'02 R50 here- I'm getting personalized plates any day now so I thought I'd take off my old ones. As long as I was doing that I decided to take off my front plate holder piece as it is cracked and broken, and I plan to replace it. On the early R50 bumpers it was a separate piece that fit in a little "cut out" area in the middle. Real OEM shows two different pieces that can fit in there so I assume the other one is for European size plates as the North American one has a definite license plate sized holder.



Thanks to my lovely wife for the above photo. What do the grease pen markings mean? I'll assume it is factory code for something but I can't figure it out. NPL SM? Can anybody decipher it? Has anybody else seen this type of thing? I'd check my wife's R50, but she had a fender bender the other year and her bumper cover was replaced.

Another thing- my replacement piece from eBay will be primer. What should I do- contact a body shop and have them call me the next time they have some BRG loaded up in the sprayer?. I'm definitely planning on replacing this piece and putting my front plate back on, so hold the "just leave the front plate off" comments.

Val

 

What should I do- contact a body shop and have them call me the next time they have some BRG loaded up in the sprayer?


No, you'll probably be waiting a LONG time .... contact a couple of body shops and get quotes. They can get paint in small quantities for a job like yours. But prices will vary widely IME - in part due to the quality of paint used. For example I like to shoot Sherwin Williams auto paints and a pint of base metallic (before reducers which turn it into a quart) can vary by $70 depending on the quality of the product (and the color ... some colors are much more expensive than others.) SW sells 3 different 'qualities' for most colors ....


And be ready for some shock (maybe) if you have a number in mind for what this is gonna cost. I decided to learn how to shoot my own paint after having the bonnet off my 79 painted with a simple non-metallic paint and it cost me $400 (bonnet was OFF THE CAR btw) . . . I went to a painter the local hotrod guys recommended . . .


If you want to be a smart shopper you might even find your local auto-paint supplier(s) and talk to them about paint (and clear) cost. After materials, what the shop is going to charge you for is TIME .... time to prep and time to spray. The spray time is about an 2 hours not counting WAIT time. Modern color coats have a flash time of around 10 minutes between coats with clear to be applied about an hour after the last color coat . . . of course you may also be charged for the wait time between coats but an experienced painter should be doing a bumper cover in about 5 minutes per coat . . . 3 coats color ... 2 coats clear ....


Like I said - I learned how and bought equipment to roll my own

but don't copy me ... it is a great way to blow up your house . . .

 

There are some online sellers the sell factory colors in an aerosol can if you want to try to do it yourself.

 

I still can't figure out the riddle. What does "NPL SM" mean? No Plate?

 

It's only a riddle if I have the answer- and I don't. I don't think it stands for no plate as I'm pretty sure all of the early R50's in North America were delivered with the North American style plate holder.

This car was originally delivered to Hawaii if that helps. Does it maybe denote which ship it was to go on? How would you see the markings? Maybe they were dealer delivered with the license plate holder piece in the boot.

Val