…it’s my wife’s fault.  No really, it is!  Let me back up.  When we met, I had a Jeep Wrangler.  I liked Jeeps, and I had always liked classic cars.  That’s what I learned to wrench on – a 1979 Jeep CJ-7, and a 1979 Chevy Malibu station wagon which incidentally, was my first car that I paid 700 of my own hard-earned dollars for.

We started dating, and all of a sudden, Mae was making me drive her Alpine White BMW E46 323Ci everywhere we went.  The only time I had driven BMWs prior to that was a four year stint as a valet in Nashville during and  after high school.  She spoiled me.  How could I possibly go back to my noisy, bumpy Jeep after spending so much time behind the wheel of the ultimate driving machine?  So see?  It was her fault.

Fast forward a couple of years.  We got married.  I was still interested in owning an old classic of some kind.  I called an ad in the local paper about some kind of 60’s Chrysler or something.  I don’t even remember what it was now.  But when I went to the guy’s building to see the car, he had a little dark green 1975 BMW in there.  A 2002.  I had no idea what it was, but I knew I wanted one.  I just didn’t want the one he was selling.  It was a total rust bucket and hadn’t been driven in years.

I set my sites on reading and learning everything I could about the BMW 2002. I eventually found a Golf (Yellow) ’74 on ebay located in, conveniently enough, Akron, Ohio.  I contacted the seller to see if I could check it out in person before bidding.  He lived 2 miles from my house and worked for my wife’s cousin.  I ended up buying it outright.  The biggest problem with the ’74 was that I bought it non-running, and after hours upon hours of work, I was never able to get it running.  I had also picked up a ’73 2002 for parts and learned how to totally dismantle the car.  Most of it is in my basement.  The rest went to help other 2002’s in need.

Remember my wife?  The one who was responsible for my roundel addiction?  Well, a year or so later, she had discovered a pretty little red ’70 2002 on the Akron craigslist and had decided to surprise me for Valentine’s day.  She had even contacted the seller to negotiate a price.  Her intention was to have it sitting in the driveway when I got home from work, but she ultimately decided I should check it out first to make sure it was a worthwhile purchase.  This car was also only about two miles from our house, and was owned by a former classmate of my wife.  He was selling the car because of a baby on the way.  After bringing home the ’70, I eventually sold off the ’74 and later found out that I never got it started because of a seat belt safety switch specific to 1974.  I had never put my seat belt on in the driveway just to start the car!  Lesson learned.

the ’70 2002 the day it came to live with us.

the ’70 after many suspension and cosmetic upgrades.

We picked up a few more along bimmers that have come and gone, from a 1989 535im with nearly 300,000 on the odometer to a newer Alpine 325Ci.  You’re probably thinking I’m the only one in the family who gets to enjoy these BMWs.  Not so.  My wife has her own collection – a lovely Anthracite 1976 automatic 2002 and a beastly 2011 black with red 135i 6 speed.  Ironically, she drives the ’76 to work every day.

Basically, we’re a BMW family.  We love the brand.  We are inspired by the technology, but are fascinated with and respect the heritage.  And because of that love for the history, and because of a sudden opportunity, we made a bold decision to add one more to the stable….