Of Course in SC : 2 1600s - 1 Shell, 1 Very Early In Process Resto

[73tiiDavidPA]

Traveling down a highway I frequent I noticed what I thought was a 2002 shell under an open canopy a couple of months back.  I made a mental note to swing in at some point and see if there was someone around to speak to.  Well, I swung by yesterday, and I was wrong, the shell is a 1600.  It's at a small shop, and what really surprised me was that is was a donor for a restoration project.  I snapped some quick photos, not wanting to be too nosy.  The owner of the project moved to TX (along with the engine).  Perhaps one day it will all come together and another very early 1966 1600, will hit the road.  I figure this is the 5145th 1600 off the line).  The guy at the shop said it was something like Baltic Sea Grey, but I can't find a reference to that color anywhere.  I'm going to send an email overseas and see what comes back on the car.   I'm thinking though it's Bristol.   

 

Just seems a very BMW world... I bring my 1973 tii down from Philadelphia.  I find a 74 tii in the town I live in which I getting back on the road.  And now there is at least 1 very early 1600 near where I live.  Perhaps for folks out on the left coast this wouldn't be a oddity, but in SC vintage foreign cars are not overly common.  

 

Here is the donor shell

 

 

 

And here is the potential eye candy

 

 

[caseywarren]

Wow looks like a diamond in the rough 

 

also anyone know what those rings are inside the light sockets of the grilles seen inside the car are? 

['76mintgrün'02]

43 minutes ago, caseywarren said:

anyone know what those rings are inside the light sockets of the grilles seen inside the car are? 

 

They may be adapter rings for putting deep grilles on a car with shallow headlights.

(at least I think that is how they were used... Conserve knows)

I have three of them, which I do not need....

I looked for some photos I'd taken, as well as a thread in which we'd discussed them, but failed to find either.

I can take photos tomorrow, if you'd like to see them.

Tom

[Conserv]

6 hours ago, '76mintgrun'02 said:

 

They may be adapter rings for putting deep grilles on a car with shallow headlights.

(at least I think that is how they were used... Conserve knows)

I have three of them, which I do not need....

I looked for some photos I'd taken, as well as a thread in which we'd discussed them, but failed to find either.

I can take photos tomorrow, if you'd like to see them.

Tom

 

Almost...the rings were installed on all U.S.-spec cars having "deep" front side grilles, so that means every U.S. '02 from 1966 until the "shallow grille" was invented just before the 1973 model year.  The ring "finishes" an otherwise open gap between the sealed beam headlight and the grille.  Many (most?) have been lost by now.

 

In the photo below, the ring -- I often call them asymmetric rings because they're....um...not perhaps symmetric -- fits within the retaining ring, i.e., the top component shown, which retains the headlight and is held by 3 screws to the headlight bucket.  The feathery gasket perfectly closes and seals the gap, but...the feathery gaskets are in really bad condition now and are, more often than not, missing altogether.

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

 

Edited September 24, 2017 by Conserv

[caseywarren]

And just like that Boom. Historical info.

Your a badass Steve

Thanks!!

So my next question is. I have seen a few shallow grilles pop up for sale here or there. Do you have any photos showing the difference between them? And do they look any different visually when on the car itself?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Conserv]

16 minutes ago, caseywarren said:

And just like that Boom. Historical info.

Your a badass Steve

Thanks!!

So my next question is. I have seen a few shallow grilles pop up for sale here or there. Do you have any photos showing the difference between them? And do they look any different visually when on the car itself?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Casey,

 

In photo below, deep on top, shallow on bottom.

 

Note: there is a lot of variability among side grilles: perhaps due to different manufacturers, perhaps different machinery, perhaps different workers, perhaps over time.  Thus, the differences are not always quite as clear as those shown in the attached photo.

 

With shallow grilles, the outside lower edges of the sealed beams protrude from the grille (more specifically, the headlight door).

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

Edited September 24, 2017 by Conserv

[02Anders]

Whoooooaar....!!!  
VIN 1505146.

That's a new one for me!  As I still run The '66 Registry, I would love to learn more about this '66 BMW 1600-2.
The donor shell is clearly a '66 car, seeing as the bonnet latch doesn't have a central latch.  So could you please clarify, is VIN 1505146 the donor car, or is it the partially restored BMW 1600 in what appears to be Bristol grey and sitting on later slotted steelies?  Or even better, are both cars perhaps VIN 150xxxx cars?
Please tell me more....
If need be, feel free to email me directly on andersbilidt (a) hotmail dot com
I would love more pics too.  And do you know who the owner is by any chance?

[73tiiDavidPA]

3 hours ago, 02Anders said:

the partially restored BMW 1600 in what appears to be Bristol grey

 

Correct.  Just got the return email from Andreas Harz and the partially restored car is a September 1966 build, in Bristol

[Conserv]

1 hour ago, 73tiiDavidPA said:

 

Correct.  Just got the return email from Andreas Harz and the partially restored car is a September 1966 build, in Bristol

 

 

Aarghhh!  So, as far as you can tell, David, is the plan to take parts from the '66 and use them to restore the already-repainted car?  Someone knows not what they have in front of them!

 

Thanks for sleuthing these out, David!

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

 

[Conserv]

On 9/24/2017 at 7:45 AM, caseywarren said:

And just like that Boom. Historical info.

Your a badass Steve...

 

Wait 'til I tell my wife, Casey.  She just thinks I'm a nerd....?

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

 

 

 

[Conserv]

1 hour ago, 73tiiDavidPA said:

 

Correct.  Just got the return email from Andreas Harz and the partially restored car is a September 1966 build, in Bristol

 

David,

 

How about cutting and pasting the entire Archives reply into this thread, so we can see the manufacturing date, the "hand-off-to-Hoffman" date, etc.?

 

Hmm...you own a Citroen DS21, various tii's....what a perfect caretaker for a lonely '66 1600-2....

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

[AceAndrew]

52 minutes ago, Conserv said:

 

Wait 'til I tell my wife, Casey.  She just thinks I'm a nerd....?

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

 

 

 

 

Our wives would get along.

 

Super cool finds David, really looking forward to updates on this.

[73tiiDavidPA]

1 hour ago, Conserv said:

How about cutting and pasting the entire Archives reply into this thread, so we can see the manufacturing date, the "hand-off-to-Hoffman" date, etc.?

 

from BMW

 

Dear Mr Hellen,

Thank you for your email.

The BMW 1600/2 VIN 1505146 was manufactured on September 12th, 1966 and delivered on September 16th, 1966 to the BMW importer Hoffman Motors Corp. in New York City. The original colour was Bristol, paint code 058.

We hope this information is helpful for you.

Yours sincerely,

Andreas Harz

 

I also followed up and was sent this :

 

Me : I was also looking for and couldn't find reference information regarding the number imported into the US.  Later VIN numbers seem to break down per market, but the earlier ones appear to be more "universal".  Is there any way of finding out how many 1600/2 models were brought into the US?
 

 

Dear Mr Hellen,

Thank you for your reply.

I found an old statistic which gives a total of 841 BMW four-cylinder models that we3nt to the US in 1966 (calender year, not model year) and this includes four-door and two-door models. I’m afraid I cannot break it down further because the type designations shown are not conclusive. 

Many thanks for your understanding.

Yours sincerely,

Andreas Harz

 

 

Appears that Max was able to peddle almost 2 1/2 cars a day back in 1966...

 

 

[73tiiDavidPA]

1 hour ago, Conserv said:

Hmm...you own a Citroen DS21, various tii's....what a perfect caretaker for a lonely '66 1600-2....

 

Maybe.... (though I have had my eye on several 2CVs recently) ....

 

either way, this would be a slow sales funnel, there is an aloof, out of state owner who is sentimentally attached to the car (so I'm told) and a shop that doesn't really care that its there....  the planets will have to align just right to get the car(s).  The "shell" / donor car I believe has already given up  whatever was needed for the Bristol car.  And it really just that, a shell which would need everything.  I don't have the vin for the shell, but will get that over the course of the next month or two.  

[Conserv]

5 hours ago, 73tiiDavidPA said:

 

from BMW

 

Dear Mr Hellen,

Thank you for your email.

The BMW 1600/2 VIN 1505146 was manufactured on September 12th, 1966 and delivered on September 16th, 1966 to the BMW importer Hoffman Motors Corp. in New York City. The original colour was Bristol, paint code 058.

We hope this information is helpful for you.

Yours sincerely,

Andreas Harz

 

I also followed up and was sent this :

 

Me : I was also looking for and couldn't find reference information regarding the number imported into the US.  Later VIN numbers seem to break down per market, but the earlier ones appear to be more "universal".  Is there any way of finding out how many 1600/2 models were brought into the US?
 

 

Dear Mr Hellen,

Thank you for your reply.

I found an old statistic which gives a total of 841 BMW four-cylinder models that we3nt to the US in 1966 (calender year, not model year) and this includes four-door and two-door models. I’m afraid I cannot break it down further because the type designations shown are not conclusive. 

Many thanks for your understanding.

Yours sincerely,

Andreas Harz

 

 

Appears that Max was able to peddle almost 2 1/2 cars a day back in 1966...

 

 

 

Thank you very much, David!

 

And I'd bet more than half of those 841 were 4-doors:  we didn't know about these great 2-doors yet!

 

Best regards,

 

Steve