Mirrors, old style vs. newer style

[JohnS]

I know I should do a search...

Does anyone know when the switch was made between the older trapazoid style mirrors to the newer square style? What type mirrors would be correct for a 1973 2002tii made in July of 73? Thanks,

--John

[JohnS]

OK, Did the search...

Not sure, but sounds like any 2002 from 1971 on should have the trapezoidal mirrors and what I call the 'later style' mirrors were never original on any year of 2002? Weird, almost all of the square-eye 74's - 76's that I've seen here in California had the square style mirrors.

Opinions?

[Beaner7102]

John, this was discussed at length back in June 2007.

And to quote Delia:

We've had this debate here before...

The trapezoidal mirrors on all 2002 models were discontinued somewhere in the late '74-early-'75 model run in favor of the larger flag-type mirrors. These flag mirrors were also used on the early 320i models, and some 6-cylinder applications.

Despite this information, if you examine the 2002 literature for '75, you'll see the trapezoidal mirror still in use on the car featured in the brochure.

The trapezoidal mirror I have on my '73tii is original to the car, and I've seen other original cars with the trapezoidal mirror, including a low-mileage '74tii.

My '74 car'b car came with the trapezoidal mirror. Since the flag mirrors are larger and offer safety benefits, in 1975, I had hoped to purchase the newer, higher quality mirror, but didn't want to spend the $60.

The mirror can be changed with a small screwdriver, and I can only assume that many folks "upgraded" their cars quite early during their ownership.

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,57/page,viewtopic/t,292567/highlight,flag+trap/

Hope this helps. Beaner7102[/i]

[Mike Self]

BMW had a habit of recycling pictures in their sales literature. If you look carefully at one of their 1973 US sales catalogs, you'll see they used the same pictures that were in their 1972 catalog, with some (but not all) the new details airbrushed in.

They did the same with their 1975 catalog, using a picture from 1974, never figuring that 30 years later a bunch of '02 nuts would notice that the "1975" car in the catalog had a 1974 mirror on it.

Also, BMW tended to use up what was in the parts bins, so it's entirely possible that early 75s had trapezoid mirrors, 'till they ran out of 'em on the assembly line. Waste not, want not.

mike

[bluedevils]

One of my 74tii came with driver side trap. mirror while the other 74 came with flag mirrors on both sides, so I am not sure there was ever an official switch year.

[JohnS]

Thanks for all of the info. Both my 1973tii and my 1974tii have the newer flag style mirrors. I might switch the 1973 over to the trap mirrors at some point. Do the trap mirrors use the same mouting hardware as the newer style ones? Thanks,

--John

[John_in_VA]

shape is a bit different.

[vascoboy]

from the VIN it looks like it was manufactured 09/74...it was unmolested when i bought it, and had trap mirrors and a hard shell steering wheel...i think the poster who mentioned that they used parts 'till they ran out is on the right track...