der Bayerische November/December 2020 - 18

Traditions
TEXT AND
PHOTOS
BY

David Sossamon
Clay Aulebach

I

(Dave Sossamon) was editing an
upcoming issue of der Bayerische
when I saw George Milonogiannis'
classified ad for the car. Rationalizing that the classifieds were not
governed by rules like a sweepstakes
and recalling that I had never had to
recuse myself from actively participating in them, I jumped at the
opportunity and bought the car.

The Story of A Red 2002: Part 2

The Third Ownership...

George Sold the Car to Dave Sossamon
That was 1990. I took it to track
and autocross events, I drove it
frequently, and with the efforts of Clay
Aulebach of R.A.C. Engines in Laurel,
MD, I kept it in good running condition for another ten years. It was
clearly geared better for autocross
than track. The tall 390 rear differential combined with the close-ratio
five-speed gear box was great for

acceleration at the expense of top
speed. That was not a problem on
the highway or at Summit Point, but
at Mid Ohio I ran out of acceleration
on the long straight. No big deal, the
fun was in the turns anyway. It was a
good trade-off. The engine's power
was available in a range where I could
have fun with it every day, and if I
wanted an autobahn cruiser with air

conditioning I still had a 533i. That
combo worked for more than ten
years. After replacing the 533i with
an E36 M3 four door, I kept the 2002
for another year and enjoyed the
opportunity to compare the 2002 and
the E36. Then I sold it to Clay who
had also bought my 533i the year
before.

The Fourth Ownership... (and the Restoration)...
Clay Aulebach Then Bought the Car, Twice
Clay was the next owner of the red
2002, twice actually. During his first
ownership of the 2002, he fixed it up
and sold it as he had done with the
533i. Then one day that owner called

18

him and asked, "You want it back?"
It had been sitting in the woods near
Ocean City, MD for a couple of years.
So, he went to check it out and got it
running before loading it onto a

trailer. It now was sporting an iron
cross on a wide white stripe across
the trunk and decals of bullet holes
along the sides. The owner had
named it the Red Baron. Back at

Clay's shop it became a project car,
for whenever there was time to spare
from customer cars and the several
Formula Ford SCCA teams Clay
supported. This time, however, it was

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der Bayerische November/December 2020

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der Bayerische November/December 2020 - intro
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der Bayerische November/December 2020 - Cover2
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