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MG MGA - Help choosing the right nuance BRG

In the process of restoration my MGA 1600 –1960, I now have to choose the finale colour. From the very first and before I was aware, that British Racing Green (BRG) wasn’t a standard colour for 1600 Mk., I have wanted that colour for my car.
As you know, BRG is not only one colour but also a colour in a broad range of different nuances.
I was happy to discover that the last Twin Cam roadster was finished in a non-standard colour, Woodland Green (The original MGA p.10 by Clausager). According to the archive “The Woodlandgreen is in fact an MG TD colour. The correct codes are: ICI 0191 ….”.
But also some of the very first MGAs was painted BRG. (“ Call it MGA p. 49 showing John Thornly driving an EX182, registered LBL304, at the head of a parade in Silverstone in 1955”).
The three MGAs, which participated in Le Mans 1955, was also painted BRG.

I would like to know the correct paint code for the three Le Mans MGAs and for the EX182. If you know some colour pictures accessible from the web showing the cars, it would also be very useful. Your opinion about BRG, non-standard but periodic correct colours will also be appreciated.

Regards

JF Hedetoft

JF Hedetoft

Here are a few from the MGB side. I too plan to use one of the BRG shades. I plan to have a minimal quantity of each mixed and shoot some test panels.
Regards,
Doug Sjostrom
http://www.mgcars.org.uk/MGB/mgbpaint.html
D Sjostrom

Here's another.
Doug
http://www.mgcars.org.uk/midgetspriteclub/sprite/spritepaint3.htm
D Sjostrom



The best version of BRG I have ever seen is in the gallery listing at the NAMGAR website.

Truly spectacular on an A.

This coming from a guards red owner.
Tom M

With the caveat that color balance on monitors and digital capture is often atrocious, the gallery MGA color is a dead ringer match for another MGA image that I captured a year or so back from eBay. I have compared the two side by side. The latter was specifically described as painted in 1990's Corvette Polo Green. A little smokey compared to Woodland Green as shown on the TC in Clausager, but it suits the car well, at least in my opinion. This is what I'm gearing up to paint mine, but Doug is right, it's best to paint a test patch before committing - particularly if you are going with high end paint and extensive body prep.

Steve
Steve Brandt

Frank Graham, a frequent contributor to this BBS has restored the #43 works Sebring car. It is green and, judging from the overall quality of the restoration, probably a very accurate duplication of the factory color.
Frank has a website: http://safetyfast.homestead.com/home.html
Bill Boorse

The only "correct" nuance of BRG is the one that suits you best. Mine is the Jaguar "Dark Olive" I just painted it and think it looks Spectacular!
John Nelson

JF,
As others have pointed out, old coloured photos from 1955 may not give an acurate representaion of the shade of green used on the EX182 cars. I have seen photos that make the cars appear to be a very dark BRG and others that seem much closer to the shade used on the Sebring team cars in 1960,'61 and '62. The colour used on my '61 team car, #43, has a fair amount of yellow in the mix. The paint we used was matched to varous bits of the car that retained original paint. This past fall at Watkins Glen we had the #40 Sebring Twin Cam from 1960, which has never been restored or repainted, parked next to my car in the paddock and the paints matched perfectly. The color itself may have been a standard BMC colour, code GN29, that was used on Sprites and other models but never offered on the MGA. Even recent photos of my car can appear lighter or darker depending on the ambient light and the background. Go to my Sebring MGA web site at http://safetyfast.homestead.com/home.html and you will see some period photos as well as current ones.

As an aside, the '59 Sebring team cars, none of which survive, appear to have been a light green colour, probably the same shade used on the duotone finish of the ex Ted Lund LeMans Twin Cam SRX210. Since the alloy body shell of that car is thought to be from one of the EX182 cars the dark green colour used may be a match to the '55 colour, but that is just a speculation on my part. Likewise the one surviving EX182 car was apparently rebodied with a steel production shell and repainted sometime in the late '50s, perhaps after being heavily crashed by the FitzWilliams racing team. It is now a fairly dark geen but if that colour is the same as used in '55 is unknown.

Frank
Frank Graham

This thread was discussed between 23/11/2004 and 26/11/2004

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