other 1974 2002Tii Sighting From A While Back .....

[otisdog]

I've got a '74 tii with the 75 - 76 seats.

[Conserv]

I've got a '74 tii with the 75 - 76 seats.

What's its production date? To my mind, if it was produced very late in the '74 model year, e.g., June '74 or later, it may represent a data point -- and absolutely would if you were the original owner -- but interiors are so easily and so often swapped over the course of 40 years, I believe we'd still need a few one-owner cars exhibiting '75-'76 seats in '74 model year cars before we could conclude that it happened at the factory.

I was excited about the prospect of Carl's car precisely because it is a one-owner example. And was slightly disappointed to discover that it, a July '74 example, is a '74 with '74 seats.

Thanks and regards,

Steve

Edited May 21, 2014 by Conserv

[planb]

Nothing new to add, but here are the 74 seats from my 74 survivor.  Its weird that the front seats are a little asymmetric with more width  on the inside facing the parking brake (passenger seat shown in the first pic)

 

I couldn't find a decent tan replacement that matched the door panels, so I irresponsibly recovered the seats in black vinyl.   I had the foam built up so the buckets were more like the later seats.  I kept the 7 ribs from the 74 seats, but ran the pattern to the top of the seat, just to be confusing

[otisdog]

Steve, I'll have to dig around to find the letter from Andreas, but it was a late 1974 build that was first titled in 1975. As far as my car being original, I bought it from a girl I went to high school with, and I know that it is all original. As an aside I haven't driven the car for 20 years, since I picked up my E36 M3....which was 20 years ago this Thursday. The other day I rolled it out of the garage and opened the trunk, to find a trove of goodies that I had forgotten about....new windshield and door (bmw) rubber, new throttle body, new injection pump, new distributor, sunroof felt (3X) and a bunch of other good stuff I've amassed and forgotten about. "Twas a good day!"

[Conserv]

I couldn't find a decent tan replacement that matched the door panels, so I irresponsibly recovered the seats in black vinyl.   I had the foam built up so the buckets were more like the later seats.  I kept the 7 ribs from the 74 seats, but ran the pattern to the top of the seat, just to be confusing

And 40 years from now, a forum member is going to be pointing to your car's interior as a prime example of BMW's factory Black-and-Tan interior option! :-)

Best regards,

Steve

[Conserv]

...The other day I rolled it out of the garage and opened the trunk, to find a trove of goodies that I had forgotten about....new windshield and door (bmw) rubber, new throttle body, new injection pump, new distributor, sunroof felt (3X) and a bunch of other good stuff I've amassed and forgotten about. "Twas a good day!"

A good day, indeed!

Regards,

Steve

[Conserv]

Steve, I'll have to dig around to find the letter from Andreas, but it was a late 1974 build that was first titled in 1975. As far as my car being original, I bought it from a girl I went to high school with, and I know that it is all original. As an aside I haven't driven the car for 20 years, since I picked up my E36 M3....which was 20 years ago this Thursday. The other day I rolled it out of the garage and opened the trunk, to find a trove of goodies that I had forgotten about....new windshield and door (bmw) rubber, new throttle body, new injection pump, new distributor, sunroof felt (3X) and a bunch of other good stuff I've amassed and forgotten about. "Twas a good day!"

Reviving an old thread, and (still) thinking about the '74 to '75-'76 seat switchover issue.

Production of U.S. tii's continued through December '74, whereas production of Euro tii's continued through November '75. I'm certain that the December '74 cut-off was not arbitrary but related to some U.S. EPA/DOT requirement -- my guess is EPA -- that went into effect January 1, 1975. So BMW continued to manufacture tii's after July '74. But unlike the base models for the period after July '74, which were '75 U.S. models, the late '74 tii's remained '74 U.S. models. I suspect this unusual model year convention for tii's (a '74 U.S. tii was a car manufactured after July '73 but through December '74) allowed them to comply with, or at least not create confusion with, enhanced EPA/DOT regulations.

All U.S. base models manufactured after July '74 appear to have received the '75-'76 style seats. Did all U.S. tii's manufactured after July '74 receive: (a.) the '74 style seats; (b.) the '75-'76 style seats; or (c.) some '74 seats and some '75-'76 seats? I once would have answered (a.) but now I'm thinking it could possibly be (c.), especially as production wound down and supplies of '74 seats were exhausted.

If Carl's VIN 2782426 was manufactured July 18, '74, who has a post-July '74 tii? What is your car's VIN? What seats does it have? How confident are you that those seats are original to the car? (Otisdog, we need your car's VIN, if not its manufacture date!)

 

And I suppose this might bring up another issue: the trap to flag mirror switchover.  I, and others, have viewed the rectangular "flag" mirror as an addition/change for the '75 model year; it certainly post-dates the square taillight introduction.  Accordingly, I have previously thought that all U.S. tii's would have come originally with trap rear view mirrors. But given that tii production extended after the potential introduction of the flag mirror, did these late -- or at least some of these late -- tii's, those manufactured after July '74, come with flag mirrors?  If U.S. tii production ended with 2782928, and 2782426 was manufactured July 18, '74, we're not talking about a lot of tii's, maybe 400+.  Can we collect some data for those cars?

 

Thanks and regards,

Steve

Edited December 16, 2014 by Conserv

[otisdog]

From Andreas - 

" The BMW 2002 tii  US VIN 2782875 was manufactured on December 9th, 1974 and delivered on December 17th 1974 to BMW importer Hoffman Motors Corp. in New York City."

 

I recently spoke to my high school classmate from who I purchased the car and she assured me that the car was delivered with those (75-76)

seats. Trap mirror.

 

Glad I stopped in to check the FAQ!

 

Merry Christmas, all!

Edited December 17, 2014 by otisdog

[Conserv]

Given that December '74 is four months into the '75 U.S. model year, I can now see one, more, maybe even many late '74 U.S. tii's exiting the factory with '75-'76 seats. More data points will help us confirm or deny this!

Thanks for checking in and providing this info, otisdog! Merry Christmas to you as well!

Regards,

Steve