Rusty But Trusty

In spite of the fact it was not the first of its type, if you ask many car enthusiasts of a certain age what the first sports sedan was, they will say “BMW 2002”. Accuracy aside, BMW certainly pulled off something pretty amazing in marketing a mid-range sedan with an upsized engine as something sporty, and convincing a significant part of the population that it was their idea. Of course, as their numbers have dwindled, nostalgic car enthusiasts who miss quaint things like hearing a real engine, shifting their own gears, and rolling their own windows are coming back looking for the remaining 2002s. So it’s nice to find a decent-looking example which just barely squeezes under the self-imposed ceiling of $4000 – check out this 1973 BMW 2002 for sale for $3900 in Portland, OR.

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Over here, we’re big fans of the safety colors used in the early 1970s, especially by most major German manufacturers. Colorado orange, Inca orange, and Agave green were quite popular on BMW 2002s, but there were also some rarer safety colors like Mint green and Golf yellow. So whenever a car in one of the rare colors pops up, it’s an automatic feature candidate here. And while recent studies have been inconclusive about whether certain colors actually correlate with a reduced accident rate, these cars do evoke an era where manufacturers were making a first collective step towards improving occupant (and pedestrian) safety. Check out this 1971 BMW 2002 for sale for $4250 in Portland, OR.

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It’s about time for another classic BMW feature. Why? Being needlessly partial to the members of the RustyButTrusty fleet, perhaps. But you just featured an E23, you say… well, from the E12 onwards, things were far more civilized and luxurious, while the E10/Neue Klasse cars are in the vein of earlier BMWs with spartan all-vinyl interiors, four cylinder engines, 4-speed transmissions and drums on the rear wheels. It is hard to believe that you can find an early spartan car for the same price as a 15-year-old with all the luxury gewgaws. Anyway, enough blather – you can find this 1969 1602 with a 2002 engine for $4000 in New Orleans, LA.

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