Sorrento green Limited Edition

[David Simson 0]

I bought a Sorrento green GTI about 12 months ago.

I am in the process of restoring the ca back to fully original condition. She is in pretty good nick and is going in for a bare metal respray very soon. It is a 1.9 and I believe a Limited Edition car. I say believe for very good reasons, namely:

It is a 1989 car, G plate and has the paint code MORM which I understand is the code only applied to the Limited Edition cars.

When Sorrento green was offered as an option it was much later in its production life and didn't carry the MORM paint code.

All good so far........however.......my car has green carpets and black seats. The Limited Edition cars had grey carpets and seats.

Admittedly, it is pretty easy to change carpets and seats but can anyone out there offer an alternative explanation?

 

Thanks. 

 

 

[Leslie green 81]

Have you a sliding sunroof and power steering as the limited run cars had these ?

[Telf 222 2 Cars]

My alternate theory is its a peugeot and peugeot were never beyond throwing whatever bits they had available at a car. Hence all the rivet counters who like to tell everyone they have the wrong  seats etcetera are just so sad its unbelievable!

[SRDT 146]

As long as the interior trim and paint color were used in production at the time it was not a big problem for the right dealer to order a special car. PSA directors and members of the Peugeot family could go even further with special leather trim and exterior paint.

You can also find special cars made for car shows or simply as an internal marketing test. Those cars where then sold at a discount to PSA workers.

[David Simson 0]

In answer to Leslie's question. Yes, t has a glass sliding sunroof and PAS. (I should have included these in my original question as I do know they were fitted to Limited Edition cars). And another thing I should have added is the black seats are full leather, not part leather as the standard 1.9 seats are.

 

Thanks also to Telf and SRDT. I am simply trying to find the reason(s) or the trim variation rom what I knew was OE so your comments about it could have been Peugeot themselves who built it with different bits or could be ordered by dealers as a special car are extremely helpful.

 

I did intend to convert the interior trim to grey but based on your comments I'd be better off sticking with what's fitted as it sounds like Peugeot originally fitted the black seats and green carpets.

 

Thanks to everyone 

[Tom Fenton 1,525]

It sounds like a Special Edition car that has lost its grey leather and carpet at some point in its life. Sorrento and G reg means it is Special Edition as Sorrento was not a mainstream colour at that time.

The paint code MORM is Sorrento green and appears on Special Edition and mainstream cars.

Is the dash grey and not black? This is the big tell.

[Leslie green 81]

The only cars that had black leather as an option were the gentry which when it was in sorrento green as far as I know but these were not available in 89 , things get changed the leather tended to fail at the stitching with age plus when these cars were not worth much stuff was robbed to fix other cars ,seats were often swapped for aftermarket ones and leather was always in demand from 1.6 owners as the cloth didn't age well . It would be very hard to find grey leather now and gti grey carpets seem very scarse too although the grey carpets were fitted to late cars . The door cards should have grey carpet too on the limited edition cars. 

  There was a full mint set of limited edition grey leather for sale not far form me a few years back but I didn't realise what it was back then !

      

Edited August 19, 2023 by Leslie green

[David Simson 0]

OK. The dash and the door cards are definitely grey and the thin line at the top of the door card and the carpet on the bottom of the door are both dark green. Yes, I can understand seats might get changed due to wear and tear but in 1989 I thought the only full leather seats were for the Limited Edition cars - and these were in grey. To my knowledge full leather black seats weren't available at the time. I'm wondering whether one of the earlier comments regarding a marketing exercise might have some legs? Green carpets or black leather seats weren't fitted until Sorrento green was available as an optional colour later in its production life. Because it's a 1989 car, were the colours in my car part of a marketing exercise? An additional feature which could also add weight to the marketing idea is my car is fitted with clear indicator lenses at the front. In 1989 these were orange. Yes, they could have been fitted anytime after clear lenses became available but perhaps they weren't and these lenses are original equipment? Haaaa......I'm more confused than ever now but big thanks to everyone offering answers to my questions.      

[Leslie green 81]

Green carpets and door cards  were available from about 1990 my 1991 laser has these , grey cars also had them.  Maybe its an import  does it say first registered in uk on the logbook and what year ? Clear front indicators were fitted by just about everybody back in the day but not the rears as they were not plug and play as wiring was needed afaik.

Another possible theory is it was stolen/recovered  and the interior and other bits robbed , it wouldn't have been reported or the subject of a claim back in the day if no other damage as insurance was sky high for these cars  . The grey leather would have been impossible to find even back them so the next best thing was found .

Edited August 19, 2023 by Leslie green

[j_turnell 134 3 Cars]

I think you’re possibly reading to much into it. Just sounds like the interior has been swapped at some point. 
 

If it’s an 89’ it’s def a special edition car. 

[David Simson 0]

OK, the logbook says it is a UK car and was first registered May 1990.  The orange indicator lenses are genuine (I believe)  as clear didn't come until 1991 or 1992.

 

Grey leather is easy to get nowadays and I've already had a quote for retrimming the seats and bench. A grey carpet set I can also get. The question is should I stick with what I've got or go back to what we think is original spec - ie grey? I much prefer the previously suggested marketing idea rather than the stolen / recovered idea...haaaaa. 

[David Simson 0]

So May 1990 registration means it's a 1989 model year car as 1990 MY wouldn't have come until August 1990. 

 

My original thoughts were the same as J Turnell. The interior has been swapped. The only other reasonable explanation is the marketing or parts bin exercise as Telf and SRDT explained.

 

I can check with DVLA about insurance write off and recovery but based on the information I have in front of me with log book and service history this seems less likely. 

 

Thank you all for your help.

[Leslie green 81]

Get some pics up we love pics 

[David Simson 0]

Leslie,

 

Thanks for your suggestion and I wish I could post photos but she's in the body shop now awaiting her bare metal respray.

 

At least there's no doubt about the paint colour...!!!

 

 

[Leslie green 81]

David I hope there will be plenty of pics taken when it gets its turn in the body shop before and after as these are all part of the history of the car and yes it certainly has to be sorrento no doubt about that !

[Gohn 62]

doesn't the VIN indicate trim and paint ?

I've never bothered decoding one properly but if you have a friendly dealership they might do a printout telling most of the OE specs

there are also links to go to where owners break down the VIN 

[SRDT 146]

I don't think you can go that far just by looking at the VIN. As far as I remember the dealer could tell you if the paint was metallic, clear coated or solid by looking it up on Servicebox.

[ScoobyJawa 22]

Mine is an MY90 car built in Nov 1990, its Sorrento, green carpet, part leather seats with the green quartet fabric, MORM colour code and has PAS and clear indicators.  The option to have Sorrento or Miami came almost straight after the Specials.

[SRDT 146]

Sorento green was lifted from the 605 color palette and Miami blue existed since the start of MY90 on the 309 GTI16 and a bit before on prototypes.

Switzerland got the 205 GTI "Magic" on march 90 and the 205 GTI "Miami" on september 90.

 

http://www.auto-pub.net/ASL/Peugeot/page_Peugeot_205_GTI_Magic_CH.htm

http://www.auto-pub.net/ASL/Peugeot/page_Peugeot_205_GTI_Miami_91_CH.htm

 

The Magic is pretty much a Sorento green Special Edition with the 1.9 122hp engine, Exip wheels and a Pioneer DEH-55 CD player.

[Henry Yorke 269 3 Cars]

I would agree on the interior swap at some point.  On the black leather seats, what colour is the stitching on them?