Is it worth spraying original colour?

[Edward.21]

Hi all
The original colour of my moggy is a revolting shade of grey And I was wondering about the value if I painted it the original colour or a period colour or whatever colour I liked any advice would be greatly apretiated

[chrisryder]

if it's as revolting as you suggest, that could put off future purchasers!

are you planning on keeping the car for any amount of time, or just selling it on? it'd seem daft to me to paint a car a colour i didnt like just to appease somebody further down the line.

it's your car, do what you like!

just out of interest, what is the official colour? keep a look out for pics of other minors in that colour and see if that helps your decision.

[Edward.21]

I don't want to get rid of her and my dad suggests keeping it origional the form just says Dark grey so I don't know the buc code (or whatever it is)
P.s. What colour is yours

[chrisryder]

officially mine is smoke grey, but when parked next to a smoke grey minor, mine has more blue in it. guessing it's been unfaithfully resprayed in its life!

it's not a colour i would have picked, but it's grown on me in the time i've had it!

i'm a big fan of having a colour i'd be happy to live with. i wouldnt want to spend hundreds on a respray, only to regret my choice every time i look at the car!

but i'm not a fan of keeping cars original anyway!

[bmcecosse]

If you change the colour - you need to change it ALL - inside and outside the shell - or it will look terrible.

[LouiseM]

Post up a photo so we can see how 'revolting' the colour actually is! Based on the chassis number you’ve got a 1959 car so dark grey on the registration document might mean that it's clarendon or frilford grey. Frilford grey is quite a rare colour as it was used for only a short period of time. I don't think it was because buyers found it revolting though as it's very similar to clarendon grey which was a popular colour.

Here’s a picture of a frilford grey Minor:

http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f= ... lford+grey

And here’s a picture of a clarendon grey one:

http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f= ... endon+grey

Details of how to post a photo are here: http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=31197

i'm a big fan of having a colour i'd be happy to live with.

Yes, I always find it better to buy a car that I like the colour of in the first place.

[Edward.21]

To clarify the car is currently tralfalgar blue but it was a very bad paint job so I was going to put it back to The original colour but I didn't like the original colour so I was wonder how much it would affect the value if I painted it a non original colour

[Edward.21]

P.s. How do you find the age of her

[LouiseM]

Value is a tricky thing to judge so it really depends on whether you bought the Minor to resell and make a profit or bought it because you intend on keeping it and enjoying it. As you seem to be planning on keeping the car I wouldn't worry too much about value - paint it a colour that you like. Obviously there are those that prefer Minors to be as original as possible, so a Minor in an unoriginal, non-period, non-Minor colour may not sell as well as one which is painted in a 'standard' colour but the overall condition of the car will effect the value far more than the colour when you come to sell it. A good quality professional respray will also make a difference to it's value as a cheap 'blow over' or badly done paint job will devalue the car and may well put buyers off. As BMC has said, for a complete colour change you need to spray the interior to match too otherwise it wouldn't look good. So really it's entirely up to you. It's your car so do what you feel happy with rather than worry about whether it will keep it's value. By the sound of things as it's already got an unoriginal colour and a bad paint job, a good paint job - in whatever colour you choose - is going to be an improvement anyway. Once you've owned a Minor for a bit longer you'll soon realise that you will never get back the money that you spend on it so value doesn't really come into it!

(I got the age from the chassis number you posted in another thread. What year does it say on the log book /V5C? )

[Edward.21]

It says regd in 53 thanks for your help

[LouiseM]

Ah, I've misread the numbers in your earlier post. If it's a 1953 car the original colour was likely to be clarendon grey. Personally I'd keep a split screen it's original colour, or at least a period colour, to keep in with it's character but it's a personal choice. Post up a picture so we can take a look

[Edward.21]

Ok thanks it's not very pretty at the moment as it is pretty much a shell but I'll get some pics up asap

[LouiseM]

Well it doesn't matter what it looks like - pretty or not - it's still a Minor and people like seeing photos Maybe you could start a thread in the restoration forum so that we can see it's progress as you go along?

[Edward.21]

Ok il post them there

[Edward.21]

Do you know what the period colours were please?

[LouiseM]

1953 Minor paint colours were black, clarendon grey, empire green and birch grey. Does your car still have a maroon interior? If so, and you want to keep the car blue, how about 'smoke blue'? It was used on split screen Minors for just a short period at the end of '54 and early '55 so is pretty rare but came with a maroon interior, is a period colour and looks pretty good [frame][/frame]

[Edward.21]

It is maroon inside so I think it will have to be smoke blue

[LouiseM]

Well it doesn't have to be as black, clarendon grey and birch grey also have maroon interiors. Best not to rush the decision though so if you're not in a hurry to respray it why not go to a few rallies and take a look at Minors similar in age to yours and see which colour you like best.

[MarkyB]

The original colours were fashionable then, and have stood the test of time quite well, better than many fashion colours that have come and gone since then.
Avocado bathroom suite, anyone?

Unless you hate Blue or Grey with a passion, I'd suggest you go with the original colour.

[Dean]

Mines Clarendon Grey and a 1953.

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