Clear Corner Lights?

scottevest

scottevest

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I was talking to Erik at Coupe King, and he mentioned that I should have the side marker lights removed on my coupe when I have it painted. I thought he meant the front corner, amber corner lights were new to 74 year, but in looking at a bunch of images I see those are on pretty much all model years as far as I can tell. What am I missing?

But, in looking, I noticed that some are clear instead of amber, as below. I really like this look. Any ideas on how to source the clear lenses?

BTW, I found out the birthday of my coupe:
The BMW 3.0 CS US VIN 4310050 was manufactured on January 11th, 1974 and delivered on January 31st, 1974 to the BMW importer Hoffman Motors Corp. in New York City. The original colour was Sienabraun metallic, paint code 009.

Thanks all.

Scott



hr-suspension-e9-bmw-csi-title.jpg
 
Scott, I'm quite certain he's referring to the yellow reflectors immediately behind the corner lights (not shown on the Stanceworks image, as they probably removed them already). You can see the reflectors in my avatar image. Federal regs forced the addition of side markers, sealed beam headlights, and those bumpers we love to hate, among other things. Got to admit the fenders do look cleaner without the additional reflectors. I have seen Italian side marker lights that are yellow and clear, but haven't seen the full clear ones shown in your photo.

Our cars are just a few months apart. Mine was built on April 29, 1974, and delivered to Hoffman on May 8, 1974. The original color was Amazon Green, paint code 076. Definitely prefer the black.
 
It appears that someone has already remove those reflectors from my vehicle. I am glad. Really do like the clear lenses as shown in the image I provided. I love the Amazon green color. Hard to tell from your avatar whether you changed your color to black?


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there are 3 versions of the front turn signals - the full amber, the italian mostly amber with the clear fronts and the full clear (with amber bulbs).
lajolla has the italian for $178 / pr.
w+n has the clear - A63131810255 for 74.79 euro (plus the horrible 49 euro shipping)
 
rsporsche said:
there are 3 versions of the front turn signals - the full amber, the italian mostly amber with the clear fronts and the full clear (with amber bulbs).
lajolla has the italian for $178 / pr.
w+n has the clear - A63131810255 for 74.79 euro (plus the horrible 49 euro shipping)
Click to expand...
Thanks. Really prefer the full clear. I will hunt for those.
 
I THINK THERE WERE A BUNCH OF CARS DELIVERED TO HOFFMAN IN 7O'S AS HE WAS THE ONLY PLACE
AS WAS MINE AS I STATED AND POSTED ON MY 4301316 POSTINGS
 
scottevest said:
found them!
http://www.rogerstii.com/bmw-clear-euro-turn-signal-indicator-lenses-e9-2800cs-3-0cs/
Click to expand...
didn't think about rogerstii ... he resells stuff from BMW and W+N ... normally very expensive, but when you don't have to pay the 49 euro shipping for a one item order ... it almost makes him more affordable. with the current exchange rate, 75 euro is about 90 bucks and 49 euro is 59 bucks ... so its 144 from w+n. rogers has a habit of expensive shipping also. so 127 could easily turn into 140+

just so you know ...
 
Scott, has getbmwparts verified when they will ship your mirror? if they are waiting for it, it might be faster and cheaper to cancel that order and order the lenses and the mirror from W+N
 
Nice find. Interesting that the ad is in German, but the parts are listed as being in Houston, Texas. That explains the cheap US shipping. Must have been the only ones he had, as the ad is now closed.

And yes, my car is black, painted 20 years ago and still holding up well.
 
Dohn said:
Nice find. Interesting that the ad is in German, but the parts are listed as being in Houston, Texas. That explains the cheap US shipping. Must have been the only ones he had, as the ad is now closed.

And yes, my car is black, painted 20 years ago and still holding up well.
Click to expand...
When i bought mine clear lenses from "Sephito" (same seller) last year - delivery was from Argentina (free shipping). He produce all three types of e9 lenses (amber, semi, clear), so it wasn't definitely he's last set of clear lenses. Quality is ok, but it's not so good, as genuine BMW/Sidler. BMW/Sidler have better shaped screws mounts area.
 
aearch said:
I THINK THERE WERE A BUNCH OF CARS DELIVERED TO HOFFMAN IN 7O'S AS HE WAS THE ONLY PLACE
AS WAS MINE AS I STATED AND POSTED ON MY 4301316 POSTINGS
Click to expand...

All US BMWs came through Hoffman, he was the only authorized importer until BMW NA was created and took over in January 1975. New York was Hoffman's corporate address.
 
i recently saw a Hoffman invoice on a '74 that landed (port of entry) in Jacksonville, FL and was delivered to a dealer in Birmingham, AL. so it never went thru NY. there was no date on it to compare it to the bmwarchiv data
 
Cars headed to NY would show Elizabeth NJ as port of entry I think. They also went thru several other ports including Los Angeles, Baltimore, Boston, Houston, Jacksonville, Portland, San Francisco and most likely Portland. It's on the window sticker if anyone has theirs and wants to check.
 
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Scott,

I too like the 'monochrome' appearance of clear light items on the front and red on the rear. I replaced my front signal lenses about 18 months ago. Yes, you will need yellow bulbs, available at most auto supply stores. I paint the 'tops' of those bulbs with high temp silver paint, so they are essentially invisible when the lights are off, but very visibly yellow when they are on. By 'tops', I mean essentially the hemispherical portion, leaving the bottom half of the bulb glass clear.

I bought my lenses on eBay from Brazil or Argentina. They are good quality, except for small deviations on the screw mount holes. Those were easily modified and a bit of clear epoxy added to fill a small bit of plastic that was incorrectly bored out by the supplier.


Gary
 
Scott,

I remembered one other aspect of the clear lenses I bought for the front. They do not protrude out as far as the OE orange ones did (don't extend as far out from the fender as the OE ones did).
I like that, but in order to fit them, I had to trim about 3/8" off the reflector for the bulb. Used a Dremel tool to cut and trim it so they fit well. Sorry I'd forgotten about that when I posted on 9/8
 
I too got mine from Sephito. These clear lenses are for Euro (Italian) models and the lens housing I believe is slightly different than the US models (besides the wiring).
 
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