Headlight Bucket Color

[2002#3]

I have refurbished both headlight buckets (flat bracket which attaches to car and concave bracket which holds the headlight) (see photo) on my '74 tii Inka.  I had decided to paint the flat bracket Inka and the concave bracket flat black.  They appear to have been painted all Inka in the past.  

 

However, I just saw a photo of a US Model 74 in which both components of the bucket were painted silver.  The photo is on p. 115 of J. Taylor's The Restorer's Reference BMW 2002 1968-1976 and has the caption, "U.S. cars had sealed-beam headlamps from the beginning, with exposed backplates where European models had a protective cover."

 

Were they imported as painted silver?  My thought is NO. 

Do you think the silver buckets have been repainted?  NOTE:  The knobs are silver rather than black, so probably YES.

What color would have they have been originally originally in an Inka car?  Inka?  black?  both?

 

Your thoughts, please.

 

 

 

[02Les]

I can't imagine BMW painting the lights to match the car. Pretty sure they would have been silver(ish).

[stephers]

I do the flange part in satin black and the adjusting pot is silver. I powdercoat both ( I do my own powdercoating )  couldn't find a picture of them at the moment, can find them and take some pictures for tomorrow.

 

Thanks, Rick

[calw]

I've never seen headlight bucket in good enough original condition to be sure what their finish was, but there are references indicating that they were plated.  I would have to assume it was a rather thin plating.  All that I've seen (which weren't over-sprayed from repaints) have faded away to a sad matte grey/silver finish mixed with rusty steel color. 

 

I would wonder if they were die cut and then stamped from plated sheet metal, leaving the edges raw.  The edges are still sharp after all this time.

 

Being up front the headlight buckets take all the weather in and suffer accordingly.

[Mike Self]

The headlight mounting assembly was galvanized and/or cad plated (I've seen both), but it appears the original parts were galvanized, while replacement assemblies were cad plated.  

 

The retainer rings (the part that holds the headlight in place) on roundies were chrome plated, and on squarelights were satin black powder coat.

 

mike

[HBChris]

Easy to clear zinc plate them, they were silver originally but not painted.

[John76]

I just re-installed the completely stock headlight buckets of my '76. This is probably true for all square tails ('74-'76).

Here is a snap of the original. The bucket is zinc plated, the front is matt black (notice the paint runs through the mounting holes), and the bulkhead is car color.

 

John

 

PS: The magic marker letter "L" was to remind me of the left side installation.

 

[Conserv]

There was originally no paint whatsoever on the removable headlight buckets.  On square taillight cars, the sealed beam retainer ring, and only the retainer ring, was powder coated black -- yes, powder coating has been around since World War II.  But most headlight buckets today have 40-50 years accumulation of overspray, of various colors.  In addition, many have now intentionally been painted to hide 40-50 years of overspray!

 

As calw, Mike, and Chris pointed out, they were originally plated.  They had a bit more pizzazz 40 years ago!  If you have a set that has never been been removed -- a rarity, indeed -- you will often find fairly unmolested original plating on the protected rear face, where the bucket mates to the car's nosepiece. I have generally found silver cadmium plating on these faces.  The first photo below shows original unmolested plating, just outside the ring of Inka overspray, primer overspray, and general corrosion where the bucket was exposed to the air.  But note that this bucket most recently came off a Verona car, so either that car had passed through an Inka phase or the bucket served a tour of duty on another car altogether.  Not unusual.  It's not easy being an '02 headlight bucket. ?

 

I take a simple route, using clear zinc for the sheet metal components and yellow zinc for the hardware.  This is precisely how factory replacement headlight buckets and many of the original buckets were offered.  The second and third photos show a freshly re-plated set of buckets, ready for installation on the '73.  (The bucket shown in the "before" photo is the left bucket shown in the two "after" photos.   As long as you don't media-blast the components before re-plating, you sometimes -- but not always -- get great results, even from the grungiest of buckets.)

 

There are several earlier threads on the subject, e.g., 

 

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

Edited March 1, 2017 by Conserv

[tups]

Yep, european ones were plated (too). The dish shaped cover that goes over the opening at the back is light grey plastic.

[Conserv]

26 minutes ago, tups said:

Yep, european ones were plated (too)....

 

And...as with the U.S. buckets, the plating was often thin, leaving them looking a bit shabby after not too many years!

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

[MOJOJOY]

Here is a NOS euro set by Hella 

 

[jgerock]

On 3/3/2017 at 7:20 PM, MOJOJOY said:

Here is a NOS euro set by Hella 

 

Sexy lights!

[2002#3]

Submitted my buckets for powder coating as close as possible to original zinc plating color.  Probably will not be like original, of course, but will certainly be more amenable to water, salt, dirt, etc.  Will post photos of final products.

[Conserv]

2 hours ago, 2002#2 said:

Submitted my buckets for powder coating as close as possible to original zinc plating color.  Probably will not be like original, of course, but will certainly be more amenable to water, salt, dirt, etc.  Will post photos of final products.

 

Honestly, no one will be the wiser: the finish will hold up MUCH better!

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

Edited March 6, 2017 by Conserv

[stephers]

Here is a picture of one the headlite buckets that I did for my son's car along with his pedals and a couple of brackets    The pot is done in a chrome finish, the base is satin black   I like it and it will last. I am plating the adjustment bolts and spring  ( both I do in my own shop )

 

Thanks, Rick