Rear Parcel Shelf

Cornishman

Cornishman

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I am doing some restoration and part of it is to reupholster the seats with leather, currently non standard velour. The rear parcel shelf is extremely tatty and had some oversize speakers in it. Clearly these speakers were installed by a craftsman!!
What is the prefererred choice of material to make a new shelf with, 3mm marine ply?
Then, what was the orginal finish, any one got a photo they could post?

I was considering using the same leather as for the seats, any views?

Then speakers, I do want a sound system but not with large speakers as were fitted, any suggestions how I can put them into the rear without being so visible? Perhaps small ones in the holes under the shelf and then use perforated leather over them? Bose style, anyone tried that?

Thanks
C
 

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Charles - for a 74 car the rear parcel shelf was covered in carpet rather than vinyl. 3mm ply should do for the substrate.
 
I've never seen a US car with carpet, can someone here chime in? I thought we all got black vinyl. Match the thickness as close as you can with the plywood.
 
carpet on my 74

yes, mine is a 74 and it has black carpet, though it is thin. will post pic next week as it is in shop now.

w. chen
74 cs
 
HB Chris said:
I've never seen a US car with carpet, can someone here chime in? I thought we all got black vinyl. Match the thickness as close as you can with the plywood.
Click to expand...

My '74, delivered in NY has carpet, still have it. My '72 has black vinyl. Vinyl looks better IMO.
 
My '74 came with carpet, I assumed it was original since it fell apart when I tried to remove it but not sure. I had it re-done in black carpet when I changed the interior of the car.
 
HB Chris said:
Radio, speakers, antenna all dealer installed.
Click to expand...

Doesnt really make sense to me. It wasn't like auto sound was a US-only thing. Beker and Blaupunkt are great German brands. I find it strange that they weren't used by the factory. Plus the factory made radio-ready bezels. Strange.
 
Thank you

Thanks for all the replys.
These rear speakers were after market in a 74 UK spec, there is no way a factory did this, probably not even a dealer.
The fronts were also very much after market, again less than perfect installation in my view.
Regards
C
 
David,

In the US even the A/C wasn't installed at the factory but once it landed here. All the parts were in the trunk, kinda crazy, but the holes were there in firewall and radiator wall for this purpose. BMW parts books list available radios and such but nothing prevented a dealer from putting in something else either. As I recall Vasek Polak would have installed a Grundig in my new 74 2002 instead of a Blaupunkt. That's also why antennas are found on both driver and passenger side fenders. That was the Hoffman way, it may have been different in Europe though. I have many window stickers and you will never find a radio on one of them here.
 
What about the dash grill? Did it come installed with knobs or just a blank space?

HB Chris said:
David,

In the US even the A/C wasn't installed at the factory but once it landed here. All the parts were in the trunk, kinda crazy, but the holes were there in firewall and radiator wall for this purpose. BMW parts books list available radios and such but nothing prevented a dealer from putting in something else either. As I recall Vasek Polak would have installed a Grundig in my new 74 2002 instead of a Blaupunkt. That's also why antennas are found on both driver and passenger side fenders. That was the Hoffman way, it may have been different in Europe though. I have many window stickers and you will never find a radio on one of them here.
Click to expand...
 
If you mean the A/C panel it was probably in the box in the trunk with everything else. They didn't throw out anything, they just installed the kit.
 
So, even the front speaker wasn’t installed at the factory.?
Amazing.


HB Chris said:
David,

In the US even the A/C wasn't installed at the factory but once it landed here. All the parts were in the trunk, kinda crazy, but the holes were there in firewall and radiator wall for this purpose. BMW parts books list available radios and such but nothing prevented a dealer from putting in something else either. As I recall Vasek Polak would have installed a Grundig in my new 74 2002 instead of a Blaupunkt. That's also why antennas are found on both driver and passenger side fenders. That was the Hoffman way, it may have been different in Europe though. I have many window stickers and you will never find a radio on one of them here.
Click to expand...

Cornishman said:
Thank you

Thanks for all the replys.
These rear speakers were after market in a 74 UK spec, there is no way a factory did this, probably not even a dealer.
The fronts were also very much after market, again less than perfect installation in my view.
Regards
C
Click to expand...
 
The single front speaker was most likely installed at the factory, after all the radio power wire was there as well.

I spoke to a friend recently who grew up in New York and worked for a BMW dealer as a teenager. When a coupe or 2002 came in, they Discarded the center console(!) and installed the A/C panel and sides after installing the unit, he also cut holes in the firewall for the A/C pipes. Crazy! Everything came in a box in the trunk, what a lot of work and waste of the existing parts.
 
Maybe someone can help me find the diamond pattern vinyl used on the parcel shelf of the 2000cs that I gave my son.
 
David said:
Doesnt really make sense to me. It wasn't like auto sound was a US-only thing. Beker and Blaupunkt are great German brands. I find it strange that they weren't used by the factory. Plus the factory made radio-ready bezels. Strange.
Click to expand...
IMHO the Germans generally did not make good car speakers but their radios were among the best.

ADS had the best speakers, in my experience.
Rear woofers: you can use a smaller hole than the speaker if you bottom mount the speaker. A 5 1/4" diameter hole/grill works fine with a 6x9 speaker.
 
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