The BMW legend – BMW 02

Which car is largely responsible for #BMW’s sporting reputation? Almost certainly the “New Class”, and especially the 02. And until then? The Isetta, the somewhat larger 600, the 700, the big “Barockengel” – in between sprotish exotics like the 507 or 503. But BMW is not yet where it wants to be. And BMW would almost have been swallowed by its arch-enemy #MercedesBenz. In the middle of the 1950s, things were happening in Bremen and Munich. Borgward goes bankrupt, under the supervision of Johannes Semlerm, also a member of the BMW supervisory board. Let’s leave all conspiracy theories aside, with the Borgward Isabelle an important player in the middle class disappears. And with the entry of the heavily wealthy industrialist Herbert Quandt, there is money in Munich again. And now BMW needs something in the middle class. These developments finally end with the “New Class” Wilhelm Hofmeister, BMW’s chief stylist, had been advised on the development of the 1500 design by Giovanni Michelotti, who had already worked on the 700. Hofmeister’s team finished his design and the body of the car bore Michelotti’s modern and unadorned lines, while the radiator grille was from the 507 era.

And the “New Class” was followed in 1966, somewhat smaller, by the 02 as a replacement for the #BMW700. Just one year later, there were the “ti” (Turismo Internazionale) and “tii” (Turismo Internazionale Iniezione or “Injection”) models, as the 1600 ti, 2002 ti, and 2002 tii. And apart from the Turbo introduced in 1972, it is arguably these cars that gave BMW its sporting place in the mainstream, a place BMW would retain for years to come. This excellent example was at @MondaenMobil until recently.