Olli Grimme's 2002tii
Photography by Olli Grimme @olli_grimme
Like many of us, Olli has always been interested in cars, bikes, and basically anything with an engine since he was young. When he was 6 years old he got his first motocross bike. His love for BMW’s started because of his dad. Since Olli was born his dad has always owned a BMW, including an E21, E34, 2 E39’s, E92 and today owns an F10 M5.
This 2002 is actually Olli’s first car. He heard about the car from a friend who found it. Originally two of Olli’s friends wanted to buy the car and rebuild it. After seeing the car’s condition however, they decided it was going to be too much work for him and bailed on the idea. So Olli went to check out the car himself and although it needed a lot of work, he saw the potential it had. Olli bought the 02 for 650 euros from a middle-aged woman one week before his 17th birthday.
As expected there was a lot of rust, so they took the car completely apart, sandblasted it, had all of the rust treated, and welded in new sheets. This restoration process took about a year to complete. The car was then painted in RAL 9005 Deep Black. At this point in its life, the car was built for Hillclimb Races with a Wiechers roll cage, Sparco seats, and 15 x 8.5" BBS RM’s; later with 13 x 8" ATS Cup wheels.
Then he went a different direction with the car. The car was slammed on coilovers and received a set of 16 x 8" / 9" BBS RS – 2" lip in the front and 2.5" lip in the rear.
After driving on the coilovers for a year; having 1.5" of ground clearance and going through two bumpers, he decided that needed to change.
He decided to make the switch to airride. So he went with dumped bags and an Accuair E-Level controller with height sensors on each wheel. The controller was installed in the ashtray so it could be hidden away if desired. They also added an iLevel module so he could control it from his phone.
The BBS RS setup was executed perfectly so the wheels would be fitted when the car was aired out. After enjoying them for awhile he wanted to push his setup a little further. He went with centerlock BBS E50’s in 16 x 9.5” / 10”. In order to fit the E50 rears the rear flares had to be modified. He ended up adding an extra inch to the original flares.
The rest of the exterior upgrades are from a 2002 Turbo model. It also has a carbon fiber spoiler on the trunk. The rear of the car is an early model with “Roundie” taillights, but the front is actually a later model. Another cool detail is the Italian turn signals (clear lens and orange background, as opposed to the original completely orange signals) – it’s a simple, but classy touch that you don’t see as often. Since the original hood latches were not that great, motorsport quick release pins were added.
Olli has built one of my personal favorite 2002’s. It has tons of style with motorsport inspired modifications. Even though the low/stance setup kind of defeats the motorsport purpose it’s quite enjoyable to look at. And after hearing his/its story, it makes me appreciate the car even more.
