As much as i want to return the car to original condition (with some improvements), im finding it a difficult choice to paint the car black as it can be a problem in both painting and keeping the car clean (plus the fact that when it ages it dulls and doesnt look as good). So im thinking about alternatives to painting it black, but still perhaps going for a dark colour.

Wondering if you guys can help by suggesting any good darker colours (maybe blues or reds?) that might be a good replacement. Doesnt have to keep it in the bmw family of colours, though it might be nice.

looking through the paint list and searching for colours, find a couple of blues i like

midnight blue on a porsche

http://gallery.rennlist.com/albums/ronmart/Porsche_911_C4s_Cab_3_18_06_093.jpg

http://gallery.rennlist.com/albums/ronmart/C4s_after_P21s_4_27_06_093.jpg

mauritius blue

http://www.behindmatrix.com/e30/fotost/f00129/09.jpg

Not really good with colour names so i need a little help :D

I love the gunmetal gray but my fav non-OEM color still has to be Calypso Red....

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h133/Marinersfan/CalypsoRed1.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h133/Marinersfan/CalypsoRed2.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h133/Marinersfan/CalypsoRed3.jpg

I really like the way this blue looks in low light conditions:

forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=645620

I've been trying to work out what color it is and I think its Avus blue, but not 100% sure. Does anyone know?

My neighbor had a Porsche in midnight blue. It's a very nice color, but it only looks good in certain lighting conditions. In bright, bright, sunlight I think it looks too purple, and not as dark. Almost like that purple from the e36 M3's.


I like that color posted above by chackoc. I don't know what shade of blue it is, I was actually wondering the same thing.

I dug up another thread where the OP of that thread said his car was Montreal Blue. I've seen pics of Avus Blue as well and I think the two colors are very close and both look great, especially when lit at night.

I was going to say, the avus blue they made on the 95 M3 is really nice.

Magic black that my GTI has,
or metalic black that my freind has on his 00 m roadster.

Than there is always ibscrott

I think this is the color I am going with... It's factory "Brazil Beige"

http://home.att.net/~duckryder/rfside.jpg

Thats Duckryder's -aka Robert Stickland from the e21 digest 323i that he sold. I have the european headlights from this car.


He had it repainted its nice if you like brown.....

That midnuight blue is beautiful. But with that color and black, the paint job is only as good as the body work. This requires a ton of blocking which I know you are going to have done.

marinersfan, dont mind calypso red but im still looking for something darker in colour, looks nice but still a little too light.

joe, not painting it black, see previous issues :)

As for sanding, yeah. Im going to lead fill a few areas that need a bit of filler, plus im going to remove a few of the seams from the car ala 2002 style that was sadly missed on the E21 (they used to put the 2002 bodies together by hand). Ive got pretty much unlimited time to spend rubbing the car down to get all the panels nice and smooth, just have to be quick with any bare metal because of the humidity up here. Im really leaning towards seeing if i can get some time in one of the spray booths at my brothers work. Trailer it down with the body work done, then prep it there and spray it overnight. Just finding it difficult to find a colour i like, paint guys suck because they will make up any colour you want so they just tell you to pretty much dream up a colour :mad

Had a look through my pics folder and found a sort of dark blue i dont mind, its on a cossie.

http://mad-hatters.info/images/100_0395.jpg

http://mad-hatters.info/images/100_0396.jpg

Then i thought i might have a bit of a look round the bmw website at the new colours and the m5 with interlagos blue looked good in the example, then in the flesh i was dissapointed it wasnt as dark :(

http://www.m5board.com/photopost/data/536/IMG_1190s.jpg

or in lesser light

http://www.m5board.com/photopost/data/536/16162M5_ROR_09_11_05_016.jpg

http://www.m5board.com/photopost/data/536/16162M5_ROR_09_11_05_025.jpg

Then i saw monaco blue in the 7 series colours and went searching

http://mad-hatters.info/images/mb1.jpg

And it plain sucked. :shifty

By luck i found the individual colours and stumbled upon onyx blue metallic

http://mad-hatters.info/images/007.jpg

http://mad-hatters.info/images/008.jpg

http://mad-hatters.info/images/BMW-47.jpg

Which looked real tasty :alright

I think i need a few days off work just to skim over websites looking for colours :eyecrazy

marinersfan, the red! i'm with you!

may be a little light colored for what you are looking for, but its an odd color only found on a few euro VW cars.

Dragon green

i give up trying to trick the computer into letting me post the url, someone message me and ill give you the address

msg me with the details and ill post it :stickoutt

I know you don't want black, but there is a Renaultsport colour available on 182s in the UK called Black gold, which in sunlight is pretty stunning. Just food for thought. Black Gold (http://www.allvehicles.co.uk/842.jpg)

Also, how about the M5 colour, Silverstone?
Silverstone (http://www.m5board.com/photopost/data/538/44HPIM1707.JPG)

silverstone is too bright, after a dark colour.

sorry i guess im not allowed to message people either yet, and your email is disabled. maybe in a couple days i might have enough posts to post something remotely useful, or send me an email at nastyvr at yahoo . com and ill reply

http://www.wpvw.com.au/images/1974%20kombi/A17.JPG

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/uploads/new/6664.jpg

comes up when you search for dragon green

I can't find the name of the color, but the '02 or '03 Mazda Protege 5 came in a really nice dark blue color. Someone at my work has one and it's really nice.

I don't know if you have that model in AUS, but Mazda changed their lineup here anyways, so they don't make the Protege any more.

go to vwvortex, then search, then type in dragon green and click archived next to it.

there are a couple threads there, because those pics arent doing it any justice whatsoever