MidAmerica BMW 02 Fest - Eureka Springs, AR

My last post described exploring some fun and some lesser known areas of Missouri. After I stayed a night in the Missouri Ozarks, I continued on to Northwest Arkansas for the "MidAmerica BMW 2002 Fest." This yearly gathering brings people from all over the country to a small village called Eureka Springs, AR. What do these people have in common? They all share a passion for a quirky looking box of a car that was produced by BMW in the late 60s to mid 70s: the BMW 2002.

The weekend long event consists of a driving tour, tech sessions, BBQs, and all around good times while looking at cool cars and sharing stories between owners.

I knew I was in the right place when I pulled into the host hotel and saw this colorful arrangement of classic Bavarian metal:

Soon after that, my eye was drawn to this very rare BMW 1600 Cabriolet:

The next variant I saw was a very rare 2002 Touring, the hatchback and most practical 2002 model.

The exercise in diversity continued when I spotted a very early 1967 1600 that appeared extremely original. It had so many unique details that BMW ommitted as they started to produce more cars to meet demand.

After wandering around the parking lot a little more, ogling at these similar yet strangely different little boxes, I ran into some old friends to catch up. Some might think that the best part about these events is the cars - they’d be wrong. It’s really about the people.

When you hang out with people who are irrationally enthusiastic about the same things that you are, everything seems to click. Conversation is natural, probably due to our brains being wired the same way. It takes a serious short circuit in the brain for people like us to be obsessed with a very specific German sedan, hence why we drive 1000s of miles to random destinations to hang out.

I then found myself looking at a beautiful red 2002 with a badge on the back that said “Stella.” A little backstory: I bought my blue 2002 when I was 15. At that age I was naturally curious as to what, how, and why people updated/fixed their 2002s. I remember stumbling upon a blog run by Keith Krieger from Kansas City. This blog had detailed photos and step-by-step documentation of his restoration of Stella. I idolized this car, and that was even before I really knew anything about our little German rectangles, so it was a real treat to see.

The next morning, we cruised through some backroads to the quaint town of Rogers, AR. I rode shotgun with my friend Jim Denker in his beautiful and original 1973 Sahara tan 2002.

After lunch in Rogers, we cruised back to Eureka Springs where we hung out in the parking lot, kicked tires, discussed modifications, and shared stories. With the exception of a raffle and a few tech sessions led by some extremely knowledgeable folks, the weekend turned into just a big car show party. We drank beer, ate BBQ, and talked cars. Those three elements make just about the perfect weekend in my book.

Barney from Austin, TX brought his beautiful Turkis blue automatic 02

A couple of vintage BMW legends: Jack Fahuna and Ben Thongsai doing a valve adjustment and tune on Meg’s beautiful and original ‘67 Manila 1600

Andrew Wilson’s “Vern,” fresh from being restored. Andrew drove all the way from Maine!

A lineup of Sahara tan 02s. That’s Jim Denker’s ‘73 in front.

Perhaps my favorite experience of the whole trip was the drive out of Eureka Springs early Sunday morning. I left around 6:30 AM with no traffic and the temperature reading of 72 degrees Fahrenheit on my dashboard. With the windows down and the sun rising on the hilly Ozark horizon, the 318ti transcended beyond its typical commuter/grocery getter status. It handled these roads beautifully and managed to still yield around 30 miles/gallon.