500e / e500 info needed

I'm seriously engaged in a search for one of these beasts, and hope some of the experts here can orient me in the correct direction. I have several questions.

First, is it just me, or was virtually every 500e / e500 painted Pearl Black (which really looks like a grey metallic color to me)? I've looked at four so far, and they are all this color. I don't mean to offend anyone, but it's a pretty dull color in my opinion. What other colors were available? I'm thinking a real "black" would be good, or perhaps silver. Are there any of these out there?

Second, all else being equal, I assume the conventional wisdom of buying the newest you can afford applies here too? I know the '92's had a tad more peak HP, but the '94's seem to have a cleaner appearing front end and overall appearance. What year to year model upgrades were made? Is there a website that already answers all of these types of questions?

And finally, when I do locate one and arrange for a pre-purchase inspection, what things in particular should I instruct the mechanic to concentrate on? What are the big ticket items that seem to predictably fail based on everyone's collective experience?