RS2000, not its Best Colour?
Discussion
2172cc said:
never would have thought that there were that many colors, ok I never bought a new car, so then less chance to see a brochure with all colors, but still.
I owned 2 of this signal orange without the 78? or is it signal red 79? looks also orange
I forget mostly, but I also owned a E21 323i long time ago, end 80-tisch why do I forget mostly? because it was a Alpina C1 (2.3) so... then I forget its based on a e21 323i
did not look super on the outside without the alpina stickers, but had a great Alpina interior, the best what I think, sadly not in the pictures, was long time ago, already glad I have still 1 old scanned in picture hah
GTRene said:
2172cc said:
never would have thought that there were that many colors, ok I never bought a new car, so then less chance to see a brochure with all colors, but still.I owned 2 of this signal orange without the 78? or is it signal red 79? looks also orange
323i...Ha!
In 1985, literally the summer before I passed my test (September birthday), the used car site I worked at in the holidays had two. Both had been bought at auction with paint defects. They were late ones, X plates. The white one was treated to a respray in what I believe was an early-ish use of flip paint that went from white to blue under street lighting. The bodyshop guy kept that one for himself...
The black one had a lot of minute white spots in the paint which we couldn't shift. But, the boss loved driving it so much he didn't bother. I used to get a lift home after work in it, flat out with Springsteen's Dancing In The Dark blaring out. It eventually sold to a chap who'd won some money on the Premium Bonds and was keen to upgrade his hand-painted Vauxhall Chevette. The 323 was replaced by a new 235i Sport in Dolphin Grey, which felt much more "complete" but lacked the sense of fun the 323 had.
Years later I bought a similar one but red, from auction, for GBP325. Ran it for a while but it needed too much for MoT so it was moved on in favour of an RX7.
In 1985, literally the summer before I passed my test (September birthday), the used car site I worked at in the holidays had two. Both had been bought at auction with paint defects. They were late ones, X plates. The white one was treated to a respray in what I believe was an early-ish use of flip paint that went from white to blue under street lighting. The bodyshop guy kept that one for himself...
The black one had a lot of minute white spots in the paint which we couldn't shift. But, the boss loved driving it so much he didn't bother. I used to get a lift home after work in it, flat out with Springsteen's Dancing In The Dark blaring out. It eventually sold to a chap who'd won some money on the Premium Bonds and was keen to upgrade his hand-painted Vauxhall Chevette. The 323 was replaced by a new 235i Sport in Dolphin Grey, which felt much more "complete" but lacked the sense of fun the 323 had.
Years later I bought a similar one but red, from auction, for GBP325. Ran it for a while but it needed too much for MoT so it was moved on in favour of an RX7.
aeropilot said:
I remembered a 323i was in a group test with the Sunbeam-Lotus when that came out, so guessed it was late 79.
But just looked up that old Motor road test from Oct '79, and they did they original 323i road test in May '78, so that tallies with your S-plate, and why there wasn't very many, as T came out in 1st Aug.
Interesting looking at that Motor road test, and the Sunbeam-Lotus was priced at £6,995, and the 323i was £7,550, with the Dolly Sprint at £6,288, the Chevette HS at £5,939, the Fiat 131 Sport at £5,488 and the Escort RS2000 Custom at a mere £5,179.
Yes, the RS was the only one without a 5-speed or overdrive gearbox, but they were such tremendous value for money in their day.
Just realised that I don’t ever recall seeing a road test / group test on a 323i ! Does it not include the Capri 3.0S ?But just looked up that old Motor road test from Oct '79, and they did they original 323i road test in May '78, so that tallies with your S-plate, and why there wasn't very many, as T came out in 1st Aug.
Interesting looking at that Motor road test, and the Sunbeam-Lotus was priced at £6,995, and the 323i was £7,550, with the Dolly Sprint at £6,288, the Chevette HS at £5,939, the Fiat 131 Sport at £5,488 and the Escort RS2000 Custom at a mere £5,179.
Yes, the RS was the only one without a 5-speed or overdrive gearbox, but they were such tremendous value for money in their day.
The SL was certainly an expensive car back then ! With the RS2 very reasonably priced.
Also, the first 323i were 4 speed, I’m sure a 5 speed wasn’t available until the face lifted version was introduced, V Reg, late 1979 I think, these cars had the much larger mirrors, which were mounted to the corner of the door frame, rather than screwed to the door panel itself.
Would you be able to post this test up please ?
Rob 131 Sport said:
I’m no experts on RS2000, except for liking them a lot. However I’m sure I’ve seen original cars in Salmon Pink.
There was a film that was a cast off from the eighties TV drama Cats Eyes staring Leslie Ash where I’m sure she drove an RS 2000 in salmon pink.
No RS2000 ever left the factory in Salmon Pink.There was a film that was a cast off from the eighties TV drama Cats Eyes staring Leslie Ash where I’m sure she drove an RS 2000 in salmon pink.
Ford didn't even have a factory colour for Salmon Pink for any model in the Mk.2 RS2000 era.
As said, Signal Red from final year of production is the most likely candidate for what some people might think looks like salmon pink, if they have poor eyes or are colour blind
SS427 Camaro said:
aeropilot said:
I remembered a 323i was in a group test with the Sunbeam-Lotus when that came out, so guessed it was late 79.
But just looked up that old Motor road test from Oct '79, and they did they original 323i road test in May '78, so that tallies with your S-plate, and why there wasn't very many, as T came out in 1st Aug.
Interesting looking at that Motor road test, and the Sunbeam-Lotus was priced at £6,995, and the 323i was £7,550, with the Dolly Sprint at £6,288, the Chevette HS at £5,939, the Fiat 131 Sport at £5,488 and the Escort RS2000 Custom at a mere £5,179.
Yes, the RS was the only one without a 5-speed or overdrive gearbox, but they were such tremendous value for money in their day.
Just realised that I don’t ever recall seeing a road test / group test on a 323i ! Does it not include the Capri 3.0S ?But just looked up that old Motor road test from Oct '79, and they did they original 323i road test in May '78, so that tallies with your S-plate, and why there wasn't very many, as T came out in 1st Aug.
Interesting looking at that Motor road test, and the Sunbeam-Lotus was priced at £6,995, and the 323i was £7,550, with the Dolly Sprint at £6,288, the Chevette HS at £5,939, the Fiat 131 Sport at £5,488 and the Escort RS2000 Custom at a mere £5,179.
Yes, the RS was the only one without a 5-speed or overdrive gearbox, but they were such tremendous value for money in their day.
The SL was certainly an expensive car back then ! With the RS2 very reasonably priced.
Also, the first 323i were 4 speed, I’m sure a 5 speed wasn’t available until the face lifted version was introduced, V Reg, late 1979 I think, these cars had the much larger mirrors, which were mounted to the corner of the door frame, rather than screwed to the door panel itself.
Would you be able to post this test up please ?
As I mentioned above, Motor did a full road test of a 323i on May 27th 1978, so someone might have a copy of that, or it might have been reprinted in one of those Brooklands Books road test complilations years ago...?
We had quite a few Mk 2 RS 2000's (6 from memory and all Customs), P Reg. Mk 1 Mexico and a Mk1 RS 2000 between us in the late 80's and early 90's, they were the usual colours black, white, Venetian Red (mine) but the most sorted of all was in....Tuscan Beige.
Tuscan hasn't been mentioned yet or shown in the colour chart earlier, it's much darker than Cordoba and is similar to that Fiat 500 beige you see. Although it was probably the worst colour of all of ours it did have a factory Group one kit on it (44's, BVH, cam and original airbox), it certainly went but had nothing below about 3000 rpm. The mate who had it was bit of a "pilot" so it suited him perfectly, he eventually replaced it with a completely standard black Custom which he promptly ruined with mods.
I certainly miss mine (XOC 96T), it was stolen from the guy I sold it too and never recovered so a familiar story for many a Mk2 RS.
Some interesting info in this thread, I didn't know about Calypso Green and what a great colour but never saw one back in the day. There was also definitely an X Reg white RS2 around our area too in the late 80's and again (Aeropilot will know?) there were circa 50 of these out there as the last actual registered UK supplied cars.
Oh and the red being described is Signal Red, a friend's mum had a 1600 Sport in that colour and Salmon Pink is a really good description of it. I tried to buy it as it was an excellent example (she'd had it from new) but ended up with a black 1600 Sport in the end which was nowhere near as good a car.
Happy days, alas never to be repeated at the current prices.
Tuscan hasn't been mentioned yet or shown in the colour chart earlier, it's much darker than Cordoba and is similar to that Fiat 500 beige you see. Although it was probably the worst colour of all of ours it did have a factory Group one kit on it (44's, BVH, cam and original airbox), it certainly went but had nothing below about 3000 rpm. The mate who had it was bit of a "pilot" so it suited him perfectly, he eventually replaced it with a completely standard black Custom which he promptly ruined with mods.
I certainly miss mine (XOC 96T), it was stolen from the guy I sold it too and never recovered so a familiar story for many a Mk2 RS.
Some interesting info in this thread, I didn't know about Calypso Green and what a great colour but never saw one back in the day. There was also definitely an X Reg white RS2 around our area too in the late 80's and again (Aeropilot will know?) there were circa 50 of these out there as the last actual registered UK supplied cars.
Oh and the red being described is Signal Red, a friend's mum had a 1600 Sport in that colour and Salmon Pink is a really good description of it. I tried to buy it as it was an excellent example (she'd had it from new) but ended up with a black 1600 Sport in the end which was nowhere near as good a car.
Happy days, alas never to be repeated at the current prices.
wal 45 said:
We had quite a few Mk 2 RS 2000's (6 from memory and all Customs), P Reg. Mk 1 Mexico and a Mk1 RS 2000 between us in the late 80's and early 90's, they were the usual colours black, white, Venetian Red (mine) but the most sorted of all was in....Tuscan Beige.
Tuscan hasn't been mentioned yet or shown in the colour chart earlier, it's much darker than Cordoba and is similar to that Fiat 500 beige you see.
Tuscan......yes, another rare colour, like Calypso.Tuscan hasn't been mentioned yet or shown in the colour chart earlier, it's much darker than Cordoba and is similar to that Fiat 500 beige you see.
I have a vague recollection, it was a one year, or not even a full year colour option.....? Can't have been many made in it, I think I only ever saw a couple of them back in the early 80's at meets.
It was a deeper coffee colour, and I quite liked it, would certainly prefer it to Venetian Red, Diamond White or Black....and it was a nicer colour than Cordoba Beige.
And, just saying, Daytona Yellow?
To add (pedants’ alert) as an aside that to correct the mistake a much younger me made a long time ago in a Galaxy far, far away the correct F-O-R-D grille badge has long since been reinstalled to replace the Ford oval which appears in the image. The remote control driver’s door mirror and BVR were factory fitted options and there’s no apology for the Britax Weathershield folding sunroof.
To add (pedants’ alert) as an aside that to correct the mistake a much younger me made a long time ago in a Galaxy far, far away the correct F-O-R-D grille badge has long since been reinstalled to replace the Ford oval which appears in the image. The remote control driver’s door mirror and BVR were factory fitted options and there’s no apology for the Britax Weathershield folding sunroof.
RS2KOHC said:
And, just saying, Daytona Yellow?
To add (pedants’ alert) as an aside that to correct the mistake a much younger me made a long time ago in a Galaxy far, far away the correct F-O-R-D grille badge has long since been reinstalled to replace the Ford oval which appears in the image. The remote control driver’s door mirror and BVR were factory fitted options and there’s no apology for the Britax Weathershield folding sunroof.
Must be a really early (late '75 or first few months of '76) 'broadstripe' RS2000, effectively from all the pre-customer dealer orders, as these were IIRC, the only ones that were painted Daytona Yellow (as per the Mk.1's) and by the time that customer orders started they had gone over to the later and brighter, Signal Yellow shade....?To add (pedants’ alert) as an aside that to correct the mistake a much younger me made a long time ago in a Galaxy far, far away the correct F-O-R-D grille badge has long since been reinstalled to replace the Ford oval which appears in the image. The remote control driver’s door mirror and BVR were factory fitted options and there’s no apology for the Britax Weathershield folding sunroof.
I-am-the-reverend said:
aeropilot said:
As you say, great car, but massively more expensive than a RS2000.
That was 45 years ago. Things change. The list price of a classic car matters not one jot. And its largely irrelevant anyway, as you'll struggle to even find a E21 323i for sale in 2024 (although there's a single one for sale on C&C for 20k, albeit a fake Alpina E21)
I'm a huge BMW fan, especially of older stuff, but I'd still take the RS over a 323i in 2024.
clubsport said:
aeropilot said:
I'm a huge BMW fan, especially of older stuff, but I'd still take the RS over a 323i in 2024.
After your recent responses, is there any car you would have over an RS 2000 in 2024? 
But none would be regarded as a similar car to a RS2000, however, for a start, I'd take an AVO RS over a Mk.2 version, and I'd take a Lotus-Cortina over a Mk.2 RS as well.
But, if someone restricted me to something post-1975, it gets a bit more difficult to pick something I'd rather have over a Mk.2 RS.
They were okay but there were cars I preferred.
The original 1600 Golf GTi, the Alfasud Ti 1.5. The Spud was ruined by its willingness to rot but what a delightful thing. It was just a precision instrument after an Escort, utterly viceless with fantastic brakes, that engine and a close ratio five speed. I don't think the Golf handled quite as well but back then, nothing in its class did. The engine was fantastic and just wanted to go all the time. i wasn't bothered about FWD or wanting to get it sideways. Couldn't be arsed with such stuff.
I never rated the go faster Chevettes or Sunbeams. Just crude, thirsty, hard riding and fun for about ten minutes. At least the RS2000 was useable and practical.
The original 1600 Golf GTi, the Alfasud Ti 1.5. The Spud was ruined by its willingness to rot but what a delightful thing. It was just a precision instrument after an Escort, utterly viceless with fantastic brakes, that engine and a close ratio five speed. I don't think the Golf handled quite as well but back then, nothing in its class did. The engine was fantastic and just wanted to go all the time. i wasn't bothered about FWD or wanting to get it sideways. Couldn't be arsed with such stuff.
I never rated the go faster Chevettes or Sunbeams. Just crude, thirsty, hard riding and fun for about ten minutes. At least the RS2000 was useable and practical.
SS427 Camaro said:
aeropilot said:
That may well have been the BL dealer as well, although, it might not have been, because they were definitely a Triumph dealer, as 3 years earlier I remember they had a Russet Brown Stag on their stand, which the SE had said was the very last new Stag they had left for sale (stopped production in June 77)
W.J. Wells were originally Austin, the building was called “ Austin House “ in its very early days. My Late Dad bought his Healey 3000MK3 & a Mini van new there in August 1964. They were never Triumph agents, the only Triumph I ever saw was a “ tuned “ green TR-4 that it’s bearded owner used to bring in for a tune of of its twin Webbers on the rolling road. I’m sure that it was “ Harvey Hudson “ just along from Gares and “ Lambs of Woodford “ who were the Triumph main agents in the area.
I wasn't too upset to see the Company close a couple of years later
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