When I was a boy my dad had one of these, although in the UK (this is a US advert) the car was known either as a 2500i or the faster 30s which also came as a coupe badged as 3.0s. My friend John Comerford had one of the coupes back in the late 1990’s. Green with a beige interior, a very nice ride. My mum drove a 1602, much like this below in a US ad, although the ad’s for a 2002i I think. The 1602 and 1502 never took off in the public imagination anything like the 2002’s partially because the 2002 cars got turbocharged then rallied and won a lot and partially because the 16 and 15 versions were always considered underpowered. Beautiful cars just the same. The 1602 predates the other two door models, and was produced at the suggestion of Max Hoffman, a US importer from 1966 onward. Designed by Giovanni Michelotti who also did the Triumph Spitfire, the 1602 continued in production till 1975. My mum’s would have been one of the later ones, from around 74. In the early 70’s BMW also produced a hatch version and you still see those around.

The 2002 series coupes were derived from the earlier and in my opinion even more beautiful Neue Klasse Sports Sedans of the mid sixties. My father had one of these too, a 1600, which he bought new in I think 1967. It must have been one of the first in Scotland. He then had an 1800 before starting into the early version of the 5Series which became available in the UK about 1973. Info, pictures and running examples are much thinner on the ground than the Coupes. But I found these