74 taillight question ?

J

John Buchtenkirch

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Back in the seventies I was going to insurance auctions, buying wrecks and rebuilding them. I often ran into the owner of Ace Auto Wrecking at the auctions and always admired the 74 CS coupe he drove. I always remembered that his coupe had larger taillights, shaped more like the later 2002 taillights. For 30 years (until I joined this group) I always thought the best looking coupe would be with early bumpers with the later & larger taillights. Now all these years later I have to wonder did I imagine these different taillights or get them mixed up in my mind with another BMW ? Was there ever larger taillights on very late 74 coupes or maybe coupes imported from another country or maybe some aftermarket kit ??? I think the last time I saw that car was about 1978 or 1980 at the latest so who knows :?::?::?: what I have remembered or forgot all these years later but I’d like to put this idea to rest. Thank you ~ John Buchtenkirch
 
There was a coupe with e12 rear end grafted on that appeared on eBay every six months, supposedly done in the middle east. It was brown, maybe Siennabraun.
 
yes, the so-called (by us) frankencoupe. as i remember from the discussion, it was an audi taupe color. it was definitely more than just a tail light change - the whole rear end looked different. the only thing that gave any resemblance was that the e12 had a similar reverse angle of the rear panel.
 
Beauty way to go...

In the eye of the beholder. Mine is a 1974
100_1912.jpg
 
John Buchtenkirch said:
Back in the seventies I was going to insurance auctions, buying wrecks and rebuilding them. I often ran into the owner of Ace Auto Wrecking at the auctions and always admired the 74 CS coupe he drove. ...
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Well all you had to do was smash his 74 CS with your pickup truck and then buy it at auction...

Never seen an E9 with bigger taillights.
 
Pamp, why two sets of license plate lights? Is yours a big bumpered 74 with the lovely chrome bumpers, pre-74?

Steve
 
Bumpers

Yeah....Bumpers came off of a '71 2800 CS. Note the lack of under-riders. Used the bumper lights strictly to fill the holes, I did not wire them up. I could not find the plugs or blanks some have used.
Seems to me there have been two "FrankenCoupes" discussed here. E28 body work? One was done stateside and not so nice. The other was a car by an associate of "orangener" in Austria and was very nicely done.
What no one noticed is the dual exhaust tip. I always thought that the single looks "cheesy"
 
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Any way to get a shot underneath

Pamp,

I would love to see how you routed the exhaust to get enough room for 2 pipes (looks nice btw). Any way you could post a shot or two?

Thanks,

Peter C
 
Dual

Nothing to get excited about......single to dual tip is all. Back in the day I had an Ansa exhaust on the 2002, single to dual yet centered out the back. Loved the look. Not possible on the E9 without some pretty major mods. Trying to get some opinions is all. My wife is a designer, so I had her look at various pipe ends. The twin got her vote. Right now I did a simple tack weld....still unsure if I like the look! Let me throw some detail at the end and get back. (tubbed rear and quads were not in my budget.....)
 
Pamp - I like the dual exhaust tip. Quad exhaust can definitely take a lot of modification to work right given the spare tire well and fuel tank set up on the stock car.
 
If your spare tire well is rotted out you could tub out the trunk and drop in a fuel cell giving you all the room you need for exotic exhaust configurations
 
Thanks to everyone for helping me put that idea / remembrance to rest. I figure if no one on this multi-country group knows about the larger taillights they just never existed. I either got it mixed up in my mind or the owner had the car customized with lights from a different model car. It was at least 30 years ago so who knows where or why I had this idea but I have wondered since eBay started and every 74 coupe I saw had the same lights as the early coupes. Thank you ~ John Buchtenkirch
 
Stan said:
If your spare tire well is rotted out you could tub out the trunk and drop in a fuel cell giving you all the room you need for exotic exhaust configurations
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Another alternative would be replacing just the spare and the tire well with a space saver spare and a well for the same. That change alone should allow the 2 pipes to fit without problem. ~ John Buchtenkirch
 
Dual Tip

I searched high and low and decided on this tip....works well diamentional-wise (sic) (the lower one...sure a VW bit....I am way past the purist stage)
http://techtonicstuning.com/main/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_11_4_18&products_id=1171
Look at the various shots of cars for sale....different looking single tip every time, most just plain wrong, upsets the eye.
What I did was to collar the tail pipe to 2 1/4 inch industry standard, just short of the valance. From there, there are so many tips out there as to boggle the mind.
100_1916.jpg

I put together my system using as much as possible of the mild steel existing bits, stainless mufflers. For sure the coupeking system is the way to go for those with the bucks and access to their shop. I wanted to see what I could do on my own under budget, using simple tools and the MIG buzz box.
Thanks again to Sven for his help in fulfilling a life long dream as to have my own lift, makes so much more possible.
100_1913.jpg
 
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Quads

The tubbed rear and quad set up as a member did was too cool. Over the top. If I recall he had to re-think a bit as the car was loud. Exhaust seems to be one item where people kind of keep to themselves. So many ways to go. I believe after discussions with Korman that what they do is headers and dual all the way back and then single after the rear muffler. Would there be flow advantages vs headers or down pipes to a two into one merge and then single to the rear? ( as what I did and what was there from the PO) Again, to get a read this would require two O2 sensors in the mix, complicates things, seems to me. (See "Gauges")
 
Very nice

Thanks Pamp,

I like the lift also- looks like it might fit in my home garage (might make home life a little happier)! A quick look and I can tell I could not easily put in a dual exhaust (one on each side) as I think that would really be an enhancement to the style but that's just me. The exhaust will likely be the last of the mechanical up-grades I do, so if anyone can recommend a full system (head back) that would produce proper sound and flow that would be great- I have the stock engine, dual carbs and she'll be running a 5 speed.

Thanks folks!
 
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