Just came across a series of youtube videos by a guy going by the name "kraftwerkmod". These videos were taken at several Gaydon meetings throughout the years.
Some cars I have been able to identify, some not.
One that really sparked my interest is the Mauritiusblue H56NMO - according to the DVLA data it is an early 1991 850iA.
All pictures below clickable for higher resolution!
The interior of the car is quite intriguing and to me this comes as a big surprise. Here is why.
At first glance it seems as if this interior was "nicked" from a CSi - it has the stitching on the door cards and a colour scheme which was named Silbergrau Hell N4SH.
It might also be that of a late 840Ci Sport, only this colour combination is unusual for late production 8ers. The chrome plated door handle shows the telltale sign of a post 9/92 production car which H56NMO clearly is not.
If it were so then you´d not have heard any comment from me - retrofits to suit the owner´s taste are nothing one needs to lose many words about. They happen and the owner is happy with it. 
I can tell you though that this is not what it at first appears to be. 
What caught me is not immediately obvious and hence marked in the pictures below:
The right arrows point towards a telltale sign for BMW Individual stitching on the dashboard, the left arrows towards the steering column covers show that those are of a colour differing from what we see everywhere else.
To me this clearly is a sign of hitherto unheard of use of leather in RHD cars. Some late 840´s received a bit of a leather indulgement where the door cards/rear side panels and center console were fully clad in leather. These cars are quite easy to identify by their "abnormal" color schemes:
More about numbers and destinations further below.
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Whenever something unusual, not to be found on the standard factory order options list, was ordered this would be processed through BMW Individual and either receive an order code S940, S944 or a tag Special Upholstery Z1XX resp. 9990 in early years.
S940 Special Order is a generic option code used for pretty much everything that was not on the standard options list as for example PDC - Park Distance Control, whereas S944 was always tagged Retrofit by ZS where ZS is nothing else but the former BMW Individual company.
This company merged with the early 90´s BMW Motorsport into today´s M-GmbH which is not only responsible for everything quick but also for everything Individual.
Back in the day LHD customers had the choice to purchase one out of three complete leather packages which were sold as Stages 1 to 3.
Stage 1 had leather covered dashboard, center console & door panels - 16.500 DEM (ca: 5.7k GBP in 1991)
This means that in addition to what is shown above for the UK Sport 840 you´d be looking at such a stitching pattern on the dashboard:
}Stage 2 leather included on top of Stage 1 all seat covers (upper, lower and back), steering column covers & the center console plastic parts (3x). - 20.600 DEM (ca. 7k GBP). The latter two went out of fashion post 9/1992 when several variations of real wood veneer became available.
Stage 3 added the parcel shelf, headliner, A- & C-pillar covers and accessories there (sun visors, coat hangers, roof handle) - 25.750 DEM - 8.7k GBP
In the very early times one could get even more... no pricing available but Individual made everything possible the customer was asking for.
Post 9/92 Stage 2 was uprated with the parcel shelf and prices went down a fair bit. The last price for a Complete Leather Stage 1 interior was 9.600 DEM in 1999 (3.400 GBP)
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Whenever the term complete leather was used in the build data sheet of a RHD car it was in conjunction with a however: without leather covered dashboard.
I had this theory that BMW never bothered to make the necessary sewing patterns.
This theory withstood the times so far, but was only true according to the data at hand extracted from the BMW system. Especially in the early years of the E31 individual data can be missing when it comes to the options S940 and (the much rarer) S944. Seemingly the data exchange between the Dingolfing production and the M-GmbH in Munich was not entirely reliable.
Here is an overview of the RHD cars which had that suspicious option S944:
CB57383 is a Sultan of Brunei car and by now probably rotting away in the jungles of Borneo, CB57900 and CC88015 remain to be discovered.
Having sifted through all data sheets of RHD cars this is the extended leather summary:
CB57062, produced on Oct 31st, 1990 is very likely the car we´re looking at here. The car with the registration H56NMO was 1st registered in the UK on Jan 24th, 1991 and this, along with the visible options makes for a match with the build data for CB57062
Apart from what was pointed out in the very beginning what else can be discovered?
In the first picture one can see the "salvaged from another car" theory fall to bits
The arrow here shows that the seat belt guide is of the material only in use until 9/92 and never used in a CSi or 840. The "facelift" models all had chromed seat belt guides.
It is not entirely unthinkable that someone went to the lengths to completely dismantle two pairs of seats and rebuild them in this fashion but apart from the fact that there is no reasoning in it and a ton of work on top there still is much more to be seen.
Passing the car another "classic" telltale sign for a leather clad dashboard can be seen:
The arrows point at the beginning of a disaster which eventually will look like so:
Leather, as dead as the cow might be, still has some life left in it and starts to dry and shrink upon constant exposure to the sun. As we all know the dashboard area can become uncomfortably hot in any car and depending on how well the glue clings to the dashboard skeleton, the shrinking leather will bend the structure before the sewing threads tear. Many leather covered dashboards and instrument cluster covers have been destroyed this way and the best thing one can do apart from nurturing the leather with conditioner is keeping the car dark and cold.
Approaching the car from another angle a few more things can be highlighted:
Arrow 4 points at that old-style seat belt guide. Arrow 2 shows that the rear seats are non-foldable which is a definite sign for a pre 9/92 car and hence also excluding the scavenger theory. Quite interesting are the headrest covers and rosetta which also seem to be of the leather covered type (arrows 3). The parcel shelf has a certain shine to it which one´d not see with a velour covered shelf. It is hence my assumption that this is also leather clad (arrow 1)
Another glimpse of leather stitching was caught below:
This shows that the back of the seat is also covered with the same type of leather amply used everywhere else.
This now has to lead to the conclusion that the car pictured has a full fledged Complete Leather Stage 3 interior - I was unable to get good shots of the A- & C- pillar covers and did not see the headliner or the lower seat covers but I am certain that those will be leather covered too.
The headliner was available in two variations. For your more than 2.000 quid you had the choice of Nappa or Nubuck leather where the latter one is of the soft type where one can in fact write upon with a bare finger.
We´re not finished yet - a very tiny detail, basically invisible to the unsuspicious eye is marked below:
Arrow 1 shows the stitching along the center console part. Arrows 2 and 3 indicate that the materials of the button panel and the surrounding bezel seem somehow different.. Also, just underneath the aircondition unit there is no sharp edge but an appearance of something rather out of shape (arrows 4). To me this is enough indication to believe that this part (and likely the other two center console inserts too) is also covered with (black) leather.
Below pictures of how those three parts would look upon closer inspection:
To summarize this report - some of you, those attending the Gaydon 2011 meet, have seen one of the rarest birds of the RHD 8er production. It can be likened to having seen this:
To date this is the only known RHD specimen which was equipped with a Complete Leather Stage 3 interior and the likelihood to find more is extremely slim (CC88015, CB57383). It is the first RHD car ever to appear which has a leather covered dashboard, unfortunately with the same signs of old age that has been prevalent in similarly equípped LHD cars too.
To date this is the 2nd oldest car with such an interior known (to me). BMW Individual offerings officially started in mid 1991 - CB57062 predates this by more than half a year. The oldest one, for sale in Germany last year is even another half year older and it is unclear why this is so 
One tiny thing is left unexplained.
I haven´t got the slightest clue but would opt for a retrofit.
To whoever owns H56NMO - congratulations - what you have is nothing short of that one for the philatelists, take good care of it:
That is then my 2p regarding that blue Mauritius
Cheers
Reinhard
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