Blue exterior always blue interior?

[tdskip]

Newbie question here -  were blue paint cars always delivered from the factory with blue interiors? I have a '74 Tii in case that matters.

 

Thanks in advance for the remedial education!

[Conserv]

9 hours ago, tdskip said:

Newbie question here -  were blue paint cars always delivered from the factory with blue interiors?…

 

It depends… on which blue you’re referring to…

 

Fjord? Generally Navy Blue on square taillights, but sometimes Nylon Brown (a.k.a., Beige, or, generically, tan).

Earlier, many round taillight blues, e.g., Caribe or Riviera, took gray, or gray-and-black cloth-and-vinyl interiors in the Euro-spec markets, but received all-black all-vinyl interiors for the U.S. market.

Let’s start with your car’s factory exterior color, and go from there.

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

[tdskip]

Hi Steve, it is Fjord. It is currently blue, door panels look original which would seem to confirm it.

[Conserv]

Here’s the color concordance from an August 1974 paint and upholstery brochure, showing the defaults. August 1974 is actually intended for 1975 models — generally September 1974 and later, but tii’s have an exception that year.

 

Remember, if the default is gray, it was very rare for a U.S.-spec car to actually receive gray. I don’t know why.

Per this chart, Pastellblau and Fjord received Navy Blue (0002) while Arktisblau received Gray (0004). I’d guess that many of those Arktisblau ‘02’s — actually quite rare — arrived here with black interiors. Odd things occasionally happened. The second photo shows a Pastelblau ‘76 with a black interior from the factory, as documented by the window sticker.

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

 

 

[Son of Marty]

My 72 Atlantic came with a black interior.

[Mark92131]

9 minutes ago, Conserv said:

Pastellblau and Fjord received Navy Blue (0002)

 

My 1975 Pastellblau I purchased from the original owner had a factory Beige interior, don't know if it was special order.

 

Mark92131

 

 

[tdskip]

Thanks for all of the replies and information. Based on this I'm 95%+ sure that Navy Blue (0002) is what I'm looking at.

 

Appreciate the help gentlemen.

[Conserv]

1 hour ago, Mark92131 said:

 

My 1975 Pastellblau I purchased from the original owner had a factory Beige interior, don't know if it was special order.

 

Mark92131

 

 

Thanks, Mark,

 

And, honestly, I wonder how or when these unusual combinations occurred. Were some due to family and friends to Max Hoffman, or other employees of Hoffman Motors? Maybe. Were some family and friends of BMW NA employees? Maybe. Were some European Delivery cars, where you could actually choose some options and, possibly, colors? Maybe. Were some simply ordering (Hoffman of BMW NA), or order-filling (BMW AG) errors? Maybe. Were some assembly line or parts inventory problems? Maybe. All of the above, and more things we can’t even imagine? Probably.

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

 

 

[1972_Targa]

My 1972 Baur Targa in Baikal Metallic came with a black interior. 

[Son of Marty]

My thought is some of the odd color combos were the result of cars being pulled off the line during inspection before they reached the interior install phase, IE maybe a golf car due to get a tan interior had a paint sag and was pulled in order to fix it, so in the pre computer days it could take a while to reset the line and if the color combo worked those cars were just left as is.

[Gordon]

I had a fjord blue 74 2002 with a tan interior. 

[Mike Self]

Truth be told, and especially with roundies, and the earlier the better, the factory would use what they had on hand.  You see early Chamonix cars with both blue and black interiors.  The BMW factory didn't build the seats, so they were at the mercy of the seat manufacturer.

 

When the factory was transitioning from chrome-plated to black painted recliner mechanisms, in early 1972 (or late '71, take your pick), you'll find cars with chrome recliners having higher VINs than some with painted recliners.  Apparently the factory ran out of a given seat color earlier than others, and just used the chrome ones up 'till they were gone, then switched over to painted. 

 

I also suspect that in the early days, when dealers were mostly small operators and  looking for every sale they could get, if a customer came in wanting, say an Agave car with a black interior, the dealer would swap the tobacco interior with another car (perhaps a Granada one) and put the Granada's black interior into the Agave car, and vice-versa.

 

mike

 

[2002FjordBaur]

My Fjord Met RHD 73 Baur came with a blue interior

 

 

 

Edited December 10, 2021 by 2002FjordBaur

[tashakes]

My 76 Arktisblau came with beige interior. Yuck!  I dyed the door cards, got E21 Recaros, E24 rears and an Esty carpet set, all in black. Took care of that!! 

Edited December 11, 2021 by tashakes