It’s tempting to think of the restomod scene as being wholly American. It is, after all, mostly based on muscle cars, old full-size models, and trucks. The sort of cars that practically spit bald eagle feathers from their tailpipes and throatily crunch out The Star-Spangled Banner with their engines. However, there are some absolutely superb restomods which originated on the other side of the Atlantic that deserve our attention. Whether it’s turning German sedans from dull executive cars to part-time racers, Italian speedsters that have been given just that little bit more, or British cruisers made Great, you owe it to yourself to check these out.

BMW 2002

Originally Produced: 1968-1976

The BMW 2002 is cool for a number of reasons. Not only is it a style icon, but it’s also very relaxed about that status. It’s not boastful. It’s not loud. It just is. One of the first production cars to offer a turbocharged model, the 2002 is pure fun to drive, and pretty nippy too. The restored model produced by audio experts Clarion is even better. Fitted with a pair of big bass-blasting subwoofers in the trunk and a new screen in the center console, it does a great job of meshing the old and new.

Under the hood, the restomod process on this European beauty has included installing a pair of Weber DCOE 40 carburetors and a new K&N air filter. A five-speed transmission has also replaced the original four-speed.  It’s not a car that’s going to be able to smash out a quarter-mile in record time. It doesn’t come with a big block V8. What it does have in spades though, is character. Driving it is a good time, and it is (characteristically of a German car,) very precise. You need to focus on the task at hand, peeling through corners and outmaneuvering the boring machines packing up the highways like so much scrap metal. If you need to stop, the new Wilwood brakes provide sudden stoppage, before the beautiful wooden wheel traces through your hands and you tear out again. The BMW 2002 was, and still is, an incredible machine.