OK, I am taking advantage of my being a contributor to ViaRETRO and our weekly Prime Find slot to shamelessly market my own car – and while I don’t feel guilty, there is certainly more than a touch of the bittersweet about this for me, for after almost eight years, 12,400 miles, a considerable amount of restoration work and one major road trip, it’s time to wave the fondest of farewells to die Zitrone, my Golf Yellow 1975 BMW 2002tiiLux. The final motivation for selling it was the acquisition and fulfilment of a dream in the form of a 1972 Porsche 911T, which has become a kind of cuckoo for the BMW.
For the last few months I’ve been the proud owner of a mini-stable of German classics, as the BMW and Porsche share driveway and garage space with my more-or-less daily, a 1984 Mercedes 280CE. However, while the Mercedes gets used most of the time, the Porsche will be the focus of my summer driving to events and the like, which means that die Zitrone will sit unused most of the time, and I feel this is not good for the car, which should be driven. As a result, it is being auctioned through RM Sotheby’s via one of their online auctions, which they are calling Sand Lots and is taking place between May 25th and June 1st.
I’ve written about die Zitrone – thus christened by my better half – a couple of times here in the virtual pages of ViaRETRO, most memorably when it took me on a near-3,000km round trip that included family visits in the South of Germany, a visit to its Munich birthplace and to the Cité d’Automobile in Mulhouse on the way back, a road trip it performed faultlessly.
It’s not all been roses; there’ve been a few thorns along the way. Under the title “Die Zitrone; A Sweet and Sour Journey”, I wrote about the unpleasant surprises that were uncovered when I put the car in for what I thought was going to be a fairly routine respray a couple of years into my custodianship. Unfortunately, as the car was prepared for paint, more and more “nasties” were uncovered with extensive rot under the carpets in both front and rear footwells, as well as one of the wings and the spare wheel well.
These were not problems I had anticipated when I bought the car from an alleged classic BMW specialist in August 2014. According to them, it had been the subject of a full restoration in 2004, and only been driven 658 miles since due to the death of its owner. Unfortunately, the paperwork detailing all this was lost in a clear out of the deceased’s papers, and I had to build a new history file, chasing up MOT’s and details of previous owners. Whoever buys it now will know some of its history prior to 2014 and will have a comprehensive file on its time with me.
The good folk at Templar and Wilde (now Templar Classics) diligently called me each time they found something – for a while I dreaded seeing their name flash up on my phone – and I ended up with a lovely example of the model after spending almost three times what I had originally expected. It wasn’t perfect – this wasn’t a nut-and-bolt concours restoration project – but it looked, and still looks, very good indeed and drives beautifully.
The contrast between the ’02 and the 280CE is vivid – where the Mercedes is a very comfortable cruiser, the BMW encourages more spirited driving and it’s a very brisk performer. It feels lively on the road, and is a lot of fun to drive. It also attracts a lot of attention, helped by its bright livery, which makes it stand out in any crowd – it makes people smile and wave, something neither the Benz nor even the 911 do to the same extent. This was something that happened a lot in Germany; it’ll be interesting to see if the 911 gets a similar reaction when I take it there next month.
Die Zitrone has been to numerous classic events both large and small, including Silverstone and Goodwood, and taken on a couple of minor, non-competitive hill climbs at Shere and Kop Hill, completing both very comfortably, as expected. I shall miss it when it’s gone, but have many memories – photographic and mental – of its time with me.
You can see the full lot entry and many excellent photographs here – it’s one of only five 2002tiiLux’s in the UK as far as I know and is completely stock – no modifications or other “improvements” whatsoever. All the extras that make it a Lux are present and correct – the wooden fascia, door caps and gear lever knob, the centre rear armrest, the door pockets (yes, these were all deemed luxuries by BMW in the mid-1970’s!) and it’s in a great colour, so I’m hopeful of a good result, and I hope it goes to a good home, to someone who will use it and enjoy it as much as I have – please keep your fingers crossed, or better still, bid for it!
With our Saturday instalment of Prime Find of the Week, we’re offering our services to the classic car community, by passing on our favourite classic car for sale from the week that passed. This top-tip might help a first-time-buyer to own his first classic, or it could even be the perfect motivation for a multiple-classic-car-owner to expand his garage with something different. We’ll let us be inspired by anything from a cheap project to a stunning concours exotic, and hope that you will do the same.
Just remember – Any Classic is Better than No Classic! We obviously invite our readers to help prospective buyers with your views and maybe even experiences of any given model we feature. Further to that, if you stumble across a classic which you feel we ought to feature as Prime Find of the Week, then please send us a link to primefindoftheweek@viaretro.co.uk.