When did the fender / hood grills change from silver to black plastic?

[John-T]

I read the post regarding the time line changes and I know the change occurred sometime in 1973. But is there any more accurate timeline? Perhaps by VIN number?

Thank you.

 

[rsporsche]

this is a confusing topic - a lot of conflicting information. for instance, a black, nachtblau or atlantik car never had black hood / fender grilles from the factory. polaris was one of the colors that early cars came with chrome grilles and later came with black. in general, dark colored cars always had chrome, even the 74 siennabraun cars had chrome. from the excellent @HB Chris FAQ on changes during e9 production - "(per the Parts book: at 3.0CS 2240645 and 2250504 all dark colors now get matt chrome, all light colors now get black grilles)"

 

[John-T]

this is a confusing topic - a lot of conflicting information. for instance, a black, nachtblau or atlantik car never had black hood / fender grilles from the factory. polaris was one of the colors that early cars came with chrome grilles and later came with black. in general, dark colored cars always had chrome, even the 74 siennabraun cars had chrome. from the excellent @HB Chris FAQ on changes during e9 production - "(per the Parts book: at 3.0CS 2240645 and 2250504 all dark colors now get matt chrome, all light colors now get black grilles)"

Thank you for the great information!
Have one more question.....now is Baikal blue considered a light or dark color? ;-)

 

[rsporsche]

generally a medium color. i have only seen baikal cars with chrome.

 

[tdgray]

I too have wanted a bit more information around this topic.. specifics are hard to come by.

It appears... and I mean appears because I am unsure of authenticity that my hood grilles appear to have a black base but a bit of a silver finish to the tops of the fins?

The side grilles appear black but it is very apparent that one was changed at some point.

Any insight there?

 

[rsporsche]

Todd,

Malaga would have had chrome grills ... especially a 2800cs - all 2800cs had chrome grills. the early grills were all metal base with a chrome finish, later grills were plastic whether chrome or black. so start with that - if they are plastic, they have been replaced. if i remember correctly, early chrome grills had matte sides and polished tops

 

[rsporsche]

i just received a text from @HB Chris and his ex 73 malaga had black grills. he also knows of a 73 baikal with black grills <correction - its fjord>. the 73 baikal that i am most familiar with appears to have chrome sides and black hood grills - 2240773.

 

[John-T]

i just received a text from @HB Chris and his ex 73 malaga had black grills. he also knows of a 73 baikal with black grills. the 73 baikal that i am most familiar with appears to have chrome sides and black hood grills - 2240773.

My vin # is 100 higher, so it could be correct with black side and hood grills, I guess

Thanks Scott and HB Chris for the information

 

[tdgray]

Always on top of it Scott!

I was kind of assuming they had been replaced.

Aha… now I have to hunt for those… Two of them are broken anyway.

 

[day66]

My own Baikal CSi came to me with black grilles, and I'm inclined these were the originals - that said, I prefer the chrome look and that's what it has on it now.

 

[TomHom]

This is a thread regarding the kidney grills:
Thread 'Kidney grills, 5 vs 4 slats' https://e9coupe.com/forum/threads/kidney-grills-5-vs-4-slats.34300/
Here:
Left with five bars stainless
Center with five bars anodised
Right for bars plastic
Thomas

 

[eriknetherlands]

@TomHom; Nice overview pic of the 3 versions side by side.
Are you sure the left one is "stainless" as you write above? (rostfrei?)
I think it looks like the normal anodized version, as it has all those tiny scratches that Alu parts develop from years of Sheer Driving Pleasure.

I ask it as there was a company ~ 6 months ago trying to make repro versions from real Stainless steel in Vietnam or so, which were commented on this forum to be very, very disappointing.

 

[bavbob]

Authenticity versus preference. My Taiga came with black all around and I love the contrast.

Now, what about the boot emblems/designation? Original on mine was aluminum but I replaced my "3.0 CS" with ones that are chromed. Perhaps none were chrome originally but I will say that it is the way to go if you have a chromed license plate panel.