Tuesday 17th April 2012

BMW 2002 butchered in the name of rat roddery

You've got a nice old BMW 2002 but fancy a change ... but would you do this to it?

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Less a 'You Know You Want To' and rather more 'Perhaps You Shouldn't Have', the morning run around the news wires brought this rather startling creation to our attention - hat tip to Autoblog and blogger Ralf Becker for bringing it to our attention.

Just what a dainty BMW 2002 needed...

Or perhaps not, when you hear that to create this rat rod an apparently fully serviceable BMW 2002 fell victim to its owner's crazed imagination and some carvery with the plasma cutter.

Said owner is John Lee of Atlanta Performance Development who, having sliced up the car he ran around in at high school, then 'mated' it (we use the term loosely) to a Chevy V8, coilovers from a C5 Corvette, Panoz control arms and whatever else he happened to have lying about. Including a Hurst shifter mounted on the roof for, according to the build thread, the 'lolwut' factor.

Genius or welding torch wielding lunatic? We'll let you decide once you've weighed up the evidence.

That's a little more like it

Each to their own and all but if you're going to 'modify' a 2002 and looking for inspiration perhaps this Gruppe 2 touring car we spotted at the Techno Classica show might be a little more ... sympathetic?

Rat Rod pics 'via' Stay Classy Atlanta

[GranCab]

ouch ....

[Garlick]

I'd commute in that

[Gary H 2008]

Awesome

('Get over yourself' in advance to the Haters)

[vixen1700]

Yeah, I like it.

[HorneyMX5]

Massive slab of win right there, i'd happily cruise around in that.

Nick

[Zippee]

Gary H 2008 said:

Awesome

('Get over yourself' in advance to the Haters)

Have to agree. Love it.

[anonymous-user]

Its good to be different sometimes.
I like this a lot.

[cragswinter]

love it

[Killer2005]

Don't love it but certainly very cool

[eldar]

Looks like a Triumph Herald with a botox addiction...

[DanDC5]

If they cut up a mint one to do it then it's a bit of a shame, if it was a rough one to start with then that is nothing but very very cool.

[Johnboy Mac]

Wouldn't thank anybody for it. That's not what should be done to any '02 in my biased opinion.


Edit: Looked at the build thread, and no it just ain't right even if the quality of work is spot on.

Edited by Johnboy Mac on Tuesday 17th April 16:21

[Mark Wibble]

DanDC5 said:

If they cut up a mint one to do it then it's a bit of a shame, if it was a rough one to start with then that is nothing but very very cool.

+1

I do really like the end result though!

[dome]

Was expecting a shed with a rusty lacquered bonnet and a roof rack piled with crap from the title but that's a pretty cool hot rod.

[ikarl]

I prefer the 2002 but that doesn't actually look that bad.....

[Chris71]

Not too bad.

I find it harder to come to terms with sometimes-unique coachbuilt vintage Bentley saloons still being torn apart to create Blower replicas in the 21st century.

[Flock'd]

I like!

[P I Staker]

Why do PH'ers like rat rods with no ground clearance but despise stanced cars because they're too low to be drivable...?

[r1ch]

Very cool imo!

[Sub5s]

I like original classics but that is awesome!