Al_in_Philly
Autocross Newbie
- Location
- Philadelphia USA
I fell in love with the Mk7 Golf R in 1972
First, I need to tell you that I've had my R for 3 months now and am still finding myself either taking the car for a long drive to nowhere in particular or just admiring its clean lines. I've had a bit of a honeymoon phase with my vehicles over the years, but never so strong or long lasting, which led me to do a little thinking: I fell in love with my R way back in 1972.
My motor lust has had numerous objects of infatuation: the first Porsche 911 I saw, the 1967 Corvette L88 which my neighbor bought and gave me a smoking tire ride I still vividly remember, the 1968 Camaro Z28 and Pontiac GTO, the 1994 Ducati 916, and back in 1972, BMW's marvelous little 2002 Tii--in so many ways the Golf R of its time.
I remember first reading about this car (either in Road & Track or Car and Driver, two magazines I religiously read front to back each month as I awaited my driver's license) as being the high performance version of the 2002--a small, well put together, little German sedan which could corner on rails due to its fully independent, multi-link, rear suspension. And that Tii suffix meant that it had genuine fuel injection, not carburetors, along with high compression pistons--just like the 2002 which Hans Stuck won the Nürburgring 24 hour race in.
I had gotten my driver's license by the time I actually saw a Tii up close in real life. My best friend, who was with me said it "looked kind of plain," whereas I marveled at its elegance and purposeful nature--no fancy frills or extraneous lines or chrome; every element of its design was there because it needed to be there. Oh so Teutonic. Was that what the "T" in Tii stood for?
And then there was that oh so German Interior. Stark. Black. Everything there just for driving. The seats so functional, designed for driving ling hours on the Autobahn, not to be looked at and then give you a backache like what we had in American cars.
This was a "Driver's Car," something a kid in suburban Chicago wasn't apt to see all that often back then, but I knew it, and wanted it, along with that potent (for the time) 2 Liter overhead cam engine. But I never had the chance to own one. I was lucky to get my brother-in-law's rusted out 1964 Triumph Spitfire with a blown engine to rebuild in the summer between my Junior and Senior years in High School. When the 3 series BMW's came out I was in college, and then grad school, and grad school again for my Doctorate, so the # series BMW was never realized either, but that desire waned quickly as that car grew and muted far away from the elemental focused car which the 2002Tii was.
When I first saw the "spy photos" of the Mk7 Golf I felt compelled by what I saw. The basic shape which VW had developed decades ago were somehow perfected. The angle of attack of the windshield was now low enough to let the air flow over the hood without creating as much drag, just as the hood did, raised in the middle, instead of being lower than the fenders in the Mk6, not trapping the high pressure from drifting off to the sides of the car. This was a car which, like the Tii, was designed with function first, yet the form which followed was masterful in its elegant simplicity. Something which many would call "plain," but I would see as beautiful in its simplicity.
Then yesterday, I found myself staring at the seats in my R. I had recently read a review of the S3 which mentioned the seat design, as something nicer than in the R. Having driven the S3, I remember thinking they were way too fussy for me. As I absent mindedly gazed at my R's leather seats it hit me: they looked Germanic, just like those in the 2002 Tii I had lusted over decades earlier. I thought more about it and realized that the Plain-Jane little R was so much just like that earlier BMW: mechanically far more advanced than almost any car on the road, shear joy when driving, no-nonsense/totally functional interior, a car which could carry 4 wherever you wanted yet yearned to be flogged on twisty back roads. I had finally found my 1972 BMW 2002 Tii in 2015. Who says you can never rekindle your first love?
First, I need to tell you that I've had my R for 3 months now and am still finding myself either taking the car for a long drive to nowhere in particular or just admiring its clean lines. I've had a bit of a honeymoon phase with my vehicles over the years, but never so strong or long lasting, which led me to do a little thinking: I fell in love with my R way back in 1972.
My motor lust has had numerous objects of infatuation: the first Porsche 911 I saw, the 1967 Corvette L88 which my neighbor bought and gave me a smoking tire ride I still vividly remember, the 1968 Camaro Z28 and Pontiac GTO, the 1994 Ducati 916, and back in 1972, BMW's marvelous little 2002 Tii--in so many ways the Golf R of its time.
I remember first reading about this car (either in Road & Track or Car and Driver, two magazines I religiously read front to back each month as I awaited my driver's license) as being the high performance version of the 2002--a small, well put together, little German sedan which could corner on rails due to its fully independent, multi-link, rear suspension. And that Tii suffix meant that it had genuine fuel injection, not carburetors, along with high compression pistons--just like the 2002 which Hans Stuck won the Nürburgring 24 hour race in.
I had gotten my driver's license by the time I actually saw a Tii up close in real life. My best friend, who was with me said it "looked kind of plain," whereas I marveled at its elegance and purposeful nature--no fancy frills or extraneous lines or chrome; every element of its design was there because it needed to be there. Oh so Teutonic. Was that what the "T" in Tii stood for?
And then there was that oh so German Interior. Stark. Black. Everything there just for driving. The seats so functional, designed for driving ling hours on the Autobahn, not to be looked at and then give you a backache like what we had in American cars.
This was a "Driver's Car," something a kid in suburban Chicago wasn't apt to see all that often back then, but I knew it, and wanted it, along with that potent (for the time) 2 Liter overhead cam engine. But I never had the chance to own one. I was lucky to get my brother-in-law's rusted out 1964 Triumph Spitfire with a blown engine to rebuild in the summer between my Junior and Senior years in High School. When the 3 series BMW's came out I was in college, and then grad school, and grad school again for my Doctorate, so the # series BMW was never realized either, but that desire waned quickly as that car grew and muted far away from the elemental focused car which the 2002Tii was.
When I first saw the "spy photos" of the Mk7 Golf I felt compelled by what I saw. The basic shape which VW had developed decades ago were somehow perfected. The angle of attack of the windshield was now low enough to let the air flow over the hood without creating as much drag, just as the hood did, raised in the middle, instead of being lower than the fenders in the Mk6, not trapping the high pressure from drifting off to the sides of the car. This was a car which, like the Tii, was designed with function first, yet the form which followed was masterful in its elegant simplicity. Something which many would call "plain," but I would see as beautiful in its simplicity.
Then yesterday, I found myself staring at the seats in my R. I had recently read a review of the S3 which mentioned the seat design, as something nicer than in the R. Having driven the S3, I remember thinking they were way too fussy for me. As I absent mindedly gazed at my R's leather seats it hit me: they looked Germanic, just like those in the 2002 Tii I had lusted over decades earlier. I thought more about it and realized that the Plain-Jane little R was so much just like that earlier BMW: mechanically far more advanced than almost any car on the road, shear joy when driving, no-nonsense/totally functional interior, a car which could carry 4 wherever you wanted yet yearned to be flogged on twisty back roads. I had finally found my 1972 BMW 2002 Tii in 2015. Who says you can never rekindle your first love?
Attachments
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bmw-2002tii-2_800x0w.jpg -
bmw-2002tii-1_800x0w.jpg
