For several weeks preceding our first Mass Appeal car show at Irwindale Speedway, the entire MotorMavens Crew made it a point to be out at an automotive event every single day, promoting nonstop and scouting cars for the show. With the help of friends, we discovered a lot of events and meets that we wouldn’t have heard of normally. One such event was the So Cal Vintage BMW Festival in Van Nuys, CA – we were tipped off about this event from a friend of the MotorMavens named Jim Comeau from NBC Television! (Thanks Jim!)
Just like the Mooneyes Christmas Party, this was going to be another event where we would feel like fish out of water. Even though we appreciate the hell out of vintage BMWs, we honestly don’t know a whole lot about them because most of us grew up around Japanese cars. Minor details like that wouldn’t stop us from admiring the gorgeous cars in attendance though!
We were mind blown by this immaculate inka orange 1974 BMW 1802 Touring, which was imported from Germany. This car is owned by a guy named InkaSteve, who is active on the BMW2002FAQ forum and in vintage car rallies. Also, he often daily drives this rare and amazing car! The first time I saw Steve’s 1802 Touring was at Bimmerfest at the Rose Bowl, earlier this year. That was the first time I had ever seen one of these in person; in fact, it was the first time I learned that such a car existed! I didn’t even see one of these when I visited the BMW Welt Museum in Munich! Now you know it’s rare!
Check out the detail on the 1802 Touring’s steering wheel – it’s actually a Petri Sport steering wheel. Notice the unusual bolt PCD on the steering wheel hub? The spokes of the wheel are arranged like a Nardi Classic 360, with holes drilled into them like a Momo Prototipo 350. This is a rare wheel too! I love how it looks! Maybe I need to find one for my steering wheel collection, hmmm?
Owners of pre-1974 BMW 2002s always say that “Real BMWs have round taillights.” Well, I suppose this 1802 Touring falls into the real BMW category then. I love everything about this car; from the paint color to the immaculate body, glass, and taillights… to the 13 inch Ronal wheels it sits on. So gorgeous!
I think these Ronal wheels are pretty cool, because they look like the classic Italian Campagnolo design that has given inspiration to rare, sought after Japanese wheels made by TRD/Tosco and Mugen racing.
One BMW that always seems to stand out at events is the KGB Racing BMW 2002, owned by San Francisco Region SCCA Solo2 (autocross) driver Steve Kupper. I originally met Steve at the Bimmerfest at the Rose Bowl also, and was happy to see him again at this So Cal Vintage BMW event in Van Nuys!
It was at this event that I had a chance to talk with him and tell him about the Mass Appeal show at Irwindale… I’m happy to say that Steve came all the way down from the Bay Area just to attend Mass Appeal, and we were honored to have his 2002 at the show! (By the way, I need your address, Steve! You never picked up your car’s award from the Mass Appeal show!)
Here’s a photo of Steve, as he maneuvers his KGB Racing 2002 through the crowd at Woodley Park. I love all the personality that this car has! From the wheels to the bolt-on flares to the rear wing and front air dam, I just don’t think I’ve ever seen a 2002 this bad ass at an autocross event ever. Oh… it also has round taillights! KGB Racing takes the win!
Wait… what the..?! I have never seen one of these cars in my entire life! I didn’t even know such a thing existed! Look at this four door BMW 1800 Ti sedan. It looks similar to a Volvo, with its high-fendered body lines (if you own this car, don’t hate me for saying that!), but it most definitely is a BMW. I didn’t see any of these at the BMW Welt in Munich either. Man! Those BMW Museums need to up their old school car game!
Wait… This looks more like an old Lotus than a BMW! The car we’re looking at here is actually a vintage race car called a Chevron. I asked someone why it would be at a vintage BMW gathering, and I was told that it was powered by a BMW engine. Very interesting…
I thought this BMW 2002 Tii looked pretty cool in the grass area of the event, with some non-2002 wheels loaded in the trunk! I forget what kind of wheels they were, but if I remember correctly, I think they were AC Schnitzer wheels – which definitely fall into the category of my favorite wheels for a BMW!
Another rare and vintagefind was this BMW CSL. It’s not often that you find one in such clean condition, much less one that’s rocking period correct Alpina race wheels and BMW Motorsport stripes! I have never seen a BMW CSL with a big wing and rear roof spoiler like that – anyone know the story on those?
Here’s another rare vintage Touring fastback, but this time it’s a BMW 2000 Touring, with BMW Motorsport stripes going all across the rear quarter panel. I’m not quite sure what year it is, but it appears to be lowered on a set of Alpina wheels. I just love seeing these old school Tourings!
Does anyone remember Steven Q Urkel’s car on the TV show Family Matters? That car is the extremely rare BMW Isetta 3-wheeler, as shown in this photo. It’s so cool to see Isettas “out in the wild.” I’m just impressed as hell by this museum quality Isetta – and so was everyone else. Look at that gorgeous body, 2 tone paint, and the detailed chrome moldings!
Here’s the rear of the Isetta. Not much room for junk in the trunk, so the owner strapped this wicker basket to the back of the car. Very cool!
I know that MotorMavens shooter Horacio Flores feels pain whenever he sees a clean E30 M3. He loved his E30 M3 to death… until he crashed it. =/ (Sorry to bring that up Horacio!) The owner of this red M3 parked it kind of far from the other cars, but that didn’t stop people from walking all the way over to the parking spot just to check out the car’s wheels and other details.
Okay, that’s it for now! I have more photos from this event, but you’ll have to wait until tomorrow! Keep your browsers locked onto MotorMavens!
:: Antonio Alvendia
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I spotted this CSL at the Lime Rock Historics last August. It has the same spoilers. http://www.flickr.com/photos/drew84/4963401585/in/set-72157624767144009/
Great cioverage antonio. I apreciate that you took your time out to find out about some of the cars especiallt the 1802! Those are rare. And those csl’s had those wings on the back because as you are aware the 3.0 csl whas a homalagated race car and because the race car had that wing at the back the road car had to also.Even though they didn’t at when first released but it was an optional extra later on. And those chevron with the bmw engine are built near me in antrobus cheshire,uk and race at my local circuit oulton park and sound fantastic.
@efcivicman:
WOW! You’re from the UK?! For some reason I kept thinking you were from Southern California! Awesome information on the CSL homologation stuff – that makes A LOT of sense now.
The BMW powered Chevrons certainly look interesting! I’ll try to dig up some more pics. The Chevron in the photo had some super cool wheels, and I thought I posted up a photo, but I guess I didn’t. I’ll make sure to include it on my next post about the Vintage BMW Festival!
@Andrew:
Thanks for the link! The car looks great! I like the way the silver one (on your Flickr page) looks with the M stripes! The Motorsport stripes contrast perfectly off the silver paint. So how do you like that 50D? One of my friends was asking me about it, but I have no experience with the 50. I went from a 40D straight to my 5DMK2.
@efcivicman
Last time I was in England I saw a BTCC race at Oulton Park. Such a great track! I’ll be spending 3 weeks in London starting on the 26th, any car-related stuff I can do around there?
@seanmc
i know what you mean i marshal there when i can. Three sisters in wigan near me is a good track as well. And for car related stuff to do around london i’d go to lydden hill or brands hatch both are in kent but you could get a hire car and it shouldn’t be too bad and you could always go to the autosport international in january because thats an awesome show but i’d book your tickets in advance.
@ antonio
I did a glol when i read you thought i lived in socal. No wintery uk is where i live.But antonio those chevrons are the bee’s knees honestly you should see their new GR8 car with a cosworth in it. And every year at the oulton park gold cup thers about 20 off them including at least 1 F5000 car (think 70s f1 car with 350 vette motor).
Good work again, like ive posted at the forum a while ago, i did see a 3.0 CSL to! http://lh5.ggpht.com/_ljBD0mIJ4lk/THjwXRD3bWI/AAAAAAAARDg/__HaI5QUHYw/s640/_8285264.JPG
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_ljBD0mIJ4lk/THjwU3vLpkI/AAAAAAAARDQ/ulhHddujJhw/s640/_8285261.JPG
Just awesome to see those classic cars
About the CSL’s wings: those came with every CSL, as they gave an aerodinamic advantage to the CSL over it’s contemporary rivals on the tracks. They even gave the car it’s nickname: Batmobile. But the public, or at least those who were buying the CSL, didn’t quite liked the tacky wings, so BMW had to sell them with the car, but leaving it to the owner, if they want to put them on the car.
10000rpm got it right re the CSL wing, except that:
1) The wing and roof spoiler came only on “serie 2” and “serie 3” cars with the 3.2 L engine. That makes only apprx. 160 cars.
2) The reason why they could be unmounted was they were not road legal in Germany.
moremoremore
@Antonio, The 50D has been great. It’s been a really rugged camera for all the Rallies and other shoots.
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