This is the first BMW 2002 Speedster we’ve ever featured on Silodrome and it’ll probably be the last, as I suspect it’s the only one of its kind in the world.
The car is said to have been custom built as an SCCA rally car, though we haven’t yet been able to dig up any competition history and it’s being offered for sale out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida on eBay for $14,950 USD in complete, running condition.
Fast Facts – The BMW 2002 Speedster
- Introduced in 1968, the BMW 2002 evolved from the Neue Klasse (New Class) line, combining the two-door BMW 1602 body with a more powerful 2.0 liter engine, redefining the compact sports sedan segment.
- The real secret to the success of the BMW 2002, named for its 2,000cc engine and 2-doors (2000 + 2), was the fact that it offered a sensible four seat sedan with luggage space combined with sports car handling and performance.
- It would be the 2002 that would define BMW perhaps more so than any other post-WWII car up until the time of its release. The spiritual successors to the 2002 line would include the likes of the BMW M3 line, the BMW 1M, and later the M2 series.
- The car you see in this article is the only BMW 2002 Speedster we’ve ever seen. It was custom built, apparently for use in SCCA rally competition in the United States, and it’s now being offered for sale out of a private collection on eBay with an asking price of $14,950 USD.
How The BMW 2002 Came To Be
The BMW 2002 was named for the size of its engine, 2,000cc, and the number of doors it has – 2. This model naming convention was inherited from the BMW 1602, a 1,600cc two-door sedan that was essentially the same car as the 2002 with a smaller displacement version of the same BMW M10 engine.
From very early on, the BMW 2002 was marketed using its sports car performance as a key selling point. And it’s a selling point that worked, eventually the company would sell over 430,000 of them. Image courtesy of BMW.
The idea of taking the well-engineered BMW 1602 and dropping the more powerful 2.0 liter version of the M10 engine into it occurred to two people at BMW at almost the same time – Helmut Werner Bönsch, BMW’s director of product planning and Alex von Falkenhausen, the designer of the BMW M10 engine.
Each of the men had been assigned a BMW 1602 company car, and they both independently of one another opted to have the 2.0 liter version of the M10 engine fitted just as soon as it was available. Amazingly, neither knew of the other’s modification until they met one day by chance at a garage having their cars serviced.
Both Bönsch and Falkenhausen were huge fans of the transformation that resulted from the fitment of the more powerful engine, and as it happened the influential American importer Max Hoffman had been telling BMW they needed to create a more powerful version of the 1602 that could be sold in the United States.
As a result of this confluence of automotive coincidence, Bönsch and Falkenhausen prepared a joint proposal for BMW’s board of directors to put the 2.0 liter version of the 1602 into production. The proposal was approved in short order, and the BMW 2002 officially entered production in 1968.
The “Sensible” Sports Car
At the time of the release of the 2002 no one at BMW could have guessed just how important the car would become. It helped define BMW as a maker of “drivers’ cars” in the United States and many other world markets, and the model’s combination of four seat sedan practicality with sports car performance and handling ensured it quickly became a major sales success.
This car is a BMW 2002 Speedster that was converted in recent years – BMW never offered a car in this configuration, but perhaps they should have.
It’s not often that a logical, practical, sensible car also happens to be an engaging sports car, it was a recipe that worked so well it became the origin of species for many influential BMWs to follow including the BMW M3, the BMW 1M, and the BMW M2
Between 1968 and 1975 BMW sold over 430,000 examples of the 2002, the car had proven to be a staggering success for the German automaker and it became a darling of automotive magazines from the US and UK, across Europe, and as far away as Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
The BMW 2002 Speedster Shown Here
The car you see in this article appears to be one of a kind. It’s a speedster-style conversion of a BMW 2002 coupe that features twin aerodynamic humps behind the driver and passenger seats, a roll hoop for the driver, and a unique yellow over black two-tone paint job.
The listing explains that the car was custom built for SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) rally competition, though it’s not known if the car raced or not. It does carry the racing number 10 on white roundels on each door however.
The car has a front and rear bumper delete with a front lip spoiler now fitted along with unusual alloy wheels, and some additional vents have been fitted in the front and on the hood for improved airflow.
The front of the interior appears to be in somewhat original condition, save for the roof having been removed of course, the rear seat has been taken out for racing, and a simple tubular steel framework has been installed to bring back the rigidity lost by lopping off the top.
The listing notes that the car runs and drives well, the transmission works as it should, as does the clutch. The radio and speedometer are non-functional at the moment and they explain that there is crack in the windshield on the passenger side.
The rear section containing the two aero humps is removable, it has an empty space beneath it as the rear seat was removed, and a tubular steel brace has been installed for improved rigidity.
The car doesn’t come with a folding soft top, so it’s a fair weather driver only, and it comes with a new set of tires. It’s currently being sold out of a private collection by TC Classic Cars in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on eBay.
The asking price is $14,950 USD, which seems somewhat reasonable given the values attached to 2002s nowadays, and you can visit the listing here if you’d like to read more about it or inquire about buying it.
Images courtesy of eBay Motors + TC Classic Cars
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
