Gazz Hemingway here -
It's in its new home. This is the actual car though the background is fake news because that's a seller's picture.
I'll get some pics as real news, err, unfake news, umm, normal news. Oh, God, I don't know what's actual anymore.
First impressions - Man this is a tiny car. Sure I've seen plenty of 2002s before at cars and coffee and the like but when it's in your own driveway its a bit of a shock to see just how diminutive these cars are.
1973 - compare a BMW 2002 to say a 1973 Cadillac Eldorado - They seem like they are from different planets. David. E. Davis is waxing effusively about the 2002 as THE alternative for those who may notice it, and preaching, albeit it to the Car and Driver converted, in his veneration of the 2002. This is the thinking person's obvious choice.. It's one of the most famous automotive articles ever written.
Sorry, I digress.
It looks great in the shots and let's face it, pictures tend to flatter cars. Pictures of yours truly, well not so much. It has its flaws. No real surprises as the seller said as much prior to the sale. Nice guy,Tim. I've never met a bad Tim.
Sorry, another digression.
Non assisted steering is a throwback shock. Long travel clutch take up. Tardis like interior dimensions. An almost open air feeling of visibility. ( An E9 trait as well). Simple accessibility of controls, i.e. no 300 page manual required to understand what's going on as in my AMG 507. Acceleration from another era, an era, that through misty eyes, was almost courtly in its pace. A reintroduction to sensations - road noise, the engine noise , the smells - petrol. oil, rich exhaust, old leather and vinyl, DNA infused carpet. ( DNA infused carpet! Well think about your own car with its skin flakes and flicked nose pickings. There, I've said it. ).
Driving a 47 year old car commands an involvement and attention to the business of control that modern cars have striven to isolate the driver from. Analogue everything. Analogue wasn't even a word back then - things just were.
Speaking of DNA - this car wants to go, it has a playful energy to it that is such a part of the BMW genome.
It moves via sways, squats and pitches that is at first a little disconcerting, but once you are into it you feel the connection. So, a relearning experience from my young days.
Is this what it's about - coveting the past?