Update 11/20/18: Blast from the past! I wrote this custom turbocharged drag racing BMW 2002 back in the Summer of 2014. It failed to sell on eBay but apparently did change hands, and the current owner has relisted it with basically the same photos and information as the original listing. The reserve auction has yet to get a bid at the $5,500 opening bid. It’s a long road ahead to get this one back in shape, but it’s still a pretty neat car!
I know what you’re thinking. “Carter”, you’re saying, “you spent a little too much time around the high test this weekend. This thing is a wreck”. And you know what? You’re right. This car is a wreck. Yet I’m still mystified by it, like a Siren’s call – there is just something about period race cars that I find very, very cool. So if you’ll indulge me a bit let’s look at this turbocharged 2002ti from 1969. Perhaps not the most likely car you’d consider for the form of motorsport it ended up in, this car was modified in the early 1970s by Holger Tapp. Mr. Tapp built his own turbocharged setup, running a KKK turbo through the twin Weber carbs. Then Mr. Tapp went racing – drag racing – with this 2002. The period picture reveals the car appeared to originally be a orange and wear some awesome BBS magnesium race wheels. Some of that original color can still be seen on the unmounted and damage chin spoiler. According to some light research I found, Holger Tapp was actually quite successful with the car, according to a competitor winning quite often. It also appears that at some point he built a second, more wildly flared car that picked up the BBS wheels – indeed, in one photo the plate “HU AV 303” this car wears can be seen on that car. The rest of the history appears to be pretty fuzzy; however, if you brush up on your German, Holger Tapp is still in business today doing much the same thing:
