400 Woody progress and colour opinions

[David C]

At last some progress on the 400. We are now getting close to a final decision on colour. Always a personal choice but it's a good plan to make sure it is a saleable colour. I would welcome some input.

When we restored our 401 we couldn't agree on colour and finally decided to go with the original colour or something similar. It turned out to be light green and we were sufficiently pleased with it that when it was time to respray the 403 the same colour was used. I hope I have been able to attach pictures to illustrate.

The decision had been made to go for the same on the 400 but it looks quite good in its cream primer so that is a possible alternative. I think I know which way it's going to go but if everyone comes down against one of them we may have to give it a bit more thought. We are not going to go with the original colour for the 400 as we both agree maroon just wasn't right for it.




http://www.bristolcars.info/forums/a...1&d=1686912801

[Geoff Kingston]

David,
I like the cream and I think it will contrast far better with the woodwork on the car, the light green works well on the 401's and 403's but I think would look wrong on the 400 because of the woodwork, a darker green would be better if you wanted to stick with that colour. A good exercise might be to look at the Morris Minor travellers for sale and see which colour you think works best.
If you get a copy of the July edition of the Automobile have a look at the Rolls Royce 20/20 Estate Car that Jonathan Wood has for sale on page 67 or follow the link below you will see why I think cream would work best.
Geoff.

https://www.jonathan-wood.co.uk/for-...25-estate-car/

[Geoff Dowdle]

David ,
Tks for posting the photos.
As you mention colour of any car is a personal choice but painting a current bright colour or one that is not a period colour on a 70 year old car is certainly not the best choice, especially for future resale.
Early Bristol 400's had only 4 standard colours Black , Maroon , Metallic Green & Metallic Blue but in the later production there were a few painted the 401 colours like Cambridge Grey, Heather Grey, Azure Blue.

Generally the metallic colours suit and highlight the shape of the rounded flowing wings , dark colours tend to make the body look smaller and light colours do the opposite.

I think if you painted it Ivory /OEW it would tend to look like a prototype Transit van, so certainly not my choice .

A darker colour and even think about some type of two tone , possibly a different coloured roof or different shade of the same colour on the roof.

Being a one off Coachbuilt body originality is not that important, but I quite
like dark burgundy/maroon, that it was first painted. I painted my first 400 dark burgundy and after about 25 years changed it to the original Metallic Green.
Attached are two photos to compare colours on 400's

Good Luck with your choice
Geoff

[David C]

The pictures are very useful, thank you. I much prefer the green to the burgundy.

The green my 403 is painted is slightly softer than shown on the screen. It is as close as we could find to the original 1952 colour behind the grille mounting on our 401 so I would say appropriate to period.

I have always felt that light colours look better on the 400 and the aerodynes. As you say, metallic brings out the shape of the curves.

Interesting a few people have mentioned the Morris Traveller - some to say how well cream goes with the wood and others to say we shouldn't paint the 400 that colour or it will look like a Morris Traveller.

[peterg]

Suggest you look at Rolls Royce Cardinal Red. Metalic and slightly lighter than the Bristol colour, but it was used on later Bristol cars. I think the car is too upright to take cream very well.

[405dh]

Certainly Cambridge Grey (light metallic green) looked wonderful on my old 400, however the unique situation you have with the woodwork brings other considerations into play.
Also consider the interior leather colour and how this will fit with the chosen paint. From the photo it looks like grey leather? Is this to be retained or are you going for a retrim?
The suggestion to look at Morris Minors for inspiration is a great suggestion.
For my 4d worth, whilst I don't like black cars, it is correct for a 400 and on my old 1960 Morris Minor looked wonderful with the contrasting red leather.

[David C]

Interior colour is a good consideration. The woody has light tan or beige leather much the same as my 403 which goes well with most colours.

[David C]

On further reflection the Morris Traveller isn't quite so helpful as it has solid body colour door panels. The 400 has complete wooden doors.

I found a Royce that looks pretty smart.

http://www.bristolcars.info/forums/a...1&d=1686999583