Muting the Radio

[CSteve]

Over the last two weeks I have looked at four coupes where the wood speaker grille has been removed and the wood dash is one continuous piece.

Because I have looked for decades at dashes with the grille installed I find this renovation really odd.
Am I the only one? Is there a reationale for this?

One of the things I like about the 2000CS dash is the air vents along with the grille.
A nice touch in an interior I wish BMW had carried over completely into our e9's.

Steve

 

[abe3.0CSi]

Hi Steve,
Its a personal taste. When I had my CSI restored by Coupeking he gave me that option. It has a cleaner more elegant look to it and hardly anyone uses that space for speakers anymore. Since I wanted a "stock" look I kept the speaker grill. On the other hand, I went against the grain (no punt intended) when asked if I wanted a glossy vs the dull look and I went for the glossy finish. I do not know if without the grill was a factory option.
abe

 

[vince]

Steve,

It's really up to your own taste. As beautiful as our cars are, there some things that just look like afterthoughts. To me, the speaker grill and and the seat warning light just clutter up a great dash design. I knew I wasn't going completely stock when I restored my coupe, so I removed both.

If I had a csl, I would go completely stock. Except for the wheels, it would have to have staggered 16 inch Alpinas.

Vince

 

[blumax]

Grill in dash

For info to newer owners

1) grill in dash was a factory stock item--BLUMAX still has with a modern speaker within.
2) seat belt reminder light--thank bureacrats at DOT--they required the feature in later coupes--started around mid 1973 at extra charge.
3) F/R reflectors for similar reasons mounted on US models--have been removed from BLUMAX.

 

[jmackro]

It's really up to your own taste. As beautiful as our cars are, there some things that just look like afterthoughts. To me, the speaker grill and and the seat warning light just clutter up a great dash design. I knew I wasn't going completely stock when I restored my coupe, so I removed both.

I'm with Vince. My car is mostly stock, but when I was spending $$$$ las year on new wood, I wanted it to exactly meet my tastes. Since I don't use that little dash speaker, and since I'm not a stickler for originality, the center dash grille went the way of the US DOT mandated side reflectors.

Here is an "in process" shot of the wood going in (big job!).

Oh, if you need to re-veneer or replace your wood, I want to say just two words for you. Just two words. Madera Concepts ( http://www.maderaconcepts.com/NewSite/VehiclePages/bmw_vehicles.html )