BMW "Alpina" 2002 Ti or Alpina 2002 Ti?

[cawimmer430]

Saw this yesterday. Not sure if it's a genuine Alpina 2002 Ti or a BMW 2002 Ti that has been convincingly made to look like an Alpina. Either way, lovely!

 

[Matski]

In any case, the only thing that matters at that stage in Alpina's history is which engine is under the hood - that really defines if it's genuine or not. I'm going to put my BMW enthusiast nuts on the line now and say, that's not an original colour, and those stripes weren't introduced until later*... so from a looks point of view it's fake... but if it's got an A1, A2, A3 or A4 engine under the bonnet then it's still a BMW with an Alpina conversion.

I stand to be corrected if either of these statements are incorrect.