The BMW 02 Series produced some of the most competitive privateer racing cars in European touring car events of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Among those entries, the 1602 variant — powered by the M10 four-cylinder engine — tends to be overshadowed by its more celebrated sibling, the 2002. Trofeu's 1:43 scale model brings exactly this overlooked machine into the display cabinet, in the specific race guise of car #136 from the 1971 300 km Nürburgring.
The BMW 1602: Compact, Rear-Wheel Drive, Race-Ready
Part of the BMW 02 Series (E10), the 1602 was produced from 1966 to 1975 as a compact two-door saloon. Its M10 engine was well-suited to the tight, demanding sections of the Nürburgring Nordschleife, and BMW 02 Series cars became a familiar sight in their class at German national events throughout the early 1970s.
Car #136 at the 1971 300 km Nürburgring
The 300 km Nürburgring was a fixture on the German national racing calendar in the early 1970s, drawing a large privateer field across multiple classes. Helmut Elmar Clever campaigned car #136 in white and blue livery, a colour scheme consistent with privateer German entrants of the period running 02 Series machinery. The event represented exactly the kind of class-level, grass-roots endurance racing that defined the era at the Nürburgring — competitive, numerous, and largely unchronicled in mainstream model form.
Trofeu and the 1:43 Scale Model
Trofeu is a specialist manufacturer with a long-standing focus on privateer and class-level race entries that mainstream producers rarely address. This model is part of Trofeu's RRDE (Racing and Rally Deutschland/Europe) series of 1:43 scale models. Trofeu's approach prioritises accuracy of race number, livery and vehicle specification over decorative elaboration — qualities that distinguish the marque among 1:43 racing completists.
In the Display Cabinet
At 1:43 scale, the 1602 E10 occupies a compact footprint that suits multi-car arrangements without demanding significant shelf depth. The model pairs naturally with other early 1970s German touring car subjects — Ford Escort Mk1 privateer entries or Alfa Romeo GTA race cars from the same Nürburgring calendar — and sits coherently within any collection focused on BMW motorsport heritage, German national racing, or the broader Trofeu RRDE series. For the specialist collector, car #136 represents a precisely documented moment in an era that produced few commercial models of this specificity.
