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MG MG Y Type - Green engine paint

OK so you ask NTG or Moss for Green MG engine paint and they look at you like you are from Mars. Red - no problem sir, but green?

Any ideas where I can get some from please?

Thanks

Paul
Paul Barrow

Hey Paul,
What MG had Green Engines? Early TC's and maybe Y's had Dark Grey engines and Early TC's exported to America had light Greeny Grey Firewall but I don't think this was used on engines?

On another matter we had our inaugral MG TC Owners Club Y Run to Show David Hague some local Y's. I will send you a report and pics soon. Also found 5 more Y's for the register!!!
Cheers
Richard
Richard Prior

Hi Richard

Early MG Y engines were Green. Let there be Ys page 68 plus my own Y 4099 (a totally unrestored car - which was why it had to be scrapped as beyond economic restoration) had a Green engine. By Green I am referring as you rightly summerize to the sludgy dark Grey Green and it is that which I now seek by way of clarification. Dave Lawrence it has not been able to confirm the use of the Green engines in the Y - well, as I have the original guarantee plate and the numbers match across, I CAN confirm that even upto Y 4099 they were fitted. It is my guess that they threw in whatever was to hand.

On the other matter, great stuff and we look forward to you 'Registering' the cars and getting them onto Ys on Parade - what a lovely collection we have there, and more to come I am sure.

Keep you the good work in WA there, and I will here in WA too.

Meanwhile - 'where can I get the Grey Green paint from please folk?
Paul Barrow

In 1985 I restored TC#0751. It had a grey green engine-firewall and top bows along with side curtain frames.As it had been totally disassembled I am lead to think that that was the original colors.
I suspect that MG did the same as VW did after WW-II. They used all the olive drab military paint but added a gloss agent to it. The early VW's were all that color as I read that they discovered 100's of drums of olive drab in the factory at Wolfsburg . The site of the VW plant.
A British army officer was in charge of starting up the VW industry at the end of the war.They utilized what ever was available at that time.
Seeing that the MG plant was doing wartime work it seems logical that they too, had surplus paint on hand.

Just my 2 cents.
Sandy Sanders
Sandy Sanders

On a posting on the T-ABC list a member recomends a grey green paint from Bill Hersch as being as close to the original as you will find. Hersch advertises in Hemmings or use Google. Terry
Terry O'Brien

What have I missed?
The local paint shop will mix any colour known to man.
Michael Nicholson

Michael you are correct, however they will do so a) at a price and b) if they can then do the job, and c) not in a small aerosol so that is why I havent gone for that solution, but thanks for the suggestion.
Paul Barrow

Bill Hersch's webstite is http://www.hirschauto.com and although the MG Green engine paint is not currently listed on the website, he does have it in quart tins.

Bill is shipping a can to me today. Thanks everyone.

Paul
Paul Barrow

Paul, I appreciate that if someona alraedy supplies it there is a convenience factor, but with shipping cost this has to be dearer than local purchase. In sunny downtown Leeds/Bradford I can get a single aerosol, or a litre of oil paint mixed to almost any BS or RAL colour while I wait.
Michael Nicholson

I cannot speak for most US citizens, but when you are about 40 miles from the nearest town with anything more than a delicatessen and a few restaurants, carriage is a fact of life!! It will only be about £8 for carriage though as we dont pay nearly $8.00 a UK gallon, only $2.20!!
Paul Barrow

Michael - I can fill in for some of the unsaid thing in Paul's post. Paul is living in a very rural area of a very rural state in the US. Living in or around Los Angles or other large city would be a far different matter, but when we moved to Washington state nearly 40 years ago from southern California, we though that perhaps we had landed on Mars. While we live only 15 miles from Seattle, it is an hours ferry trip or and hours drive to get there, so the shopping for anything more exoctic that a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk is by mail order. Washington state is not called the "Far corner" for nothing. While we can get to a "big city" (if Seattle can be called big) fairly easily, Paul lives really far out - almost on the coast and the trip to Seattle or even Tacoma (the only other large city) is 2 hours worth of driving. In that case $5.00 to $10.00 in shipping charges seem quite reasonable. That said, we really enjoy living here in the "Far corner" with the rain and the Indians (they have assimilated us quite nicely) and really wouldn't have it any other way. Cheers - Dave

David DuBois

Beautiful commercial Dave, for a beautiful part of the world!
Paul Barrow

Dave,
Where do I join?
michael Nicholson

Michael - You will need to talk to Paul for those details. Since I was born here, I don't know how to imigrate, only how to move from one state to the next. Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

Paul,

I agree with comments from the others about paint left over from the war. There was a British Standard for Camoflage Colours.

Some time ago I helped Mike Sherrell identify early engine and scuttle colours for TC's to put in his book TC's Forever and this is what we came up with.

Pre TC5562 chassis cars should have the deep flutes in the scuttle (Page 51 & 69) therefore will be Light Aircraft Grey or British Standard BS381c - 627 not body colour. In local language this colour is identical to Australian Standard AS2700 - N35 Light Grey. Some cars, mostly those that went to the US because we have only seen one example in Australia, could be the greeny grey the Yanks talk of. This colour is AS2700 - N32 Green Grey or BS381c - 630 French Grey.

Also early TC's should have a Dark Grey Engine not a red one!!!! See page 61 & 66. BS 381c - 638 Dark Sea Grey is also AS2700 - N54 Dark Sea Grey.

Paul,
the colour or color that may be correct is BS381c - 630 French Grey. If you approach one of the major paint companies over there they may recognise this standard but mostly they use Federal Standard in the US.

As a long shot you could talk to Lucy Hagad on 713 684 1510 in our Houston Tx office and she can tell you if she has a colour formulae for French Grey and if there is a local supplier near you. There may even be a good match in Fed. Std. ask her.
Cheers
Richard

Richard Prior

I had a 1938 MG TA which had a green engine. Gray/Green, actually.
S.R. barrow

Well Bill Hersch has come up with the goods - a small tin/can of paint arrived yesterday labeled MG Green engine enammel. So there is the answer. Links page will be updated in due course.

Paul
Paul Barrow

This thread was discussed between 20/11/2005 and 01/12/2005

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