What can I expect to get for £2,500?

[B1G CJ]

The silver ones i have seen must have been re-sprays then.

oh well red it is. (unless i can find 4k for the gun metal sc thats for sale on here)

[HT]

^^^ Max mk1B's exist in silver from the factory.

[russthedude]

Don't get a red one, you'll be forever keeping it red!

I was only 19 and it was the ultimate chick magnet ("sorry love, no room for your friend but hope in").

nah, the ultimate chic magnet would attract the chicks, AND have room for them both , aaaaaaiiiiight

[richinlondon]

There are definately standard silver cars out there, think they may have stopped producing with that colour in 1987 though

[B1G CJ]

Silver or Red?

if there are silver ones about, i'll keep looking. if anyone knows for sure & also what year they finished?

thanks

cj

[kevin..in]

Silver or Red?

if there are silver ones about, i'll keep looking. if anyone knows for sure & also what year they finished?

thanks

cj

silver was available in 1A and 1B cars but metalic paint was an extra cost option 9£42.36 on 1A and £93.40 1b)and silver was not as popular then as it is now so quite uncommon
also the finish on metalic paints was no the best as the top coat seemed to flake off leaving the car vunerable to the elements making survivors even more scarce

crazylegs silver 1A

[waynestoyotamr2]

I had a silver Mk1b - what a beauty it was too!

[B1G CJ]

Silver it is then.

To find a good low mileage one may take some time, but good things always do.


Cheers guys

cj

[Sharpfish]

If you really want an F or G reg then you are going to have a MASSIVELY long wait for a stock silver.

I wanted silver before I ended up with Dark blue (a supercharger), and i'm personally glad I did go dark blue, it's gorgeous, you have to own it and keep it clean to understand how much more expensive and modern it looks in this colour (cos it hides all the black trim and shut lines that date the mk1 while giving it a beautiful hue under rain/overcast/artificial lighting - it's also very mirror like in the right conditions).

Anyway, light blue metallic is your closest. No silvers made after 87. YOu can get mk1bs in silver (as above) but they are older than 1989 and as rare as RHS. Plenty of Light blue and dark blue in 1989 (personally prefer the dark blue pearl over the light blue which is a bit "austin montego" imo).

Red and white can look good if clean, Red is sure to be faded and you will be cutting it back every few months. White is cool but really shows the cars age (I would prefer red if it didn't fade).

Silver is a GREAT choice, I've seen a couple on the road and they really look striking, it's just as I say you prob won't find any *stock* ones after 1987, but tbh if silver is really important then you may as well look for a nice pre88 than forgoe your favourite colour (there will be differences of course on the earlier mk1bs compared to later inc colour coding, spoiler brake lights and a few other things that can always be sorted after you have the car).

Good luck... and if you find 2 silver let me know cos I wouldn't mind one of them :0

edit > similar goes for black (rare / only on mk1a). why toyota took away BLACK and SILVER options at all suprises me because mk1s look great in both of those colours (moreso depending on tastes than even Dark blue because they are more sporty)

edit 2> Thought I should just clarify, in case I offended any owners of the above colours, I think they all look good regardless. The mk1 is that kind of car. The white especially looks very eye catching and feels sporty to be in (I've been in most colours over the years), the red (*IF* not faded) is a real treat as it feels the 'right' colour for a mk1 (mini ferrari) and the light blue looks cool too. The 8e3 Dark Blue Pearl which i'm a big fan of is not without it's downsides, it shows dust/water marks (similar to black) and to some takes some of the "in your face-ness" away from the mk1's shape, which may not be what you want. I like it more subtle cos the shape/MR layout does the talking and I love the mettalic glossy sheen that only a dark metallic can give.

But my FTO is silver and I love that too, so I guess what i'm trying to say is keep an open mind about colours and if you find the right car then maybe it's worth the sacrifice. However, as much as I do like the red it is the one colour I would def stay away from because I would say unless it's been resprayed, that deep shiny red you see on the day of viewing will have been due to a hundreth cutting paste session and tonnes of polish/wax, it may not reveal how faded it is for a few months after purchase.

With the other colours you are pretty safe to take them at face value (though a lot of white cars I saw were patched up cos white is so easy to paint, so do extra checks around the usual places for possible overspray and botch jobs).

Anyway, unless you are looking at import SCs then 1989 = Red, White, Dark Blue and Light Blue in the UK readily available.

I'll shut up now.

[HT]

^^ Hi you can get black mk1b's btw

[kevin..in]

left hooker german?us? spec but deffinately black

[Sharpfish]

yeah maybe, but not in uk (1989 in black) and if you see one for sale on autotrader or whatever you will be very lucky, it's awash with red and white

Seriously if the guy wants an 89 he'd best forget about black or silver cos it will be like looking for a needle in a haystack (if he wants a STOCK not a respray and a non import/sc).

edit > I wrote it wrong above, I didn't mean there were no mk1bs in black, just that they were rare and seemingly none around after 86/87 (I saw a nice one on AT just a week or so ago with sunroof though not t-bar) but again it was a 'D' reg and not an F/G, though was of course a MK1b which is the main thing I guess.

[B1G CJ]

Hi

Thanks for all the posts, they have been very helpful.

ref. sharpfish last post. yep i'm after a mk1b it would have just been nice to get a later year. but if the right one comes up on an 87/88 it's still fine.


thanks again

CJ

[kevin..in]

bottom line has to be condition I recon

best looking for the best car you can get for your budget if then one turns up in your prefered colour then count that as a bonus

I've not seen a genuine black 1b regd later than a D plate
I have seen silver 1b's on E & F plate

[Sharpfish]

bottom line has to be condition I recon

Agreed!

[Tony jinxy froude]

Crazylegs has that same car for sale right now if you PM him, the for sale signs have been put up in the tent all weekend at JAE, grab it fast its a good one, cheers, Jinxy

[monkeymax]

I happily stand corrected. Never knew about the Mk1b being in Silver.

But then in 18+ months of interest in the Mk1, I've never seen a Mk1b in Silver. I think the Mk1 looks great in that colour so I tend to notice them (as well as the Mk1a's cyan blue colour) - have not seen a Mk1b in either of those colours at all... So I guess they really are rare.

The closest I thought the Mk1b got was the light blue metallic ones... which is also really nice.

Ugh, walking around JAE my sister asked me which colour I'd chose if buying again... I don't know! The ones I didn't like have really grown on me... lol. They're all great! Still think red stands out most though...

[cartledge_uk]

I had a silver mk1b t bar.

I had to get rid to buy the 1a for my race car, the silver tbar was very close to being stripped as a racer

[Speedy]

The slug was a mk1b silver car, great engine, shame about almost everything else

[monkeymax]

Gah - I really was wrong then... unless it's the same car that's been doing the rounds with you all...

Next thing you'll be telling me all the cars were silver before they were repainted... oh... wait a minute...