Going to SEMA to find an all-original classic is like going to the Avignon Motor Festival to find a chrome-plated 428i with 22-inch alloys. Surprisingly, BMW has bucked the tuner trend and is displaying a flawless 1973 2002 tii in a corner of its booth.
An original U.S.-spec model, the 2002 was brought out of storage to show SEMA attendees where BMW’s current lineup of coupes and sports sedans traces its roots to. The 2002 tii packed a fuel-injected 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine that was tuned to produce 130 horsepower at 5,800 rpms and 145 lb-ft. of torque at 3,000 rpms, a generous amount of power in a car that tipped the scale at just 2,225 pounds. Both a four-speed and a five-speed manual transmission were offered during the tii’s production run.
In addition to more grunt, the tii stood out from the standard 2002 thanks to bigger brakes on all four corners and standard 13-inch alloy wheels.
BMW built 38,703 examples of the 2002 tii between 1971 and 1975.
Ran When Parked 
my garage with this and the racing miata in it would be real nice.
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Ian and Ronan – Any chance you saw anything that documented the color of this 2002tii? I’m getting ready to paint mine and would like to know which BMW blue this is. BTW – this is, I believe a 1973 model, not a 1975 as noted above. 1973 was the last year of the round tail light 2002s, or “roundies.”
Hey, thanks for the correction – my mistake, things get busy out on the show floor!
I don’t know what the color is but I’ll ask a friend of mine who owns a couple of 02s, he should be able to tell you. I’ll get back to you as soon as I hear back.
Hey, I heard from my friend, the color is called Baikal. I hope this helps!
Happy new year.
One thing that’s interesting about this tii (definitely Baikal by the way, as is my ’72) is that it has ’73 front bumper over-riders, but the rear bumper is using ’72 brackets which bring it right up against the body. In ’73, the rear bumper was identical to that of the ’72, but it came with brackets that spaced it further away from the body of the car.
COOP
Also, the driver’s side chrome mirror is the “Trapezoid” style from the ’72 model rather than the “Flag” style from the ’73. I wonder if this is actually a ’72 tii with ’73 front bumper over-riders…or if it is a ’73 with ’72 side mirror and rear bumper brackets!
COOP