The car that made BMW

This is the car that laid down the formula for one of the most successful models in the world and briefly benefited from a bizarre link with terrorists.

The terrorists in question were the Bader-Meinhof gang, whose favoured stolen wheels were BMW 2002s – some jokers called them Bader-Meinhof Wagens, leading many owners to deploy bumper stickers denying any link with the gang – and though this gave BMW an unfortunate reputation for some, among the young it gained an appealingly raffish image. It is also the car that put BMW on the map in America.

The proto 3-Series

The tautly elegantly 2002 was not the first post-war compact sports saloon, and didn’t turn terribly sporty until after it had been launched, but it would become the template for BMW’s most popular car and the foundation of its business today.

That car was the 3 Series, and the impact of the 2002 that inspired it resonates massively, forcing Mercedes to develop the 190 that became the C Class, and Audi to shape its 80 into the 3 Series battling A4. There are many pretenders too, from the Lexus IS and Volvo S60 to Alfa’s new Giulia. 

Rivals

For Alfa this is painful ‘if only’ territory, because the first compact post-war sports saloon was its 1955 twin cam Giulietta saloon, the format reaching a more convincing pitch with the ’62 Giulia (pictured) that you’ll know it as the police car repeatedly trashed in The Italian Job film of 1969. Its looks sat somewhere between boring and ugly, but it had the zest, practicality and quality to convince.

Born in '65

BMW’s take on this recipe was a little different, anyway. The 1965 1600-02, as it was first labelled to distinguish it from its bigger 1.6 litre four door sister, came only as a two-door and kicked off with a 1600 rather than the Alfa’s 1300.

Designer Wilhelm Hofmeister gave it delicately crisp lines, slender pillars, a deep glasshouse, a reverse-rake nose and a look decidedly more handsome than the Giulia’s, though Alfa’s GTV was a prettier thing. 

Powering up

Originally BMW pushed the 1600-02 as a smaller two-door version of its bigger saloon, and though a brisk performer it was hardly a racer with 85bhp.

But it didn’t take long for a couple of BMW’s senior managers to have the 2.0 litre engine from the company’s CS coupe manoeuvred beneath the bonnets of their cars, though neither knew of the existence of the other’s until both vehicles appeared in a workshop together, prompting both men to propose their idea to the board.

American influence

This plan was given considerable extra impetus by the company’s US importer Max Hoffman, a charismatic and visionary operator who was determined that he should have a bigger-engined version for his performance hungry customers.

The ’68 2002 was an immediate hit and the best-remembered version of a range that consolidated the company’s recovery from its near-death experience in the late ‘50s. The stock 2002 had 100bhp, the Ti 120 horsepower and the quirkily-labeled Tii 130bhp.

Enter the Turbo

Quickest of all was the 2002 Turbo (pictured), whose KKK blower, made by the wonderfully onomatapaeic Kunle, Kopp and Kausch, boosted that to 170 horses.  These galloped in rather late at 4000rpm, giving the expectant driver plenty of activity to replace his impatience with.

Europe's first

This was Europe’s first turbo car, memorable as much for the large Turbo decals on its wings and its deep front airdam as its on-off performance. 

Laying the groundwork

But it’s the mainstream 2002 that combined dynamism, space, practicality, high quality and style into a formula that hundreds of thousands of buyers find irresistible today.

Enter the 3er

The 2002 launched in 1966 and died in 1975, but the 3 Series succeeded it, evolved the formula, and defined the compact sports saloon for BMW, and eventually, all its rivals.