The E30 BMW 3 Series/M3 is one of the most influential German car designs of all time. Its square shape and simple lines all flow from a distinctive front grille with four round headlights. But what if we told you BMW dealers used to sell square lights for the E30? Meet the Taifun grille or Hella Taifun, a forgotten mod that people hate almost as much as the G80’s beaver teeth.
We found this extremely interesting built on social media the other day, belonging to @lowmolewerkz, and it was quite the shocker. It appears to be an M3, which is quite a valuable car. They’re going for $100,000 all day, and a record was set at $250,000. So to put the wrong kind of headlights on one is unthinkable.
It’s somehow the reverse of what happened with the first GTI. European Golfs had cool round headlights, but the American Rabbit GTI got squared-off ones. That was a very real design trend, and it explains why the E30 Taifun grille exists.
Federal round headlights?
The move to square lights is actually traced to the United States. In 1940, a Federal safety standard required all cars to be sold with two 7-inch round sealed lights. in 1957, they allowed an option of four 5 and 3/4-inch sealed lights. The big shift came in 1975, when US lights were allowed to be rectangular.
It was so popular that almost every new car got square lights, and the Europeans started copying this design. One tuning company caught on, Taifun, which was established in Hainburg in 1985. They offered the “Taifun” lights for a variety of popular cars, Fords, Opels, and so on, but the BMWs were the most popular target with thousands of E30s reportedly retrofitted with Taifun grilles at German dealerships, under the slogan “Sportiv Sporty Sportive”.
Taifun went out of business in 1996. You might also find these lights under the name Hella Taifun, Hella being one of the most famous parts suppliers in Germany. They make great bulbs, but back in the day, they might be selling you the whole headlight.
Anyway, a few companies sell modern reproductions of the original lights. They’re pretty easy to install, especially compared to their modern counterparts. Just unscrew the old grille and put in the new one. Boom! Instant E30 Taifun grille with square lights that everyone will either like or hate.
