Restoring a Classic.

On the 4th of April 1972, Mr W walked into BMW Center at 7 Loveday Street in Johannesburg and signed the final paperwork. A brand new BMW 2002, the car that saved the Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) from bankruptcy, was finally his for the princely sum of R4900.?

At that price, Mr W would've had his pick of the most exciting cars of the day, including the famous Porsche 911.?

"You know, this was the Porsche killer back in the day!"?

Forty-nine years later, spinning the keys on my trigger finger, I walked back to the parking lot and my newly restored BMW 2002 to find an admirer staring at it from every angle. He was utterly fixated. When he finally noticed me, he said:

"I never thought I'd see one ever again. It's is the exact colour I wanted. I could never afford it. You know, this was the Porsche killer back in the day! It was faster and more reliable than the 911. And you could still fit your whole family and their luggage for a trip to Durban."

The Malaga red 1972 BMW 2002 receives that kind of attention all the time.?

One admirer even offered to let me drive his brand new Porsche GT3 if he could drive my 2002 from Kyalami to Lonehill. I declined.

The Restoration

Restoring a car is a labour of love. And, yes, you have to love the labour too. If you don't enjoy the process, you'll become frustrated, discouraged and give up. Vehicle restoration is not for the fainthearted.?

She was in a pitiful condition when she arrived—despite only having two and a half previous owners, years of day-to-day use had taken their toll.?

?How on earth does a car have two and a half previous owners? The owners were Mr W, his son, then Greg and now, me.

Mr W officially donated the car to his son in 1988. It's unclear how it landed at a dealership, but Greg didn't take long to spot her and pay the asking price. He could see the potential and dreamt of a restoration project. But Greg never really got to "own" the car.

You see, a few weeks after Greg bought the 2002, his wife?helped him realise?that his focus should probably be on the various classic bikes that he was already working on. That proved to be my lucky day!?

I bought the car with only a few simple pictures as evidence to back up the long telephone conversation I'd had with Greg. And a week later, she arrived in Kyalami after travelling 700kms on a flatbed.?

Greg was right. She was rough but had potential. And, she came with a pedigree. From the first invoice to the original sales brochure, the paperwork was all there—an archive to map out the history of this potential-rich 2002.?

And so the restoration began.?

As you can imagine, charlatans, hacks, and snake oil salesmen prey on optimistic restoration newcomers who watch too much Discovery Channel. So after a near miss and one expensive lesson in which parts NOT to buy, I am lucky to have stumbled onto Luis Malhou from Custom Restoration BMW.??

Luis had just started his business in earnest. Before that, he'd work on impossible projects all over the world. Honest to a fault, and not one to mince his words, Luis was the right person to guide me through the entire process.

We stripped the car back to bare metal and scrutinised every nut and bolt. We spent ages sourcing the perfect parts from around the world. Debating the finest details. Laughing about silly mistakes. Everything had to be just right.

It took two years—thousands of hours. And a significant investment. But in the end, she made it, just in time for the annual BMW Club Motor Show and Concours competition at Silverstar casino.?

The long weekends and sleepless nights were worth it when she won the novice category at the Concours competition. The first of two big wins for the pretty new Malaga 2002. The second came a year later when she competed against the "big guns" at the Concours d'elegance at Kyalami.??

The shabby little 2002 had reclaimed her status as a beautiful two-door BMW Sporting Saloon.

Preserving History.

Indeed, the 2002 and the rest of the lineup that BMW termed the Neue Klass (New Class) saved Bayerische Motoren Werke from bankruptcy and relegation to the dusty shelves of history.?

But in the paperwork, and later the stories told to me by people who knew this car in her previous life, I discovered a history of a family and their beloved BMW.?

A car that did the school runs to St. Stithians College. A means of reliable transport to work and back so that Mr W could provide for his family. A companion on long trips and family holidays. A teacher for the teenagers learning to drive. Freedom for Mr W's son as he took over the old girl as his first car.?

I now do my best to honour those memories and create new ones with the poised sporting saloon who shows her age on occasion but demands very little to keep going.

Promise me one thing:?If you see us out on the road, you'll hoot and wave. And if you see us in the parking lot, stop by and say hello to the old girl. She loves the attention.??

Here are two questions for you:

What do you think of the project?

What projects are you working on where you're enjoying the process and excited about the outcome?

Let me know in the comments. I'd love to follow along.

FYI ...This article is part of the "Love of Labour" series, started here.

Thank you to Stuart from Classic Car SA and Michael from Studio88 for the beautiful photos as part of the online competition.