It will not be a genuine black from Ford. Check the coloured vin plate..it will have "Weiss" on there somewhere. There is another black S1 around tho. I saw it at traxx last weekend, but he disappeared before I had chance to go have a look at it.

The only colour the S1 was available in was Diamond white:

UNLESS you were Princess Diana who got a black one (with 5 bar grill) direct from Ford.
There was ONE grey car which is currently being rebuilt after having resto work carried out.
There was also one RED S1 which was painted by Ford and used as a promo car back in the Datapost Touring Car days.

Prob forgotten a bit of info on these ones, sure someone will add more info.

So to answer your question for your mate, it is not originally Black from Ford.
Stick some pics of it up tho. Would be good to see how another non-white S1 looks compared to the originals.