Questions on the small variances of e30s

[ky0u]

Hi Guys

I was comparing my car with a friend's as well as his dad's over the weekend and noticed a few small differences between our cars.
Firstly, his dad has door moldings with a chrome inlay in it where as my buddy and I just have a solid black piece. Was this just a year to year variation or was it an option?
Also, while my friend and I both have that hard press button at the top right to cut power to the window switches, his dad's kill switch is a softer, small, square click button on the top left.
Finally, his dad's car has a button between the defroster and speaker fader whereas my friend has nothing there and I have a small red light (but no alarm system). Was wondering what that button he has is for.

Sorry if these are weird/dumb questions. It just made me a bit curious why the differences were there

If it clarifies anything, our car's are as follows:

Friend's dad: 1987 4dr 325i (13obc, premium sound, and power sunroof which made me think maybe his car might have had some options added)

Friend's car: 1991 convertible 325i

Mine: 1988 325iS

[blunttech]

87 was the last year for the chrome in the side molding. The rest of it others will know... I have never had a stock e30 so I never paid that much attention to faders and window lock outs

[ELVA164]

Alright, let's see how I do...

The small button in his dad's car is only found in 4-doors; it is a child safety switch to cut power to the rear windows. The button in his dash is probably his breaker switch like the one you and your friend have on your consoles. The red light is a leftover from a (probably) dealer-installed security system that must've been removed at some later point.

[101]

The buttons on the 87 dash should be:
- speaker fader
- rear defroster
- hazard lights
- main window / sunroof breaker

Like mentioned above, the button on the dash (it probably has no markings on it by now)should be the circuit breaker for the windows and sunroof and the smaller button on the console is to cut the power to the rear window switches.

[ky0u]

Oh okay I see. That's pretty cool! Thanks all