Paint colors and codes

[jcocking]

I was asked this off list. What do everyone think?
(quote on)
I must choose a color to paint my 69 Elan. I'm choosing between BRG and
Bahama yellow. But, there are so many
choices and my body man wants only to know the paint codes, not the name.
Do you have, or can you ask the members of the Elan list what paint codes
they have used for BRG or Bahama yellow.
(quote off)
What are the paint colors, codes and manufactures of the popular choices. I
will compile and place on the web site.

thanks

jeff

[rodbean]

Jeff Cocking wrote:


My suggestion is to visit an automotive paint store, one with "the books" full
of paint chips.

Pick out a color, copy down the number and call your paint man. You'll get
modern paint in a color you really like.

Rod

[BrianMartley]

Hi all,

Reference from Paul Robinshaw/Chris Ross book on the Elan (a must for "real
elan" owners - plug over )

All Pinchin Johnson references

Bahama Yellow 6170Y3140
British Racing Green 6170Y2790
Burnt Sand 6170X4570
Carnival Red 6170X5350
Circus White 6170X0540
Colorado Orange 6170Z5980
French Blue 6170Z1280
Lagoon Blue Metallic 6170A1130
Lotus Yellow 6170X3940
Pistachio (Lime Green) 6170W2230
Regency Red 6170Y5960
Royal Blue 6170Z1920
Wedgewood Blue 6170Z1290

Personally, I'd go with Rod though, pick something that looks close but is a
modern colour - far easier to touch up those stone chips 12 months down the
line.... touch-up paint from any parts dealer

Brian

[Brian Walton]

Ref: BRG paint colour. I believe the Lotus BRG for the early Elan
stopped in 67. However the good guys at ICI in New Zealand were
able to match the original BRG found under the six coats of paint I
had on my Elan to the following ICI paint numbers: P488 Turbo+
LO1 2854 British Racing Green Lotus. Hope this will help.

Brian Walton

[rodbean]

Brian Walton wrote:


I had a nice S2 in original BRG and I loved the color as it reminded me of
various XK120s, C-Types, Aston-Martins, Blower Bentleys, et al which
captivated me in my youth (well, Blower Bentleys were vintage cars in the
fifties but it didn't make any difference). I painted the wheels black and
pretended I was Stirling Moss (later, I pretended I was Tazio Nuvolari but
that's another story).

Anyway, I don't believe I've ever seen an original Elan past S2 which was
that color. Subsequent greens could not be confused at a distance, as
black and for me, were not real BRG. Of course the definition of pure BRG
has varied all over the place but I prefer to consider this the real thing.

Just mix 70% green and 30% black and you've got it. Just kidding. One of
these days, I'll have another car that color and I'll find a chip or
another car in BRG and get a paint place to match it any way they like as
long as it reminds me of early post war LeMans.

Rod

[abstamaria]

Rod,

I know there was a long discussion on BRG sometime ago on the general Lotus
List. There was also a very good article on BRG on one of the on-line
classic car magazines.

As I recall, the article said that the Bentley BRGs were more olive than
most current BRGs. This certainly seems to be case, based on the Blower
Bentleys I 've seen. Was your 26 that color?

As it is, painting of my 45 was completed earlier this year. We first tried
to match the green on the Lotus badge (careful here, the badges come in
several shades!), but this seemed too light so we toned this down a couple
of shades. It still has an olive tinge and is not as black as my original
BRG.

Regards,

Andres
Manila
45/8439

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] <>
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Date: Saturday, August 14, 1999 4:53 PM
Subject: Re: [lotuselan] Paint colors and codes

[Everett Stephens <ever]

Brian Walton wrote-

Since mine was repainted Jaguar Racing Green 3 years ago, I should
have no more bad luck, eh?

Everett
45/9300

[Brian Walton]

I also read an article many years ago about the magic BRG.
According to the writer, there are approximately 3200 Greens to
choose from and out of those 3200, there are about 350 BRG's. The
reason why the Jaguar green was so black was to move it away from
the bad luck associated with green as a racing colour in the 50's. I
think you will find that most Lotus racing cars, either single seater or
other, were blessed with a green of the hour (made up by the poor
sod who had the job at the back of the garage on Friday night).

Brian

[rodbean]

"A. Sta. Maria" wrote:


Ha ha! So even supposed unshakable standards aren't reliable sometimes. Here
I was sure that those Bentleys were the real thing but they were actually
painted the wrong color. Someone should have told those people that BRG
is dark, almost black! Maybe someone from the Royal family should have opened
the archives to reveal the true color before the cars were sent out to
represent England at LeMans.

Goes to show us that it can quite easily get down to perceptions, especially
since history is full of situations where someone did something (such as color
picking) for the convenience of the moment never expecting the offhand decision
to have great impact.

There was a short discussion, on the Fox coverage of yesterday's Hungarian GP,
of the German national racing color, that is, whether white or silver could lay
clear claim. I think they ultimately decided that silver just looked better.

Rod