Hi all,
My car is stripped and on axle stands so can’t take it to a specialist to have the original BRG matched. Nor is there any removable component with a decent patch of this colour on it.
But after finding heaps of info about ‘60’s BMC colours on the forum I thought matching my 1964 Cooper British Racing Green would be a cinch. Should have known better!

The correct colour code for a 1964 on Cooper/Cooper S in BRG seems to be 00862 & the components that make that up are available on the forum. The only other possibility I can find for 1964 is 0036 but can’t find the mix for this one.
So I went to my local specialist car paint outlet and asked for a spray can oF BRG, 00862 which they duly found on their computer and provided. They had nothing for 0036. The computer mix for 00862 was quite different to the one I’d I had found. So as I was going to autobahn next, I got them to check on their computer. They also had an entry for 00862 but nothing for 0036. Their mix was different than my information and also different to the specialist advice.

So I ended up with two spray cans of 00862, both with different mixes to each other and to the mix I had found on a BMC paint card on the forum. Test sprayed both on to cardboard sheets and compared with the original colour on the car’s rear Parcel shelf which had never been exposed to sun or other elements.

Well unfortunately, neither are a match. Autobarns is the closest but the original colour is slightly darker (more black in it) and has a shade more blue tinge. I’ve tried to photograph the difference as per the photo attached.

So, would love it if some-one could throw any light on this for me. Maybe there is a “correct” formula for 00862 or maybe my car is BRG 0036 and someone has a formula for that? The change over from 0036 to 00862 seems to have been in late 1964 and my car was built sometime in the second half of that year, so right around the change over time.

Any suggestions will be welcome.

Cheers, Alby

Unfortunately you may need to get it colour matched

Many years ago I was told by an old and bold paint specialist that the existing (historic) formulas for specific colours were no longer valid. Basically the tints that were used back then were no longer available. So something mixed using a specific formula would not be the same as the original colour. Somewhere I have the battered booklet of the original BMC colours he gave me because it was no longer of any practical use.

Back then, "panel beaters" had to be experts at matching colours. In order to do a repair they matched the new colour to the undamaged sections of original. Formulas (even the correct ones) mostly wouldn't work as the original paint had been faded or changed by the environment. When I asked for paint to match my (somewhat patinated:) Traveller the (somewhat sarcastic) response was "which bit did I want to match?".

If you took him something in the original colour he would mix a new formula that would give a shade that matched the original. I have the remains of two tins of (Oz) BMC engine paint that are (to my eyes) identical but have different formulas on the backs of the labels.

These days, expertise has been replaced (or augmented) by computers that can analyse the colour of a sample and reproduce the required paint... (Although I have no experience with how accurate such processes are).

How about something like the inside of the boot lid? That may be the original colour and would (possibly) have been protected from degradation by the cardboard liner...

Cheers, Ian

Thanks guys,

Good advice and loved your full description of how this has all developed Ian. That helps me make sense of it now. I was getting frustrated but hadn’t twigged how different things from the 60’s were compared with the last few cars I’ve done which were all 80’s.

So will have to bite the bullet and find something to take. Boot isn’t original and bonnet has been repainted. Might go back to the garage after dinner & see if either of the doors have some decen5 paint left on the inside.

Will let you know what happens!

Cheers, Alby

Does this help?

viewtopic.php?f=25&t=98953

Edit: Just noticed BRG is not on the list.

_________________
ex-NSW Police 1970 MK II Cooper S
VMCI #43

Hey Winabbey,
When I first looked at the list I thought beauty! But like you when I looked closely there was no BRG. Look8ng at the color names & 4 digit codes, I think they may date from a fair bit later in the production history. Oh well, was certainly worth a try.

Alby,

I understand your frustration mate. I've spent the last 5 weeks trying to get the colours right for my car.

To see what the colour will look like on the car, I prepared a number of metal cards about 250mm x 150mm that my spray shop sprayed out with each colour sample so I could see what they'd end up like. He clear coated them as well to make sure the sample would be a close as possible to reality. My car is at his shop but you could take them home and compare them there.

Couple of tips perhaps - never compare colours under flouro lights, colours are different in sun and shade and even the way the light hits the different panels, colours look different on flat and curved surfaces.

Another thing worth noting is that paint is tinted by weight, not volume, so in a small test sample of say 100ml, you might have say 2 grams of a tint. Couple of drops. Not hard to get a very different colour when you mix up say 4 litres to do the car.

Also, if you're getting a specific sample made up, check that if it is available in 2K if that's what your using. I found some formulas were only available in base coat. As mentioned previously, all mixing now seems to be computer based and the mixer relies on a computer formula.

Rocky

Try sending a PM to womble99 in case he can source the code from his work. He kindly supplied the PPG list of codes.

_________________
ex-NSW Police 1970 MK II Cooper S
VMCI #43

Some good thoughts Rocky, thank you.

I’ve just come back from digging my doors out of where I’d stored them. I had forgotten that the door bins had not been over-painted for some reason. Both are somewhat scratched and one has had something stain the paint. But the other one has a fairly large flat patch of original paint that when I cleaned it up, looked pretty reasonable.

I’ll walk into the paint shop tomorrow with a door under my arm and see what they say. Hopefully there’s enough there for their sensors to pick up what’s required. If that’s no good I’ll try following-up wombie99 as winabby99 suggested.

Will report back tomorrow night. In the meantime, thank you all for your thoughts & suggestions. Hope I’ll be able to return the help at some stage.

Cheers all, Alby

I'd say get it colour matched, only way to make sure it's right. If you can't remove a piece to take to them, they may be able to bring the spectrometer to you and match the parcel tray. Or try to chip a large enough piece of paint off in one piece to bring them.

_________________
1972 Mk3 Mini 1000, 1150cc supercharged.
https://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=95872

I've emailed womble99 about this request.

_________________
ex-NSW Police 1970 MK II Cooper S
VMCI #43

The Dulux book from 1982 lists BRG 0036 as a 1960/61 colour and BRG 00862 as a 64/65 colour. This makes sense, the code numbers were issued in numerical order.

00036 was also called Hawthorn Green when Ford used it. It was also listed in the 'Fleet' index.

I will see if I can find anything in the Berger stuff.

Interesting stuff from the Dulux book listing. I found on this site a BMC color code card for 1964 which shows 0036 as a ‘64 color - pic attached. All shows how mixed & varied the early records are!

On the good news front, I took the advice of members here & took my door with some original BRG still on the bin part to my local paint shop. They were sure they could get a good reading off it, so I went ahead. Got the call that it was ready late Thursday and yesterday sprayed a test panel in exactly the same way as I would paint the body.

Very happy with the result. Matches the original extremely well & will be quite happy to use it for the body.

Now all that’s left is identifying the correct Nurburg White! I don’t have any of this left on the roof, so will try the standard code & see what happens.

Thanks for the comments & suggestions everyone.

If you are looking to match your existing paint the best option is find a good paintshop who can mix it for you and match it by eye. The paint on your car will be likely faded from original in the very least.

If you are looking to respray then mixing from the original formula is a good option as it is reproducible if you need it again in the near future. All the PPG codes I posted have been done in the lab from the original formulas.

I will have a look for the BRG codes when I am in the shop next.

Dont forget, when they went down the production, if say a car was yellow before, it may have a tinge of yellow for the first few cars.... Remember it was the 60s

_________________