse 1.6-liter four-cylinder, it received in 1992 a bored and stroked Metric Mechanic 155-horsepower 2.2-liter four cylinder with a Weber downdraft carb. Its suspension has been lowered about half an inch (standard practice for these cars) and it rides on upgraded shocks and keeps its wheels planted via increased diameter sway bars. To deliver the power to the rear axle, it uses a four-speed short-shifter transmission. The engine has about 40,000 miles on it.
The car was originally painted Nevada, a brownish gray (Google "BMW 2002 nevada" and you'll find a few pictures) and it featured a brown interior. A recent repaint gave it a color closer to BMW's common Sahara shade and it has a brand new black vinyl interior from World Upholstery. It also features dealer-installed Frigiking air conditioning.
When I bought it, it had sat under a car port almost unused for three years. I've since given it a thorough scrub (shown in some of the photos), removed the fading window tint and I swapped out the pitted BMW 320i alloy wheels for a set of correct hubcaps and steel wheels (I like the look).
The car is a driver, but the body is straight and essentially rust free. Only a few surface dots under some of the chrome trim reveal that it was stored under a carport for three years. It's unlikely that it has ever seen salt. To top it all off, this BMW came with a whole complement of parts, including brand new turn signals, a hood, a trunk and more.
Today:
Before the first wash:
On the test drive with the 320i alloy wheels (I like the look and lighter steering feel, but I really like the steelies, plus these were pitted).
2 comments:
These wheels are Alpina designed ?
Seems like ! Very nice color with the alloys :)
T+, no, they are not Alpina designed (to my knowledge). They are just look-alikes. Common on E21 (320i, et al).
Post a Comment