Paint colours

[ren]

evening, all

my 410 is going back to meet its maker (literally - the same guys who put it together in 1968 are still there!) for some metalwork and a bare metal respray. i'm dropping it off with brian at services mid-october for a few things before it makes a trip west. what a lucky boy i am.

they'll have it for 5-6 months (which sorts out my winter garaging a treat). i probably won't need to settle on a colour before christmas, but i'm so excited and i'd like to make some headway now (and i can't think of much else anyway).

i was wondering if any of you forumers can point me to pictures of cars in mid and darkish silver-grey colours. the leather is red. the car is currently midnight blue. it's been my dream to own a bristol since before i could drive, and stage 2 of that dream is the silver-red combination.

metaline silver is too light. metaline dark grey and metaline cambridge grey are too dark... i think metaline silver grey is my only hope, from the original colour chart, but it's the only silver for which bristol didn't have a colour panel to give me. i can't gauge from the tiny 1967 colour chart what it'd look like en masse and i'm hoping one of you has a car in this silver grey colour.

or perhaps you have better ideas? basically, nothing to light it looks 'thin' and nothing so dark that the chrome is too contrasted. i think the darker silver greys are great on 411 series 3 and beyond, but they look a bit too new on 410s and the couple of dark grey 410s i've seen look a bit dull and just not racy enough!

thanks, guys ... if you got this far in my excitable rant

ren

[John Keighley]

Ren,
Our 410 was one of those lighter grey tones and we opted for a colour that is almost a gunmetal grey with some blue. I must admit that I'm probably a little traditional but the colour is perfect for the style of the 410. This is actually a Jaguar colour called Solent Blue.
At night or on dull days, the impression is a dark grey but in bright sunlight the blue comes out perfectly so it's almost that you have two colours in the one. The comment that I get is how well we have managed to match the colour with the car.

[ren]

thanks, John, for the words and pictures. yours is a very similar colour to mine at the moment - it's not really bristol midnight blue, it's a toyota colour (a sticker up inside the wing in the boot told me) and it's quite a cool RAF-like blue/grey. the guys in the showroom really liked it and i must say that i have warmed to it. it's interesting that with a bit of blue, the greyness is a lot less flat and dull. and the RAF colour is a link to the aviation side, i suppose..

i'll look at the jaguar colours. i saw a lovely aston last week, which was a mid silver, very warm - more a yellow silver than a blue silver, if you know what i mean - with red leather interior. worked really well.

the 410 is a traditional car. works best with a traditional colour, i'm sure. you've made a good choice i think. starting to persuade me to revisit the RAF blues again...

[ren]

here's the love of my life (yes, the chrome's going to be done, too!) and a 411 in a colour i like a lotBristol_062.jpg

Bristol_048.jpg

[ren]

historical resource - useful for the names if not the colours. 'metaline' is a very fine metallic.

[ren]

also worth noting are the greens, which all disappeared once Mr Crook was in control - 'Cambridge Grey' became another slate grey colour, for example.

[411User]

Ren,
Like you I am also looking to repaint my Bristol (a 411), and in a similar
colour to what you are looking at. I had a chat with the gents from the Factory
at the Concours yesterday, and they would be very happy to send out examples of
different greys.

The picture of the 411 you attached was, I am certain, painted by Bristol Cars,
so they should know the exact match for it.


There is also a 412 with a similar grey (also painted by BCL) which you can see
at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BOCFor...81585/pic/list

I hope it all goes well for you, and look forward to seeing the outcome.

regards


Quentin

[ren]

Hi Quentin

Shame I couldn't make the weekend events - I would have loved to have gone and seen the other cars in the metal and met some other Bristol owners. There's nothing quite as good as seeing cars for real - the 411 in the photo I attached looks great, but you can never tell how much the sun plays on the colour and how the camera itself might have altered things. I've developed what my son thinks is an almost creepy obsession with carparks - unfortunately I'm yet to find a car in a colour I like with the driver in it so I can ask what the colour is called! A lot of it's in the finish, too - the quality and layers of paint in the first place and I know from hours of polishing and waxing other cars what a lot of difference and depth the right products with the right application can give.

I have the light grey and dark greys on sample panels from Bristol - they didn't have examples of anything inbetween when I last visited. I hope to pick some up when I drop my car off.

I'll definitely post some photos of the outcome - I hope to get to the factory at strategic moments to take photos of progress for my photobook.

Good luck with your colour choice too! Let us know what you decide on.

Ren

PS can't open the yahoo groups link you included as I'm not a yahoo member.

[dkleeman]

Originally Posted by ren

historical resource - useful for the names if not the colours. 'metaline' is a very fine metallic.

Ren

Do you have this colour sheet? I am trying to find a true reference to Cambridge Grey, which my 401 was originally painted.

Daniel Kleeman
Cambridge

[ren]

They have the colour sheet in the showroom, if you ever get down that way. They surely have the colour formula at the factory - maybe calling them would be a better idea - make sure you get the green version and not the grey version!

[Richardmulcaster]

Hello Ren,

Years have passed and I am on the trail you once trod. I see your profile photo - is that the colour you settled on? please can you tell us what the colour is?

I have a 411 s2 (Oct 1970) and have the exact dilemma you wrote about 11 years ago. Ours too is silver, presumably the lightest one they did, and like you we hanker for something a bit sexier, but not as dark as gunmetal as i have seen on the series 3 onwards.

Our car is in for renovation and today we have just decided to take the plunge and include a full paint job as well...

Hoping you are still active, Best wishes

[Xseries]

The colour in the image Bristol 048 (18 Sept 10) is a Range Rover colour Bonatti Grey. That is the 411 photographed from above in a courtyard.
Brian