Fun times in a Tii
I bought my 1976 silver/blue 2002tii in Chicago for about $5000. I was 27. It was in good shape, fast, and I tore around Chicago’s torn up and potholed streets for a least a year. I took care of it but worried about it endlessly. It was a little fragile in general. One day I tried to impress my friend Linc with a fast joyride through downtown. Just short of my apt. building, smoke billowed from the under the hood. All the gauges were fine. I had no idea what was happening until I opened the hood and flames shot out. The battery had blown up. Some months later I moved to Milwaukee and eventually I sold it to a guy in Racine. He tried hard to negotiate with me and get it cheap, but i got full price — $5000. On the buyers first ride, on the freeway back to Racine, the engine blew. He screamed at me over the phone from a roadside payphone. He asked for him money back, and I said we’ll work a little something out and to call back. He never did. Either he fixed it himself (i.e., not too big of a fix) or he just bit the bullet, and just fell in love with his car.
I do have a picture of the car somewhere. I’ll and post it soon.
Yes, i had a 2002tii but not long ago around 1999 to 2001. Great fun. It was fully restored by a Doc in LA. Someone reminded me of his name yesterday and I've alrady forgotten it again. Peter with a Russian last name. In any case, He was a bit arrogant about his restoration business. It was very nice but not perfect. One of things I wanted was a 5-speed, so to seal the deal, he agreed to install a 5-speed from a later 320i. When I picked the car up, I took off and noted that it was a little difficult to get into 1st gear-I would call it notchy. I was on my way to Phoenix and didn't have time to return to complain. I lived with it for 3 years. it always kind of bothered me, but other than that, it was really a blast. And since it was Golf Yellow, it got plenty of attention-maybe more than I needed or wanted.
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Unfortunately, a young lady rear-ended me at a stoplight. Get this-we were all stopped waiting for a light. We were about 8 or 10 cars back from the light. When it turned green, this college girl jumps ofn the gas and slams me in the rearend. She clearly was thinking about her date that night or whatever. Nice girl-she gets out and proceeds to tell me that her mom had the same car when she was growing up. So maybe it was her way of getting back at her mom. The long and the short- her father was someone I knew. He was quick to get the money to me The shop I used, on the other hand, took three months to get the work done. But it was truly excellent.
So in moving from Denver to the mountains in 2001, I decided that the car needed a new home. It ended up in the Bay area with a young man that was excited about getting this car as one could be. I'm sure he must still have it.
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How long ago did you own your tii? do you know where it is now?
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