Exact as original . I have been selling these for many years. People here that have bought them from me can attest to their quality $40 shipped in the US
Blue cloths
- Thread starter Bert Poliakoff
- Start date
I found this in a scrap car a while back. I think it was an E23. Is this factory?
Tired, well used but yes
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Bert, what‘s the history behind these originally? i.e. were they just branded cloths available from BMW or did the dealers give them away etc?
You are young Michael Kaye and the blue cloth is old, older than memory, older than the knowledge of its origin.
mostly they were for bmw motorcycles
Introduced in a BMW Service Bulletin in Sep 1974 as being added to e9 toolkits.
Very interesting. Good knowledge. Thanks for sharing Chris.
I think this can be examined more closely. "If" the used cloth as depicted above is original, then the replacement blue cloth is not really exact. The inked portions of the roundel are solid rather than striped. The printing is darker on the new one, whereas the original has a lighter blue ink. Also, the corner is not rounded on the "original". Again, assuming that second pic is in fact original. Not trying to pick it apart - just noting the apparent differences between the two. Still very cool - I own one or two of Bert's cloths...
I have at least 6 original cloths. Some with square corners, some with round. There is a variation in contrast of the ink and also a variation in cloth color. I chose to use a darker ink to stand out with the richer of the cloth color to have more "pop" So yes to that observation. As to the difference in the rondels. I have cloths showing 2 different rondels. an outlined rondel and the solid rondel as I used. I even have a lime green cloth without a rondel that was knowingly used in very early E24s and verified with 1/2 dozen owners of very original cars. I have never seen a striped rondel so maybe I missed one! The one in Dang's picture appears to be striped but I think it is striations in the cloth and I have that in some of my original cloths as well. So, when I say my cloths are as original, I should say as an original compilation of different design cloths with an extra pop added. As to them being a BMW part or not, I have found an old parts list showing them as an available costed part
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Thanks for the additional information/clarifications Bert!
Chris, are you saying they were not included in pre-74 coupe toolkits?
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Dave, A while back I posted the Hoffman Service Bulletin telling dealers they would be included starting in Sep 1974.
Chris
(I have one in my 73!)
Chris
(I have one in my 73!)
This bulletin says "revised" which doesn't always mean much if you don't know what changed. This list looks like everything included in the kit, not what's new to the kit.
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I pretend that I walked into the dealer in 1974 when I was 12 and purchased one of these for my future tool kit.
Sort of the BMW equivalent of the Shroud of Turin. Footnote: When we were in Italy a couple years ago we were near Turin. Thought we would see the shroud. But, and here comes the interesting part, it was a Catholic holiday and the church was closed.Except the only revised item is the new cloth.
And it’s not in the Orange parts book.