It all began 14 years ago when I drove my friend’s 1602 Malaga Roundie and I knew right then that a little product from Bavaria called BMW 2002 would give the ultimate driving pleasure that I have been craving for my whole life.
My first ever is a red Roundie, then moving on to a white Turbo-Look square taillight. After a while I found myself more and more obsessed with “BMW Classic World”. It isn’t just about the motoring experience, but the start off a great companionship with fellow BMW enthusiasts.
You named it: 2002 Touring, E30 Coupe, E30 Convertible, E36 M3 Coupe, E36 M3 Convertible, E36 Compact, E34 M5, E34 Touring, E32 Alpina, E24 M6, E31 840ci, E63, and E71. With 2 young children, family responsibilities forced me to part ways with some of my favorites. Although, some are gone to another fanatics, most are still in my current stable. I still get a glimpse of them from time to time so I know that they are still in wonderful hands.
After having most of the classics in original condition, I thought it might be entertaining to create a race car for the street as everyone know that the 2002 is one of the most entertaining classic BMW to gauge the driving world. Then the Tri-Color 2002 Roundie was born. I placed my name (Kong) and my company name (Smiling Mad Dog) on the side of the car to make it more racy looks, KONG SMILING. 35 is my high school cohort.
I wanted the look, the feel, the speed, and the handling of a race car but didn’t want to go overboard on a street drivability as I still like to enjoy it on my routine morning coffee runs on the weekends. The color of the car was painted in 3 colors (white, Red, and Blue) rather than the vinyl wrap for a true classic feeling. The car is based on a 1969 BMW 1602 Roundie and then overbore the engine to about 2,000 CC with a new Schrick camshaft, dual weber 48, and few custom modifications by Jib Garage. The suspension is a racing coilover with 4 pots Wilwood brake system performed by Lek-A-Arm. The custom Stainless-Steel Exhaust was added by Pon Fighter Exhaust (Donmueang) to give it a more authentic vintage racing car noise.
The most challenging part for me was the interior as I don’t have any experience of what real race car looks or feels like on the inside. Most of the components were resulted from images I uncovered on the Internet which are somewhat difficult to find given how rare 2002 race cars are, but I think the result came out very well.
I am very delighted with the car, thank you for countless smack talks among friends, all the garages and mechanics, this project wouldn’t be able completed without them. It always puts a smile on my face every time I take it out for a spin a bit not in the rain as it currently has no windshield wipers like the race car of the old days.
Would love a track day in this ….. super