Roundie Grilles - Which NOS finish is "most correct"

[Mike A]

This thread   gives more support to the notion that "they are only original once".

[Conserv]

33 minutes ago, Mike A said:

This thread   gives more support to the notion that "they are only original once".

+1

 

Yes.... unless you visit the King of Trim! ?

 

Like they say, “Only your anodizer knows for sure...” ?

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

[David Layton]

For the two cars my brother and I are restoring, we have good but oxidize grills.  Plus they have nic's and dings.  I have found near St. Louis a metal shop who can do bright anodizing and he referred me to a shop to massage the metal.  If I go this route, I will steam off the Schwarz and have these anodized in satin black.  My question is what is the cost of the metal work and anodizing vs. new units that may be forthcoming....

[jgerock]

4 hours ago, Mike A said:

This thread   gives more support to the notion that "they are only original once".

My car didn’t come with ANY front grills nor a bumper.  Too much bashing.

[joysterm]

I for one  could not see putting dull stuff back on a full restoration despite any possible criticism I would likely hear. So I took the easy way out and had everything plated. 

[oh2ryan]

3 hours ago, David Layton said:

For the two cars my brother and I are restoring, we have good but oxidize grills.  Plus they have nic's and dings.  I have found near St. Louis a metal shop who can do bright anodizing and he referred me to a shop to massage the metal.  If I go this route, I will steam off the Schwarz and have these anodized in satin black.  My question is what is the cost of the metal work and anodizing vs. new units that may be forthcoming....

 

New units at current market prices are ~$525 per each grille and ~$450 for the kidney, so call it $1500. Add in $75 for each set of black slats from BMW, reflectors at $55, and hardware at $15. Comes in at just over $1700 plus shipping.

Edited April 9, 2020 by oh2ryan

[oh2ryan]

25 minutes ago, joysterm said:

I for one  could not see putting dull stuff back on a full restoration despite any possible criticism I would likely hear. So I took the easy way out and had everything plated. 

 

I love shiny stuff too, but Concours D'elegance is a different animal.

[Mike A]

2 hours ago, jgerock said:

My car didn’t come with ANY front grills nor a bumper.  Too much bashing.

Kudos to those who revive the old carcasses

[Mike A]

18 minutes ago, oh2ryan said:

 

New units at current market prices are ~$525 per each grille and ~$450 for the kidney, so call it $1500. Add in $75 for each set of black slats from BMW, reflectors at $55, and hardware at $15. Comes in at just over $1700 plus shipping.

Original tool kit for a 356 just went for $3600 + 5% buyer's premium. 

Edited April 9, 2020 by Mike A

[David Layton]

I would certainly keep the original Schwarz as the replacements, I have heard are a bit short on the longer runs.  If the re-anodizing these are costly, then powder coating in satin black.  My center grill is a relatively NOS I picked up from a member.  I got new reflectors under $20 a pair, so my pain point is $1,050.  But that may come down if the folks making the noses come through with the grills as advertised.

Edited April 9, 2020 by David Layton

[jscaptura1]

On 4/7/2020 at 12:15 AM, mike said:

Steve and I are gonna disagree just this once.  The grilles on my '69 weren't very shiny when I took delivery on the car, definitely not as shiny as the newer NOS one in Ryan's picture, more like the older NOS one.  See the picture below, taken on 5 May 1969 when I picked the car up from the dealership.  And my '73, which has the shallow grilles, had even a more frosted finish, although it was 5 years old when I bought it.  I don't remember any roundie grilles being as highly polished as the newer ones being supplied by BMW Classic.  

 

mike

 

Mike,  Love the picture of the original delivery of you 02!

[bob02]

I’m fairly certain all of the grilles I have are original... Different suppliers perhaps? I kinda like the dull type  

 

bob

[Conserv]

Do I see a vintage 8-track tape, Bob? Awesome!

 

I believe that deep grilles, like yours, have been continuously available — with noteworthy breaks in the supply chain — since the 1960’s. I suspect the differences relate to, as you suggest, different suppliers, different tooling — both during the ‘02 production era and after the ‘02 era.

 

If you randomly grab a half dozen front grilles, and start carefully comparing measurements, finishes, slat covers, the clear reflectors, etc., you’ll conclude that a well-matched pair of side grilles is to be treasured!

 

When pursuing the hot controversy over deep and shallow grilles, ? I thought, “I’ll just measure the depth of the headlight bezel on a deep grille and the depth of the headlight bezel on a shallow grille, and publish those measurements.” But there were so many different measurements, I just said “Bag it: here’s a deep and here’s a shallow. You figure it out!”

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

[bob02]

Born to be wild, Steve (and Ray). ?

[bmw_e30]

i had my grills rebuilt here in LA for far cheaper than 2k and they came out great but not "concourse level" of course