Clear Corners & The Good Ol Days

We used to sell European side marker lights like candy at LeatherZ.  They were easy to get in the US.  The standard US-spec Z3 cars had amber lenses, the Europeans had clear.  The clear lenses were more designed and had a nicer profile shape.  I cannot count how many pairs we sold.  Hundreds, for sure.  To be legal in the US, you are supposed to at least have these illuminate amber, so we provided amber 194 type bulbs with all of them.

Fast forward to today and you cannot get them any more.  Not in the US, at least.   BMW has been cracking down on Euro parts and prohibits their sale here.  This M coupe came with the original amber side markers.  Luckily I had 2 pair of new old stock Euro clears in stock, albeit bought on ebay at a much higher price than what we used to sell them for.  You can buy aftermarket copies of these parts in clear, and if that's what you want to put onto your car, feel free to do it your way.

Installation is a snap.  Use no tools.  Push the sidemarker towards the front of the car, then pry at the rear.  Plug the new lights in and you are ready to run.

Euro Clear Sidemarker R, 63148400410
Euro Clear Sidemarker L, 63148400409, $75.00r for the pair (sourced from ebay)
Total price of this mod = $75.00
Total investment in vehicle to date = $75.00

At the same time, I removed the ///M front plate the previous owner had on the car.  For me personally, less is more.  Underneath I found the original 2 US-spec inserts for a front plate, but also 2 more screw holes.  This is not unexpected as this car was driven in Germany for several years, so it presumably had a German front plate for a period of time.  It is likely I will repaint the front bumper anyway at some time.  If you look closely you will see the 2 plastic rivets pointing down at the hood opening are painted silver.  To me, this indicates the bumper has already been repainted at least once.  They did a nice job, but these were all originally black rivets from the factory.

I am still playing with the picture format and learning Blogspot.  Bear with me while I nail this down...