interior trim question: late-71 model year

[jerry]

i'm finally getting to the point where i can reinstall the interior stuff back into my car. many moons ago when i removed bits and pieces i considered their correct replacement so obvious to the most casual observer that i deemed it beneath me to make notes.

well, you know the rest. many moons and volumes of paint thinner, mineral spirits etc., have taken their toll on whatever brain cells survived my misguided youth. with the addition of other cars into the herd i'm not so sure now.

questions:

1. seat belts are the retractable type similar in style to the square tails, right?

2. if the rear quarter panels have a 1/2 inch hole near the B-pillar, it is an attachment point for the earlier style seatbelts and technically, these panels should be saved for an earlier car, right?

3. the proper grab handles for the back-seat passengers is NOT the vinyl loop dangling from the B-pillar but rather the hard plastic grab bar similar to the squaretails?

4. all-chrome rear quarter window latches were only on the 6-fuse cars? mid-71 versions were chrome with plastic knobs, right? squaretails switched to all black?

thanks in advance.

[MikeWooldridge]

1. seat belts are the retractable type similar in style to the square tails, right?

VIN 2572581 does not have retractable seatbelts

2. if the rear quarter panels have a 1/2 inch hole near the B-pillar, it is an attachment point for the earlier style seatbelts and technically, these panels should be saved for an earlier car, right?

These are correct for the non retractable seatbelts.

3. the proper grab handles for the back-seat passengers is NOT the vinyl loop dangling from the B-pillar but rather the hard plastic grab bar similar to the squaretails?

The dangling loops are on the sunroof cars.

4. all-chrome rear quarter window latches were only on the 6-fuse cars? mid-71 versions were chrome with plastic knobs, right? squaretails switched to all black?

Again, my car has the all chrome window latches.

Hope this helps.

[Mike Self]

the 1973 model run, then they changed over to the black knobs. I always thought this was a squarelight changeover until I saw a '73 with a pretty high 258xxxx VIN with original black plastic knobs.

Mike W's right on the button with his answers.

mike

[jerry]

1. seat belts are the retractable type similar in style to the square tails, right?

VIN 2572581 does not have retractable seatbelts

.[/b]

thanks for the info.

just a follow-up. is your car (2572581) a 6-fuse or 12-fuse?

i know that 2572181 (RIP) was a 6-fuse. reason i ask is whether the seat belts changed at that point too.

otherwise, i'm gonna be looking for the chrome bar that bolts to the transmission tunnel and my set of Klippan (sp?) seat belts in my pile-o-parts. my car VIN 2576240 is 12-fuse.

[Mike Self]

until the '72 model year, and I also know that some early "modell 71" cars had six fuse wiring harnesses.

It seems that BMW never made massive changeovers (73 to 74 excepted) of trim/minor mechanical items all at once. they just used up the parts they had on hand, and when those ran out, they started using the newer design stuff. This is particularly true with the earliest (68 & early 69) and the first thousand or two "modell 71" cars starting with VIN 2570001...

Drives us authenticity guys crazy, as the parts book isn't always correct or complete. Example: the parts book shows one ignition switch for the whole production run (the lock cylinder part) but there were at least three different ones used...

mike

[jerry]

i hate to belabor this point and i'm feeling like an 02 geek, but i have heard mention of late 71 cars being referred to as Model 72's. in fact, the build date of mine was july '71, but my title states it as a '72 although the VIN is 2576240 (technically, a 1971 year issue). so i'm in this grey area of is it or isn't it wrt seatbelts. my gut says it did, and should have, retractable belts.

i kinda have a fondness for this particular year for some unexplained reason that i don't have for the 72's or 73's. probably because i have examples of an early and late model from this year.

[Mike Self]

the factory never provided cutoff numbers for model years (generally 1 Sept to 31 Aug), only calendar years. Some cutoff numbers are well known, as between '72 and 73--just check the parts book for the 73 only bumper parts, and you'll see the VIN number changeover.

What further complicates things are states that allow a "leftover" car from the previous model year to be titled as the next year's car if sold after a certain date. Not so common now, but back when 02s were new it was.

Thus a car built as a late model year 1971 (with, say a July build date) that took a couple of months to make it from Germany to California, didn't arrive at the dealer until Sept and wasn't sold until Oct would be titled as a '72, while another one with a consecutive VIN that was shipped to say, New York, arrived in August and was sold almost immediately would be titled as a '71. You can determine the exact build date for your car by e-mailing Mobile Tradition and quoting the VIN.

As best we can tell from production figures and extrapolation, your VIN is a very late 71 (the 72's began at approximately 2576500, so the above scenario may explain why your car is titled as a '72. To determine whether it had inertia reel belts originally, just look in a parts book and see at what VIN they were first fitted. If you don't have a parts book, drop me an e-mail and I'll look it up for ya.

Doncha just love all this little niggling detail?

mike

[MikeWooldridge]

just a follow-up. is your car (2572581) a 6-fuse or 12-fuse?

i know that 2572181 (RIP) was a 6-fuse. reason i ask is whether the seat belts changed at that point too.

12 Fuse, on my April 21, 1971 produced car. Also, I noticed a typo as my VIN is 2572582.