I bought my wife a used 1974 BMW 2002A in 1981 and the starter lockout switch evidently failed. I could start the car by jumping the posts of the starter with a large screwdriver but she couldn't/wouldn't. So, I bought a toggle switch, super glue, 10 gauge wire and little rubber plumbing washers and bypassed the starter switch. What you had to do was turn on the ignition and then flip the starter switch and it worked fine. But you had to manually turn off the starter switch once the engine was started. The wife handled it OK and then I sold it to a friend (bad idea as always) and I expressly went through this with him when he left with the car...He calls like 5 hours later telling me that he stopped at a bar to celebrate his new car purchase and the engine is still trying to turn over...he never turned the starter switch off! It cost him like $500 for a new starter, flywheel, battery...what have you....who can screw a car up more than a mechanic? we know how to do this..if you can fix em, you can wreck em