A little help with Roundie grills

[nbristow01]

I have had square tails with plastic grills.  This is my first roundie....1970 model.  Getting ready to restore the grills and I have a question about colors.  It appears my grill had a second cover over the original crossbars.   They appear factory and very faded. Looks like some are black and some appear faded goldish color

can someone enlighten me on how this grill may have looked new?  Are these additional covers old add on?  They appear to be glued to the undergrill and riveted at ends so I assumed they may be factory or dealer additions?

 

thanks for any help

[RogerRamJet77]

When the 2002 was introduced, the grills were two colors, bright aluminum (silver) and black painted. The black painted parts were aluminum slat covers glued on top. Here is a picture of the 1970 sales brochure.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[zinz]

grill slats available from Blunt

 

https://www.blunttech.com/products/10015500

 

[nbristow01]

Thanks!!!!

[nbristow01]

Thanks for the info....I guess my dreams of having the rarest grill on earth are wiped out.   I removed one of the slats and the upside is the grill bars underneath are super shiny. The downside is the grill bars underneath are super shiny.  Makes my grilles, I thought looked nice, look less nice.  So, I will paint and reinstall these grill covers.  They do lend a masculine look to the car and it is named "Walter".

[RogerRamJet77]

I have a 1970 too.  I'm the 3rd owner and its lived a hard life.  I have just decided to name it Phönix.

[Conserv]

4 hours ago, nbristow01 said:

Thanks for the info....I guess my dreams of having the rarest grill on earth are wiped out.   I removed one of the slats and the upside is the grill bars underneath are super shiny. The downside is the grill bars underneath are super shiny.  Makes my grilles, I thought looked nice, look less nice.  So, I will paint and reinstall these grill covers.  They do lend a masculine look to the car and it is named "Walter".

 

Try paint. But it might not be ideal.

 

From the introduction of the 2002 sub-model in January 1968 through, perhaps, the end of 1969 (this end date is hazy), BMW painted the 7 black slats on each side grille. This ended badly, however. It was amazing how fast the black paint chipped off.

 

It happened to my early 1970 (VIN 1668093, manufactured September 8, 1969) and I attributed it to my aggressive driving, tailgating, and excessive speed on gravelly roads. But it was apparently happening to everyone, so BMW had to switch to the black anodized slat covers. Over sufficient time, the black anodization does fade and wear off. But it is SO much better than the paint BMW applied. Slat covers remain available from BMW. Not cheap. But neither is professional black anodization.

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

 

 

[nbristow01]

I plan to use black plasti-dip.   Stays satin and looks super.  Plus it’s rubber and won’t chip.   I used it on a front section of my Subaru and always looks great

Edited December 22, 2018 by nbristow01

[Mike Self]

3 hours ago, Conserv said:

It was amazing how fast the black paint chipped off.

 

It happened to my early 1970 (VIN 1668093, manufactured September 8, 1969) and I attributed it to my aggressive driving, tailgating, and excessive speed on gravelly roads.

I did none of the above with my Feb '69 car (it was then my wife's to drive and "aggressive driving" ain't in her vocabulary.)  Nonetheless, within six months the grille paint was chipped badly enough for me to touch 'em up, and six months later I used a roll of electrical tape to solve the problem.  When I redid the car in 1999, I scuffed the bars with a scotchbrite pad, the sprayed 'em with a self-etching primer, followed by semi-gloss black enamel.  That's lasted much longer, but they still need touching up periodically.

 

But your '70 came with the black anodized slats, which, as you have seen, tend to fade at different rates.  A quick and dirty solution to faded slats is a big black Sharpie; however the long term solution is new anodized slats from BMW.  

 

mike

[Kingryan86]

You can make a set look really good by scrubbing with some 0000 steel wool and Dawn, then taping off with blue 3m painter taped and laying a nice coat of black rattle can. I like the gloss

[hankeester]

20 hours ago, zinz said:

grill slats available from Blunt

 

https://www.blunttech.com/products/10015500

 

Did Blunt name their company after a blunt you smoke? I've had this question in the back of my mind for several months.

[rcf925]

When I get to the front grill on my early 68 I think I'm going to just polish the whole thing and not use the black at all

[mvliotta]

For chrome that needs restoration (stripping, reanodization, polish), any recommendations for shops that do this well?

[John_in_VA]

3 hours ago, hankeester said:

Did Blunt name their company after a blunt you smoke? I've had this question in the back of my mind for several months.

 

I recall it had something to do with Blunt Head Trauma, a nickname / handle he had on another forum.  ??

[John_in_VA]

3 hours ago, mvliotta said:

For chrome that needs restoration (stripping, reanodization, polish), any recommendations for shops that do this well?

 

Only the bumpers are chrome.  The rest of the trim is aluminum.  A Search will uncover some previous discussions.  A local swears by Paul's Chrome.  You probably have some shops in NY/NJ - sniff around to find where the hotrodders send their stuff.

http://www.paulschrome.com/