How I bought a 1976 BMW 2002 for less than half the seller’s asking price Pt I

Part I: BMW 2002 For Sale $1450 OBO – A Diamond in the Rough?

The BMW 2002 has interested me since I was a kid growing up in Cincinnati. My brother would crane his neck and point them out to me as we drove by Just Blau Mit Weiss, a local BMW repair shop that wasn’t far from our house, it’s still there, in a different location, but they’re still in business in Cincinnati.

They’d have a bunch of BMWs parked outside and there would always be a few 2002s. There was always a 2002 racing car or two outside as well, with numbers on the side, we always thought they were cool. It’s the car that started it all, the first sports sedan BMW made that paved the way for the 3 series cars that have been the standard by which all others are measured for the past 30 years. They’d always interested me, but I’d never been serious about getting one.

I was at the grocery store one night and, as usual, I picked up the three different free local used car publications by the door on my way out. I was flipping through them at home… the usual stuff, late model cars, three, four, five year old used domestics, ads from most of the local franchised dealers. Then I turned the page and saw it: 1976 BMW 2002, good condition, manual trans, runs rough, $1450 OBO.

There was a phone number and website listed, it was at a small used car lot in west of Minneapolis that specializes in late model Volkswagens. Huh, that would be cool I thought, that sounds cheap, I wonder what I could really buy it for? I love seeing “OBO” after a price in a classified. I went on eBay to see what they were going for. I saw non running parts cars for more than $1500, it seemed like a good deal, what if I could buy it for $1000?

That night I got online and had a look at the BMW 2002 buyer’s guide at bimmers.com “watch out for rust, especially shock tower rust in the trunk” was the most important lesson I think I took away from that read. Rust (trying to repair it) is the best way to absolutely bury yourself in a classic car project. I didn’t think too much about the car after that night.

A week went by, coming out of the grocery store again, I picked up the next week’s used car ads, flipping through, there was the 2002, still for sale $1450 OBO. I had to at least call, right? So I called the place on Friday afternoon.

“Yeah, it’s a blue ’76, it’s in good shape, runs a little rough though, I don’t know what’s wrong with it, it’s a nice little car” the young guy on the phone sounded like he was reciting the classified.

I spent the rest of Friday afternoon wrestling with all the usual questions that arise when such an opportunity pops up out of nowhere… Should I buy this car?  How much should I pay? What if it’s junk? Can I get my money back if I need to sell it? One of the key questions was already answered… Where will I store it?

My company was subleasing warehouse space from a trucking company, those guys would let me park it in their warehouse for free. I was single at the time, so I didn’t have to sell the idea to a significant other… it was about the money, how cheap could I get it? I decided Friday night that I would take out $700 from my checking account Saturday morning, go out to have a look at the car, if I could buy it for $700 and not a penny more I’d do it. I mean, I could part it out on eBay for more than that, right?