My Alpina respray colour, please VOTE!

[hammoj28]

Defo black.

[bmwe30mtech]

You actually considering blue? I thought this was just meaningless zone banter when i read it, not a serious consideration.

Black without question. If you paint it blue, i think you will regret it Si. (both look great though, just one doesnt belong on this particular car!!)

[Simon13]

ah the fat man appears! no doubt get a talking to at Ace on monday by the pace maker pate

[Colonel Sanders]

alpina blue if it were me.... much much nicer

[Jhonno]

Blue Si!!!

[e30topless]

diamond black my man

on that note...I would go black keep it original after all the point of a restoration is to restore it to former glory ?

[march109]

ah the fat man appears! no doubt get a talking to at Ace on monday by the pace maker pate

haha thought you were talking about me until you mentioned Ace!

an Alpina Blue Alpina sounds sooo right, and would look pretty damn sexual too.

[Ziggy]

Black would impress the sort of people who won't be impressed unless it's still wearing the original factory paint anyway...
Blue would just plain look better, & for that reason be worth more to a lot of (most?) people.

[B7]

Si, whats the closing date on this?

[Simon13]

i didn't set one, should i?!

[bss325i]

i didn't set one, should i?!

You may not have that choice if they get stuck in.

[gareth]

i do prefer the blue, however, unless you're getting the shell completely stripped (eg, NOTHING on it whatsoever) and fully sprayed, i'd stick to the factory colour.
if it was a replica, i'd do it blue. as it's genuine and will be a very good example once done, i reluctantly voted black.

[Andyboy]

It really is a no brainer to paint it black

Says who? This isn't a 2 day respray with everything masked up but a complete bare shell repaint including the interior metalwork, engine bay, boot, the inner arches etc. Once assembled there would be no way to tell it was ever black. So it says Diamond black on the build sheet when it left Munich as a basic 325i. So what? A certain B6 3.5 left the factory as an Alpine white 325i but was converted to a B6 3.5 and painted a different colour. Does that make it less valuable?
What Simon is considering is not like taking a 1973 CSL and painting it Dakar yellow, it's a fully photographed restoration where the owner (i.e the one paying the bills) is changing the colour to one of two unique and period Alpina colour schemes. Alpina blue - apart from being a stunning colour - is authentic and absolutely correct for the year of the car. As someone who has the balls to do this myself if I were in this position, I think it would increase the value of the car. Given that most C2 2.7's are rusty patched up shitheaps with most of the correct bits missing anyway, the C2 buyer in 5-10 years time won't be in a position to moan about the colour.
4-5 years ago I owned the ex Francis Rossi (Status Quo) Mini Cooper S which was originally green/white roof, The first thing Rossi did in 1969 was to paint it Ford Tawny bronze and tint the windows. Against my advice it was painted green/white. It would have been worth more painted bronze again so it looked like it did when owned by a famous rock star and not like every other green/white Mini. Oh well.

Anyway, I voted blue!

[1an]

Simon, As 'Andyboy' surely with the amount of documentation you have it wont decrease the value?

personally i would keep it diamond black but then its your car and your the one who is paying the bill and restoring the car.

which ever way it goes its going to be an awesome Alpina

[Andyboy]

Simon, As 'Andyboy' surely with the amount of documentation you have it wont decrease the value?

How many red Ferraris left Maranello a different colour? Colour is everything!

[Steve-E30]

Diamond black, silver stripes

Or diamond black with viper stripes

Blue looks awesome but for originality i voted black
Your choice at the end of the day .

[1an]

Simon, As 'Andyboy' surely with the amount of documentation you have it wont decrease the value?

How many red Ferraris left Maranello a different colour? Colour is everything!

i understand colour is everything but even you have said spray it blue,

oh btw i would rather have a Ferrari in yellow than red

[BMracing]

The blue looks gorgeous imo, so i opted for that. Its from the heart though, not the head! I've no idea how it would affect the value. It is a unique colour the blue, but totally relevant to the car.

[oguz327]

As Andyboy said, dakar yellow would look cool

[andyp]

seeing as you have put blue in you might as well of put pink in.


black all the way dude

[csl]

The Alpina blue is stunning and suits the e30 well imo. With your car thou it needs to be black as per like its been since new!!!
It boils down to how much of a buffty you are really?

[Jhonno]

Dont listen to all these 'originality saddos'

Go with what you want.. Its your car, you plan to keep forever basically, resale wont be a problem, its all documented, end of the day its only a 325iSE that left BMW in black.. Alpenis goodness happened after

[Alyman]

I can't believe how many people are saying that the blue looks better but they're voting black because that's what some paperwork from the eighties has written on it.

The blue and gold is a far better colour scheme for a car this rare - it needs something special.

There's two possible outcomes here:

1. Every day when you come out your house to get in the car you look at it and think "Excellent - when it comes to selling up I've possibly made this car a little bit more attractive to its next owner"

2. Every day when you come out your house to get in the car you look at it and think "Excellent - MY blue and gold Alpina ******* rocks"

Live in the now

[Grrrmachine]

If you painted it blue, half the public would think you were too poor to afford a Subaru WRX, and the other half would get the urge to go out and buy a pack of Rothmans.

Blue's a great colour for SOME cars, but on this car, and with gold stripe, I think it just looks cheap. Go black.

[B7]

Bottom line Si. I'd expect to pay less for it if I was buying it and it had had a colour change. A true enthusiast (and lets face it, this car ain't ever gonna be sold to a chav whos going to put it on 18's and drop it in the weeds) WILL expect the car to be exactly as it say on the spec sheet. I know your saying you'll never sell it but....what IF you did? But then you know where I stand with originality. I'd love my car in Sterling Silver or Cirrus Blue but if it went to Barry's tomorrow you know damn well what colour it'd be when it returned on the trailer.

Andy, That cooper would always be worth more money in the brown as that was the "famous rock stars choice". The fact that a guy named simon from camberley chose the colour on this c2 is not exactly going to help certificate a colour a colour change.

Si, this exercise is only ging to mess your head up even more. Cut it now is my advice. The problem here is that (and this is not meany to be detrimental guys) is that we have a lot of guys on here into the modding scene who would not bat an eyelid buying a car thats had a colour change. But how many of us on here would pay / be able to pay the sort of money that this car is going to be worth when finished?

[Gortour]

Gotta be the Blue and Gold...

Black is lovely, but there's SO many already.

[gazm3]

Simon, Blue for me.

[mattG]

I think this needs to be how it was when it came out of the factory-BLACK

[pony2]

Black is the way to go.

[Quaser]

Blue - its not a standard e30, so why have a standard colour?

[Jhonno]

Neck and neck.. Blue has made a comeback. Despite many people saying Blue was the better colour but voting black as a 325iSE left Germany that colour back in the 80's

[Jhonno]

What did your missus vote for Si?

[Splondike]

It's a blank canvas mate and that blue is gorgeous. Black is sooooo last season

[pacerpete]

Simon , this turd , i am guessing is going to owe you 15 bags by the time it next sports a tax disc . No matter how minty it is it will always be a leggy , multi owner C2 so its value is finite, maybe £7500 on a good day. To hell with the money, you are buried anyway, why not build the car you want. Instead of having a rather ordinary diamond black 325 with a few alpina bits you will now have a hero chariot ! I personally think a documented colour change to alpina blue will not affect and may even enhance your cars resale prospects.

[daimlerman]

The only way keeping this car black would be correct is by NOT painting it at all. It is long past this point. The only colour for this car now is Alpinis blue. Go for it Simon,you know it's the right thing. I am not too certain about the decal kit,these were very '80's,if it were my car (oh yes please lotto night) I would just go for the front spoiler one..