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MG MGA - Hood Frame Colour?

I have a question.
My MGA, which is Glacier Blue (or will be) has a white hood (top), the Original hood was Light Blue (Ice Blue) . The current frame colour is white and I have scraped some paint trying to establish if it was re-painted, but only got white paint and primer. I was under the understanding that all frames were a tan colour, but was wondering if the frame for the Light Blue top was indeed originally white. Car is a 1959 MGA 1500.

I bow to the expertise on this BBS...... Thanks.
C.R. Tyrell

I believe they were all tan originally. It might have been stripped and refinished or even replaced over the years.
N McGurk

I used to think that the original tan colour for the frame was a strange one for BMC to pick but it may have been because the Everflex material used for the hood originally had a tan backing irrespective of top colour. So inside the car with the hood up was predominantly tan and the frame colour was chosen to match.
Today, for some reason, the Everflex manufactured for hoods has more of a grey backing. It's therefore a bit of a dilemna whether to keep to the original tan or choose one that is a better match for the gray hood backing. ............Mike
m.j. moore

m.j. That sounds very plausible.... makes total sense to me. Maybe that is why it was painted white in my car, the underside is the same colour white as the hood. I am still trying to track down a Lt. Blue hood to replace the original Ice Blue. Until then I will just stay with the White hood that is currently on the car.

I wonder why Lt. Blue is not available as a choice for hood material. hmmm.
C.R. Tyrell

Hi I do recall someone quite a while ago saying that they had found someone here in the UK that still had the original light blue Everflex for the MGA. no other details though sorry


Gordon
g c pugh

Brown and Gammons list a blue hood, but I seem to recall that Ice Blue was nearer to green rather than blue!
J Bray

Ice blue seems to be a Lt. Blue,Green Smokey grey colour.... I would be happy with a light blue. Brown and Gammons Blue I think is a darker blue like a royal blue. I just don't understand why this colour of top has never been reproduced, as it seems a number of cars had it installed originally. Still trying to confirm the bow colour, and it looks like its going to be tan. If all else fails ....paint is cheap!
C.R. Tyrell

Clausager (Original MGA) says frames where all tan from the factory but replacement frames were painted black.
Mike
Mike Ellsmore

Tan it is! I will keep looking for Lt. Blue hood.
Thanks all.
C.R. Tyrell

Ice Blue is not greenish in color unless exposed to years of UV light. It's originally a grayish blue. Leonard Nimoy did an expensive investigation of this several years ago:

http://tildebang.com/mg/index18.html

I did a lot of work on this 10 years ago and found a British manufacturer who would make up a bolt of Ice Blue fabric for about $10,000 US. That's enough for 15-20 hoods. So far, I've found maybe five people interested in pitching in, including myself.
David Breneman

I believe the Leonard Nimoy photo and name reference are a bit of a hoax for sake of impression. But if you ignore that photo and name the rest of the story is interesting enough. The Ice Blue top is exceedingly rare these days.
Barney Gaylord

I will neither confirm nor deny that the page is a transcript from the program, but I'll admit that since "In Search Of" has been off the air for over a decade, it isn't as impressive as it once was. :-)
David Breneman

David,

if you go for the Ice Blue Fabric, I'll pitch in !!

Giovanni
Giovanni Delicio

This thread was discussed between 27/12/2012 and 04/01/2013

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