E28 5er - Interesting unknown rear wing/spoiler... Hartge maybe?

A lovely barn-find shot of an E28 528e in the USA, but on closer inspection it sports a striking rear-wing/spoiler that I have never seen before. Who makes this piece? On first impression I would say one of the period Euro-tuner firms like Zender or Hartge, but after a bit of research I can't find an identical one. The chrome-trim makes it look as if the spoiler was fitted later on though and the car is not a tuner model. Perhaps someone can shed light on this spoiler's origin?

Hartge lay claim to a few E28 aero-parts and a I can find a couple of similar rear-wings, pictured below. The upper one is a rounded type and I am not sure is definitely made by Hartge though the badge suggests it is, and the second pic shows a Hartge developed E28 with their own rear-wing fitted, very similar to the one at the top but not quite as tall and curved on the top-edge not flat. It could well be that it is a similar version of this same spoiler and still made by Hartge, but I cannot find it.

5 Series wing repaired!

With all the mechanical work on the E60 of late I would normally have relished a bit of body work to change the pace but, as the damage occurred at work and my company has several body shops at their disposal, I figured it was best to accept a free professional repair.

Not a bad job I must say. J Howarth's in Pensby, Wirral did the work. They are now officially part of Wallasey Fleet Hire and have recently renamed as such, but here they are on Yell - http://www.yell.com/biz/j-howarth-and-son-ltd-wirral-1163983/. I would have to second the comments in the Yell review. This is where our more specialist jobs are sent to at work and I trust the guys will do a clean, thorough repair and look after my car, so I waited a couple of weeks to get it done there and it was worth it. The E60 turned out to be quite an involved fix, as ever. The wings are alloy, not steel, so the car had to be taken somewhere after prep to have a blob of TIG weld put in the split [below] before being ground, filled, primed, painted and lacquered. Never the less, the car was ready for me by the following afternoon. Due to the extra work required they couldn't stretch to sorting the scuff on the back bumper after all, so I will have to break out the T-cut, but I am no position to complain - the wing is indeed like new.

Argh... Simo hit my wing!

Oh dear, some more bodywork already. Simo at work is not the world's most careful drive and yesterday he decided to park his Transit van next to the 5er and in doing so scraped down the M-sport bumper and dented the wing! Nightmare, but at least work are paying for the damage. It will be going into Howarth'a body shop in Pensby (Wirral) next week and they will be sorting the scuff that my mate did to the back bumper with his Volvo, so I guess that's the silver lining...

Repair in this post.

E46 Clubsport: Nay's new wing! Paint, polishing... fail.

It's good to get the purple 330ci Clubsport on the pages of BeemerLab and a bit of bodywork, no less. The driver's side wing was a bit bubbly when he got the car and has worsened somewhat over winter - front wings are the classic rusting spot on E36 / E46 after all and no matter how well you patch it up, it always comes back before long, so Nathan went the whole hog and bought a new patterned wing for just under £100. Despite offers to have it sprayed professionally for next to nothing, he opted to do the work himself with a rattle can of Holt's Colour-Match, mixed at Halfords.

He started with U-Pol Hi-build filler primer to deal with imperfections in the etch-primer, moved on to a single can of Holt's 'BMW 576 Velvet Blue Metallic' and finished off with 2.5 cans of Halford's own clear-lacquer. A spray guy at work gave us a tip - apply the first coat of lacquer and wait a couple of minutes for it to go tacky but not start to dry, then apply a good thick second coat. This enables you to get a proper coat on that can then be layered on without causing crazing in the base lacquer. Nay tried this out and, after 4 more coats, some flatting back with 1800 Wet/Dry and a bit of machine-polishing, the finish is glass-like and the colour-depth superb. What a shame that, after a week spent carefully spraying one wing, the colour-match is terrible. I guess this is a lesson not to have complex paint codes mixed up at Halfords. A local painting firm is on the case, watch this space...

Only 330 M Clubsport models were built in the original three colours. Only about 40 were made in Velvet Blue. This is one of the 40 and it has seen better days.