76' 2002

A couple weeks back I went and spent a few sweat drenched hours documenting my friend Doug work on his 1976 BMW 2002 in the mothballed GM Leeds assembly plant. The old GM plant leases out space for storage and what not, it is not big on air conditioning though.  

The car was more or less a basket case in the most literal sense of the phrase when he picked it. Here is a brief write up from Doug on the history of the car.

"We bought our 1976 BMW 2002 in July 2017 as a rolling chassis with carton upon carton of parts. It took three trips to Tulsa to get everything home to Kansas City. Now, a year later, the car is nearly complete, awaiting the final touches to the interior and final stage of conversion to electronic fuel injection.

The suspension has been upgraded to Bilstein shocks with Ireland Engineering springs, along with IE adjustable swaybars. Stopping power comes from ventilated front discs and four-piston calipers, complemented by oversized rear drums.

Prior to our purchase, the car had been sent to body work. All rust was cut out of the chassis and replaced, and it was repainted its original “Malaga” color. The engine was rebuilt to high-compression specs, as well as being desmogged. Some exterior trim has been shaved, and the U.S.-spec “diving board” bumpers have been replaced with smaller, lighter “euro” chrome bumpers."

I love these old square body cars, I can't wait to see this one out on the road.

And a big thanks to Doug for letting me come out and snap a few pics of him doing his thing.