Today I came across what I think may be a gem. A 1968 BMW 2002, sitting in this buy's garage, asking price of $1800, but I think he's asking too much and I maybe be able to get it for about 1000.

Here's the deal: the body and trimming is in good condition, minimal rust IF ANY. The paint job is not professional and looks crummy, but that can easily be redone in time. The interior is almost mint, save one rip in the driver's seat.

The only problems I can see are these: it's been sitting for at least a year, and has bad gas and fluids in it. I don't know enough about automobile maintenence, but I'm assuming it's at LEAST not good. HERE'S THE WORSE PART, THOUGH. When I started it up (yes, it ran, just needs new gas and a tune-up, I'm sure), it apparently scared the mice out that were nesting under the cover in the trunk. Lots of them. They all started pouring out the car from the front fender-well (and probably other places that I didn't see). I know that mice tunnel and chew and destroy. But I'm not sure how extensive the damage is until I pull it all apart. Which I can't do unless I own it.

The question: should I buy it, and how much would you pay (fairly, both to me and to the seller)?

I will post pictures when I get the chance to take them.

hmm... id need to see pics..
but look around a lot in there to see if anyhitng is eaten/nibbled on.
whats the mileage? i bought my E21 for $875 with 180K .. a real gem IMO!
if it runs well, and nothing is really broken, then i'd pay under 1k

the odometer says 02450 or something like that. I'm guessing that means 102,450. Not sure. Yeha, I'm gonna see if I can take a ride back up tomorrow and take some pics and maybe bring it out into the sunlight, maybe inspect it further. Either way, I'm itching to find either a 2002 to fix up, or a mini. Everyone's overcharging for old minis nowadays though. I need to find good online classifieds.

Cheap paint generally hides rust. I'd go over it with a magnet. Check shock towers, rockers, inner fenders, door corners (inner and outer, frame rails, pedal box, floor pan, and spare tire well. I'm from upstate NY, I can't imagine a 2002 up there with "minimal rust" :)

I would not worry about the mice. Turn on the lights, hit the brakes, hit the hazards, run the heater fan, etc. Not much can go wrong electrically with these cars besides bad grounds.

Assuming it is rust free, that the chrome is complete, that the nose has no damage, that the engine doesn't smoke a lot, that it shifts OK, that the dash is in good shape, etc, I'd guess at least $2200 is fair. Bad paint is the dinger IMO.

If you can get away with it, DRIVE it. I bought a project car that had not been on the road in a long time until the winter (!) night (!) I drove it from Baltimore to Arlington, VA. THAT was a ride.

good point on the cheap paint. I'll go up sometime and inspect it closer. My guess is that it was bought somewhere farther west, put into a garage by someone who wanted to restore it but never got around to it, then sold to this shmuck who doesn't really know what to do with it.

The chrome is all there and in reasonably good shape...it's got some small dings in the middle of the nostrils and hood chrome. Grille, hood et al are ok. Rear decklid has apparently replaced, and is on-site...I just neglected to take a really close look at it. I'm guessing if I take a closer look at that decklid (it wasn't painted over), it'll give me an inkling what's underneath all that cheap paint.

I pulled it out of the garage, so first gear is ok :). now it's time to try the others. I stepped on the brakes and no fires started...but I didn't check to see if the tails lit up.

Will look a lot closer in the coming week. Thanks for that great advice :D

Well what happened???

did you get the car?