"BMW's director of product planning, Helmut Werner Bönsch and Alex von Falkenhausen, the designer of the BMW M10 engine, had both been owners of a 1600-2 (1602) and subsequently had both installed a two litre engine in their respective cars. Following the realisation that they had both made the same modification, they prepared a joint proposal to BMW's board to manufacture a two litre version of the 1602. At the same time, American importer Max Hoffman was asking BMW for a sporting version of the 02 series that could be sold in the United States. The 1990cc engine was made available in 1968 in two states of tune; the base single-carburettor 2002, producing 100bhp as in the 2000 and 2000C and the dual-carburettor high compression 2002Ti, producing 120bhp as in the 2000Ti and 2000CS, later a fuel injection model was introduced - the Tii.
This excellent 1968 BMW 2002 is the 599th car built and one of the first righthand drive models to be delivered to the UK. Three owners from new, the first two were father and son before the third owner, the vendor, purchased it in 2015. The 2002 has a complete history from 1976 including details of the complete ground up rebuild in a replacement body shell with the rare steel sliding sunroof which came from California. During the restoration the car was upgraded and the engine rebuilt to 2002 Tii specification with throttle body fuel injection by Alex Elliot Racing, who is well known for racing his BMW 3.0 CSL ‘Batmobile’. The suspension and brakes uprated to BMW 2002 Turbo and the five-speed gearbox and rear differential from an E21 ensure this concours winning car is very quick and drivable. Finished in dark blue with black leather interior, this 2002 is supplied with a V5C registration document, an MoT test certificate which expires in May 2020, original, stamped service book, the Best in Class award from the BMW Car Club GB and a file containing the history of the car including photographs of the restoration. This super cool 1970s BMW is sure to be a favourite."