I always wanted one of these :-p

[Bob98SR5]

Gents,

The Biodiesel Benz was sold to a very happy MBZ enthusiast who also makes biodiesel. Everyone is happy...while I did take a bath on it financially, I doubt anyone who wasn't a Benz + biodiesel fanatic would've trusted the welding :P

Anyways, I have been researching one of my dream cars for several weeks now. Like the gods were watching out for me, I found an immaculate 1976 BMW 2002 with only 73K original miles. 2nd owner, a rich English guy who lives in Santa Barbara wanted to get rid of one of his cars (sounds like he has a lot of cars). Well his ebay auction didn't hit his reserve and I've been chatting him up for several days now. I agreed to his reserve and now I am just waiting for him to send an email over so we can finalize the sale. There are so many 2002's out there but look like sh#t or are priced so ridiculously high. This one will be driveable out of the driveway.

Here's some pics of my soon to be new love

[img width=800 height=373]http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/1/5/2/9/0/0/5/webimg/454813027_o.jpg[/img]

[img width=800 height=474]http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/1/5/2/9/0/0/5/webimg/454812935_o.jpg[/img]

[img width=800 height=400]http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/1/5/2/9/0/0/5/webimg/454813356_o.jpg[/img]

All pictures can be found here:

Link

Any other 2002 fans out there?

Oh yeah, these don't come with AC :P Anyone here ever installed an aftermarket A/C unit?

Bob

[YotaFun]

I am familiar with the car, not a huge fan but a teacher at my tech school had one and was into them.
They are pretty neat and he would probably kill you for that clean one! lol

As far as aftermarket A/C can't help ya there. GL with it though

[CJM]

Neat, not my cup of tea but I think its pretty cool. Looks very clean too.

As for AC, never installed an aftermarket unit. But Im sure there is an entire kit out there for the car or something you could adapt. Hardest part I think is gonna be retro fitting it into the vent system itself, unless the vent blower is easy to get to-least thats where I would think you would want to connect it.

[4x4mike]

Ah man you sold the Benz. You had some time and work into that thing. I hope you turned the guy onto your blog to let him know what and how you did everything.

I like the 2002's. I don't know much about the different model years but I used to work with a guy that had one he had put some time and money into. It was a little lower, had wider rear tires and jut looked clean and simple.

Is this going to be your commuter? What are you expecting for mileage?

I'm glad (assuming) you've still got the 4Runner in your stable and good luck with the new ride.

[Crinale]

thats awesome! 2002's are sick. Ive saw some really clean ones down at BimmerFest last year, but that one is definitely a great find.

[Obi..]

Bob, I swear if you'd even told us it was an automatic and you got it for less than $7k I was going to have to kick you. This is one of the wife's favorite vehicles ever, right up there with the Comet.

Garage the thing and be sure you have an aiir conditioner in there to keep the room right at 65 degrees 365 days a year, it's in great shape based on those pics.

[Bob98SR5]

mike and norcal,

yup, this will be my daily driver. it is purported to get around 25-30mpg. it should be interesting to drive a carburated vehicle, never have i dont have a long commute (< 3mi), but it might be longer. been interviewing, might have a really good chance of landing a job in our coveted and new plug in vehicle group. i do intend to garage it, but it won't be a garage queen. the loooong term plan is to drive it like any other car that i've own, but eventually turn it into an electric vehicle. right now to do it is cost prohibitive. but its in the cards, just not now b/c of the cost. it is inevitable that the cost of lithium ion batteries will come down as will the cost of the motors.

[DHC6twinotter]

Awesome! l love the 2002s. An electric swap sounds like a lot of fun too.

How do ac systems on electric cars work? Is there a belt off the motor running a compressor, or do electric cars use an electric ac compressor like the Prius? I don't know much about aftermarket AC systems, but if you are going to convert the car to an electric car in the future, maybe you would be better off retrofiring an electric AC compressor off a Prius or something. I dunno...just brainstorming.

[Seanz0rz]

electric AC uses an electric motor to power the compressor, and has an electric fan for the condenser.

we will have to chat about the electric car thing, i have a few ideas of my own, and if you are connected to the SCE plugin group, that might be highly beneficial!

awesome car, and sweet find, usually those are all beat to hell and back, and look worse than most of our 4runners.

[Bob98SR5]

sean,

not in the group yet, but i interviewed for 2 different positions. i wouldn't be doing a conversion for a few years, i plan to drive this thing until the engine gives up the ghost...but who knows when that will be and who knows when the price of electric vehicle components like the Li batteries comes significantly down. I've seen so many plans now that use marine or other lead acid batteries and they aren't the most efficient and can go at most, 50-60 miles? But we will see.