Guys, this was precisely the reason I asked.....SO...with a post or two now skirting my invitation to trash-talk (admirable that you showed more reserve than I did) :
1) The CSL arches from 1972 to 1975 were chrome-plated brass
"every original CSL arch I had seen installed in the 80's was chrome-plated brass.
2) stainless arches are what you get now for (as one poster said) about 300 bucks a corner (?!?! that price is still 1200% higher than the aftermarket ones, though they "do" have a different profile to them)
This apparently rings true and has not yet caused offense?
3) the stainless ones from BMW crept into the supply chain about mid-'80's. Back then NO one paid whatever BMW wanted for the stainless arches because (compared to chrome-plated brass) the stainless arches + what they cost from BMW = crap
"my observation was that the stainless ones were what were available from BMW NA in the mid-80's. At that time the only coupe buffs I personally was in contact with were the Fechner brothers. Cars they were working on all had brass arches. If a brass arch was damaged, the owners opted for repair of those parts rather than buy the stainless ones available through BMW NA at that time (mid 80's)"
3a) At some point (late 80's?) the aftermarket added their stainless version(s) of wheel arches, prolly a couple of years before BMW started charging over 600 bucks apiece. I bought a set of aftermarket ones for 2270011 in 1992 or 93.
4) a good 20 or 25 years has passed since then, the current crop of new enthusiasts may have never even seen the correct, chrome-plated brass ones. I guess that is especially likely in the UK or parts of europe where TuV or MoT inspections force people to extensive regular maintenance repair, and so very very few L's remain original unrestored examples, let alone exemplars.
"I believe it is likely that many readers on this forum have never seen chrome-plated brass arches, and that seems to include some long-time CSL owners. This is very interesting to me, because I never ever saw stainless steel CSL arches until the mid to late 80's. Based upon this, I would still guess that it is especially likely that many in the UK or europe have never seen the chrome-plated brass CSL arches either. To avoid getting someone's panties in a bunch, I will not hazard further guessing as to why. "
IMO the only time many of our merchant ex-spurts will point these facts out, is when they are buying a car, or parts....when they are selling they remain silent. Some of us still believe there's more to a high dollar CSL than the VIN number, or at least they should be. And yes, I think BMW Gmbh/MT should be ashamed for charging 5-15% of average sale value of a complete car for fracking stainless wheel arches over the years
"my opinion...in general the whole challenge of extracting info on a site like this isn't helped by the make-a-buck or flipper mentality in our hobby. If that opinion offends, well...I think it offensive that more of our data points are either hidden from public view unless a) someone copps a bad attitude when reading of different experience, or b) stinky bait has to be thrown out to push discussion."
One last question I have to ask MYself, the different posts in this thread represent just how many data points exactly? Perhaps it was a mistake of mine to presume my experience with 10 or 12 cars back in the late 80's to early 90's was a representative sample of world-wide experience, but it IS through discussion that more of those data points are revealed. Just kind of funny that my absolute statement (if thats what it was) was refuted by another couple of persons making their own "absolute" statements ;-)
