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MGuy
Luxembourg
37 Posts |
 Posted - 21/03/2012 : 19:06:04
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| Our NB is monotone dark green, and we like to "pimp" it by repainting the side of the bonnet, half the door and the small body-parts between. What are the right colours to use in 2 tone green? Especially the RAL-number of the light green matching the brg, which is already on the car, would be interesting to know. Thank you for your help! |
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Bob Stringfield
United Kingdom
854 Posts |
Posted - 21/03/2012 : 19:21:44
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What was the colour(s) when new?
Bob. |
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Bruce Sutherland
United Kingdom
1564 Posts |
Posted - 21/03/2012 : 19:35:52
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Guy, it may help to look at the Download section of this website, then 'Technical', 'Miscellaneous', 'Paint Colours'. It's not complete but covers the greens.
Bruce. |
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PeterL
United Kingdom
1723 Posts |
Posted - 21/03/2012 : 22:50:01
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Hmmm
Just looked at the download on paint colours and read that "All Midgets had ... Dark also for fuel tank..." My very original two tone green J2 still has the original paint on the fuel tank and it is the light green, like the body tub...
Also, my gearbox and bell housing are black, not engine colour.
Cheers
P |
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David Allison
United Kingdom
665 Posts |
Posted - 22/03/2012 : 09:08:33
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Guy
The colour scheme for an NB is the light colour on the top and wings and the darker colour on the bonnet sides, and lower section of the doors.
This was an attempt to offset the rather tall appearance of the car - to be honest though I think it was just to make it look different to the NA.
Peter - I am quite sure that J2 cars were originally painted in a solid colour - the customer could spcify a non standard colour, making it possible that your car was painted two tone.
That said most of the J2's I know of are solid colour - it is the P types that were more often duo toned.
However I have stated many times that MG were happy to provide what the customer wanted (at an added value add on cost).
Regards David |
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PeterL
United Kingdom
1723 Posts |
Posted - 22/03/2012 : 10:06:32
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Thanks David.
There is nothing in the chassis file about customers choosing a colour scheme and she rested with CS Grant in Glasgow from July 33 till she was sold in Feb 34, so no actual customer in sight when she was built. The body is light green, same as Foz' Rat with dark green wings, valences and headlamps including the rims.
The car is J3435 built in July 33 so quite a late J. Had they by then introduced the two tone scheme ready for the Ps? She has another P Type connection too, P Type firewall supports, complete with the little hole for the oil lube system, though the pipes don't go through it.
Her eyes are too close together too, the front stays had been cast to put the headlamps closer in to avoid the cycle wing mud problem yet this is an early swept wing car.
But something might have happened to her, the factory rejects a request for work under guarantee in dismissive terms as if they knew the car had been thrashed. CS Grant himself was a trialist so maybe she had been well used before her first owner took her on and there are indications of an accident. Maybe she won her dark green wings after she left the factory...
Cheers
P
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Simon Johnston
United Kingdom
6131 Posts |
Posted - 22/03/2012 : 19:53:27
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quote:
Originally posted by David Allison
Peter - I am quite sure that J2 cars were originally painted in a solid colour - the customer could spcify a non standard colour, making it possible that your car was painted two tone.
If you are correct, David, why is it that the available MG literature consistently states that for 1933 the standard paint finish for the J was duo tone (red, green or blue) or black? Or am I getting my beer and chocolate mixed up again? 
Peter, if your chassis number is indeed 3435, then it's not an early swept wing car but a very late cycle wing one (3437 being the last) so the close mounted headlights are absolutely correct for it. If it still has its swept wings, perhaps they were retro fitted to try and sell the car as it would presumably have started to look a bit out of date with the cycle wings by 1934. I seem to recall reading somewhere (Mike Hawke's book perhaps) that some cycle wing cars subsequently had swept wings fitted to help try and sell them off the showroom floor.
But of course none of this helps address the original question of the correct colour code for the light green! My own experience of trying to use the colour codes that were available was unsuccessful and we ended up being able to match a few fragments of the original dark green that were found on hidden areas of the wings. |
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PeterL
United Kingdom
1723 Posts |
Posted - 22/03/2012 : 22:42:56
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Simon
My beer and chocolate, should have read J3485. I know my F chassis numbers but have always had difficulty with the J!
I do suspect it was two tone from new and if you want to match my light and dark greens I have plenty of them.
Cheers
P |
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Simon Johnston
United Kingdom
6131 Posts |
Posted - 23/03/2012 : 05:40:52
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Peter,
Since the standard colour options in 1933 were duo tone or black, and your car clearly wasn't a customer order if it sat unsold for six months, then there's every reason to assume its green duo tone could well be original. In which case a match of the light green might solve MGuy's problem.
For myself, my car was one if those where the customer (my Dad) ordered it in a non standard colour scheme, i.e. single colour green, and it was that green that we were able to match. Whether or not it's the same as the dark green of the duo tone I have no idea but thanks for the offer of a match. |
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Mike Allison
United Kingdom
196 Posts |
Posted - 23/03/2012 : 08:40:19
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Simon,
As an Irishman, you may be clear which the lighter tone is! The due-tone green was Dublin Green, and Ulster Green. I GUESS the Ulster is the dark shade, but only because that part of Ireland is coloured by dark trees!
Anyway, many of the cars covered in my review of all the chassis service files, and so far I have not "done" the J-types, show that where cars were required in monotone green, the Dublin shade was called up. This was a very light shade as evidenced by the NB currently in the Gaydon Museum, which, although resprayed, was faithful to its "original colours" when given to the MG Car Co around 1959. Anyone wanting the colour match for green cannot do better than comparing with that car.
Incidentally, the "Allison" mentioned on the brass plate affixed to that car is no relation of mine, but a regular customer of Kimber's pre-war from Yorkshire: my wing of the family is 100% London.
Mike |
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Simon Johnston
United Kingdom
6131 Posts |
Posted - 23/03/2012 : 09:40:34
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Mike,
Yes, 'green' certainly has all sorts of connotations in Ireland, North and South! But I wonder if you're right that Dublin Green was the lighter colour and was used when monotone green was required. As you know, my car is a very dark green but while I know it was specially ordered in monotone, unfortunately I don't know if my Dad specified 'dark' green or even 'British Racing Green' (did that term exist then?). If he just asked for 'green' and got the dark green then was it Dublin or Ulster? For sure none of the paint codes currently suggested for the dark green of the duo tone are anywhere close to the green on my car.
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Mike Allison
United Kingdom
196 Posts |
Posted - 28/03/2012 : 19:31:31
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Hi Simon,
I have to say I was throwing a sprat to catch a whale... I always privately thought that Dublin green was the darker shade, but only because I thought that the first named shade in the catalogues was the dark one. (Oxford and Cambridge blue, for instance!) Wilson McComb (an Ulsterman by birth) agreed with me in this.
Other MG's which were ordered in monotone green, and there seems to have been several, were usually painted "Dublin Green".
British Racing Green: it all started in when it was decided (by the French!) that British cars would be green for the Gordon Bennett races, so that was well before the First World War. However, green was the Internation racing colour for Great Britain, with no shade being specified. It was Bentley who adopted a dark shade, and this was christened "BRG" by the press of the day after Bentley's first win at Le Mans.
ERA's were painted a yellowish shade, because, it was said that Raymond Mays was a very superstitious chap. BRM's were painted a pale shade of metallic green originally. Coopers were nearly black, the green was so dark, and Lotus were painted a paler shade, and Vanwall were different from all. So the racing teams could not agree, and it all disappeared in 1966 when cars started to be used as billboards... only Ferrari staying true to its colour, but they are made in Britain now, I am told.
"BRG" was reinvented by, I think, BMC as a paint colour shade in the late fifties, and was later renamed "Brooklands Green" to deter ideas from the dreaded dangerous racing game!
So the truth is that we should not get too fixed about the term.
You car is looking lovely, whatever the colour might be called! Perhaps we can agree it is Dublin Green?
Best wishes,
Mike
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Simon Johnston
United Kingdom
6131 Posts |
Posted - 28/03/2012 : 20:25:25
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Mike,
Thanks for your kind words about the car and yes, it really is fantastic, isn't it?
As to the colour, I'm content that the green we have is as near as dammit to the original colour. But as to whether that is Dublin Green, well, I don't know. But for sure I'm happy with it and I think it has a nice 'vintage' look to it which some more modern colours lack. It just looks right  |
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powerplus
United Kingdom
599 Posts |
Posted - 28/03/2012 : 22:36:23
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I possess a copy of the 1948 ICI Autocolor specification for Dublin Green which was used about that time on some Rover models. Assuming that this is the same colour as used for MGs in the mid-30s this is a mid-green and would be darker than Ulster Green.
The formulation for the 1948 Ulster Green was:-
FORMULATION NO: 030-8914
INGREDIENT........ 1 litre(gms)
P030-9962 ......... 722.6
P030-9903 ......... 876.5
P030-9914 ......... 980.5
P030-9900 ........ 1039.8
A close current equivalent is Light Brunswick Green.
Powerplus |
Edited by - powerplus on 28/03/2012 22:43:37 |
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rodb
New Zealand
260 Posts |
Posted - 29/03/2012 : 09:24:48
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My BMC Colour books list Duotone Green as
Light Green, Later name is, Willow Green GN33
Dark Green, Later name is, Westminster Green GN32
Apple Green was also called Dublin Green, and the modern name is BRG Light GN25, as used on the early MGB.
GN.. is the BMC colour code.
RodB NZ |
Edited by - rodb on 29/03/2012 09:26:10 |
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