1973/74 BMW 2000 SA, SAA 982M (1979)
John Powell photo.
An interesting scene here. I did buy a handful of BMW photos, but it was the general mix of cars that I liked here. However, it does seem like the BMW is a real oddity that Mr Powell was lucky to capture on film.
As I understand it, this model started life as a Glas 1700. When BMW took Glas over in 1966 they inherited this saloon which competed with their own 1800, so they stopped production in 1967 and shipped the tooling off to South Africa. They continued to make it there until the late 1970s, and it apparently sold well in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) where it was called Cheetah. In the mid '70s it was restyled with a more typical BMW front grille and double headlights arrangement. Good info here bimmerin.net/articles/bmw_2000SA_in_Rhodesia.php and here hooniverse.com/2010/08/24/rare-bmw-glas-so-rare-its-pract...
But how/why did one end up in the UK? Perhaps bought here by an ex-pat returning home? Thinking about, the M-reg on it probably just relates to when it was first registered here. Back then they didn't bother with issuing age-related plates, so it could be a bit older.
What I then realised in looking at the photo is that it appears to be taken outside a taxi office (in Cheltenham). Of course it could just so happen to be stopped there, but there's a sign or sticker in the window which matches that in the Volvo next to it, making me wonder if it was actually a taxi itself?
Sadly no trace of it on DVLA.
The Volvo registered KCJ656P to the right was a 1975 244DL Automatic. DVLA says it lasted only until 1982, backing up the thought that it was also a taxi? I suspect fuel economy on an automatic version must have been pretty dire.
A bit of a mixture parked-up in the background, and I think some of these were taxis too. Certainly the Marina and Datsun 200L appear to have signs on their roof (it was the latter car that got me particularly interested in this photo). Maybe the Vauxhall Victor FE was as well?
On the right there's a Volvo 144 or 145, something a bit lower and sportier behind that, an Austun FX4 taxi then in the background what appears to be a Bedford HA van with windows (Beagle?).
So much to ponder in just one photo!
Taken in Cheltenham on 25/11/79.
1973/74 BMW 2000 SA, SAA 982M (1979)
John Powell photo.
An interesting scene here. I did buy a handful of BMW photos, but it was the general mix of cars that I liked here. However, it does seem like the BMW is a real oddity that Mr Powell was lucky to capture on film.
As I understand it, this model started life as a Glas 1700. When BMW took Glas over in 1966 they inherited this saloon which competed with their own 1800, so they stopped production in 1967 and shipped the tooling off to South Africa. They continued to make it there until the late 1970s, and it apparently sold well in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) where it was called Cheetah. In the mid '70s it was restyled with a more typical BMW front grille and double headlights arrangement. Good info here bimmerin.net/articles/bmw_2000SA_in_Rhodesia.php and here hooniverse.com/2010/08/24/rare-bmw-glas-so-rare-its-pract...
But how/why did one end up in the UK? Perhaps bought here by an ex-pat returning home? Thinking about, the M-reg on it probably just relates to when it was first registered here. Back then they didn't bother with issuing age-related plates, so it could be a bit older.
What I then realised in looking at the photo is that it appears to be taken outside a taxi office (in Cheltenham). Of course it could just so happen to be stopped there, but there's a sign or sticker in the window which matches that in the Volvo next to it, making me wonder if it was actually a taxi itself?
Sadly no trace of it on DVLA.
The Volvo registered KCJ656P to the right was a 1975 244DL Automatic. DVLA says it lasted only until 1982, backing up the thought that it was also a taxi? I suspect fuel economy on an automatic version must have been pretty dire.
A bit of a mixture parked-up in the background, and I think some of these were taxis too. Certainly the Marina and Datsun 200L appear to have signs on their roof (it was the latter car that got me particularly interested in this photo). Maybe the Vauxhall Victor FE was as well?
On the right there's a Volvo 144 or 145, something a bit lower and sportier behind that, an Austun FX4 taxi then in the background what appears to be a Bedford HA van with windows (Beagle?).
So much to ponder in just one photo!
Taken in Cheltenham on 25/11/79.