Update on RF Grill. (around headlight) 51131811483

m5bb

m5bb

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I have been trying to get a new RF Grill for over 4 years. Part number 51131811483
Long story so won't get into that but a lot of bla bla bla bla bla.
I have had a LF for that same 4 years. Came in a box with dust an 1/8 inch thick.
I have been told this same story every year for 3 years. We'll see?????

Mr Beck,
Thank you for your inquiry.
The part will be delivered by the end of 2016.
I hope I was able to help you.



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Ludwig Daisenberger
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Von: Gary Beck M5er [mailto:[email protected]]
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 12. Oktober 2016 20:58
An: Daisenberger Ludwig, AK-51 <[email protected]>
Cc: 'Gary P. Beck' <[email protected]>
Betreff: RE: Part for 1972 BMW E-9 3.0 CS


Dear Mr. Daisenberger,



I would appreciate an update on the grill 51131811483.

I am heavily into a rebuild and will need the grill around the end of year.

Is that still going to happen?

Gary Beck
 
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frogisland

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Just talked to my local dealer re the grills, 5113181148 will be available in December, 51131811484 will be available February. I won't hold my breath but wait to see what December and February brings.
 
Ohmess

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Stan said:
Just in time for my retirement cottage industry! :eek:
Click to expand...

Yeah, Stan. We joke about becoming pirates, but there are guys out there making money manufacturing old parts for muscle cars because the industry no longer supports them. I know a bunch of metal wizards back in WI where I grew up and could probably stitch together a small scale design and manufacturing capability with a little effort. Add an investment in a 3D printer and we would be off and running.

I think BMW is of two minds about this. A BMWNA VP told me at the 2015 PVGP that they are dedicated to supporting the brand and protecting their designs. Internally, of course, the money guys are telling them its expensive to maintain a catalog of old parts (damn those CPAs). This is all cost accounting voodoo in my mind; any decent CPA could come up with a mechanism (or two or three) to alter the carrying cost of parts for classic cars. If you create a mechanism that creates a profitability measure within the company, then the executives suddenly have an incentive to provide us parts (and much better services to ensure we continue to buy parts). Its all about cost allocation, but the obvious problem with this is that the costs have to go elsewhere, meaning they reduce some other profit that is already being measured, and the executives tied to that other profit are going to fight back. Nonetheless, if BMW really wanted to ensure parts availability, they could.
 
m5bb

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There is another side to this and that is the attorneys and liability.
This litigious society we live in makes companies very nervous about re-manufacturing parts that may not meet today's standards for safety.
This is Classic's excuse for not making taillights. They would have to meet 2016 lighting standards.
This is also the very reason Euro parts are very difficult to purchase.
So combine the $$ guys with the lawyers and you get to see who runs these companies.
 
Ohmess

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m5bb said:
There is another side to this and that is the attorneys and liability.
This litigious society we live in makes companies very nervous about re-manufacturing parts that may not meet today's standards for safety.
This is Classic's excuse for not making taillights. They would have to meet 2016 lighting standards.
This is also the very reason Euro parts are very difficult to purchase.
So combine the $$ guys with the lawyers and you get to see who runs these companies.
Click to expand...

I had heard that the safety standard thing was a Euro problem, and not a US problem. Otherwise, they are misquoting our rules back to us, or the US rules have changed.

As to the Euro parts problem, this stems from the 1980s Mercedes Benz gray market battle between MB and its US dealers. We consumers wanted the more powerful Euro S Class vehicles (and the BMW 745i), but MB dealers in the US felt sales of these vehicles into the US were eating into their profits (and they didn't want to modify them to meet US standards). They successfully lobbied Congress for a law preventing the importation of vehicles not meeting US standards, but this law only applies for the first 25 years of a vehicle's life. I am told that, at least with respect to BMW, this last little piece gets lost in translation, so they tell us its illegal to import Euro parts into the US. (Misquoting our rules back to us...) This was my problem with the brake vacuum check valve, which BMW coded as a Euro part when updating their computer system. They wouldn't sell me one even though it was used in about a dozen US models and they had 46 in inventory in the US.

I sometimes think we classic car guys need a lobbying arm. Specifically, maybe we need a consumer protection law stating if the manufacturer does not supply a part MEETING THE ORIGINAL SPECIFICATION into the US market within a particular period of time (18 months from the time of an order, perhaps), then they lose the right to preclude others from manufacturing such a part. Making a cheap Chinese knock off available would not be sufficient to retain the right to preclude others from supplying parts.
 
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