Paint Suppliers near Bromley

[davew1949]

Recently got a "new" Mog - (registered 1st Jan 1968 so manufactured 1967). I thought it was Old English White as its a very similar colour to my other one. However when I sprayed ESMs OEW on it, it was obvious that my car was slightly creamier than ESM's paint. Now I thought OEW was the creamiest of the Morris whites, and I've always had good results from the ESM paint, so I'm guessing my motor has had a new spray at some stage and the actual colour isn't exactly OEW.
Doing a search of this forum I found that my motor may originally have been Snowberry White so I ordered a can from ESM which turned up today. However as I feared that was far too white (and blooming expensive too - ESM seem to be charging over £10 for delivery these days, making a can of their paint nearly £24!!).

There are quite a few paint suppliers who will mix up cans of paint according to the cars paint code, but it seems my car's colour is a bit non-standard so that rather rules them out. So the outcome is, I'm looking for a paint supplier around the Bromley/Beckenham area who can inspect my Mog and provide me with an accurate colour paint in spray cans (I can't really justify getting a compressor and spray guns etc). Does anyone have any recommendations?
Many thanks.

[les]

The only places I know of are in Bexleyheath or Spraystore near Brands Hatch, if that's too far try google for something nearer. Old English white is quite creamy, whereas Snowberry, as you found out, is more like the colour of washing machines etc.

[firedrake1942]

There were two Old English (Ivory) Whites originally labelled No1 and No. 2. Mismatch may originate here, Not sure when / if they became one colour. Ray Newell's Book says that OEW was discontinued in Jan 1968 so yours may have been one of the last.

[davew1949]

Many thanks for the replies guys.
I've found the paint place in Bexleyheath (BSB Group) on the web - not too far away. I've given them a ring this morning and they say they can do a match. They do need something off the car to match it to as it might take them a little while and I might need to leave it with them for a day or two, but I'm not sure what I've got that's removable in the same colour. The only thing I can think of would be the glove-box lid. Unfortunately I sprayed that OEW, and that's how I know my car isn't OEW!
Life eh? And people say the Minor is easy to work on.
Cheers.

[firedrake1942]

Did you spray the Offside glove Box surround ? If not, on that model they are usually open and have no lid. It is only a few screws to take off....?

[Mark Wilson]

The rear ashtray is sometimes body colour below the chrome (could be I've only seen resprays) and is only held on by self tappers. Or you could remove a sill finisher, unless it's chrome. You could have a look at the sill structure at the same time, if you're feeling brave......

[ManyMinors]

Such items from the inside of the car won't be much use if you're trying to match the paint on the outside - particularly if the car has been resprayed as you think the car has been resprayed at some stage......
If you can't take the car there then maybe a bumper valance or one of the strips from the bonnet would suffice?

[davew1949]

Many thanks for your suggestions guys. I did experiment and found I could release the front quarter-light without too much fuss, just a couple of screws. That seems to be the same colour as the rest of the car, so I'm planning to take that in and see what they can do. I'll post the results when I get the paint.

[Johnny]

Hello there,

Did you manage to get the paint?

I need to get some for the traveller and the Bromley bunch look to be the closest to me. I also need to get some touch up paint for the new car.

Interested to hear how you got on.

All the best.

[davew1949]

Sorry for the delay before update/response.
So I went to the Bexleyheath branch of BSB. It's quite a small shop with limited parking outside. (I had to go twice and found that early afternoon was better as they were less busy). If you are taking a part to match then make sure it is around 3 inches or larger in diameter and fairly flat or their analyser wont fit it.

They were very helpful and tried their hardest to match the paint, even putting their analyser on the car bodywork. Unfortunately even the analyser couldn't match my car (they said it was coming up with a Rolls-Royce metallic paint. Now my Moggie might be good, but a Roller it aint!). I asked them to make up a spray can of paint that they thought might be the closest match as it might be good enough for me, and they did that. However when I sprayed it on my car it was way too different to be able to blend in.

However they also have a larger branch down near Chatham and I decided to chance my luck there. It's on an industrial estate so parking was no problem. Again the shop was quite busy, but like the Bexleyheath one everyone is so helpful. Once again, trying to match the paint using their myriad of swatches was a no-no so they tried the analyser again - it looked like a different machine to the Bexleyheath one. Similar story, it couldn't find a standard match, but it DID come up with a paint formula. They made this formula up into a spray can and, joy oh joy, it's a pretty good match. Not perfect but it blends in really well and you have to look pretty hard to see the join. They put the formula on the can so I can now take this to the nearer Bexleyheath branch and they should be able to make it up for me when I need some more.

As a side issue, the earlier non-matching paint isn't going to waste as I use this for the first coats then spray over with the correct colour for the final coat.

So all in all a good job done by BSB despite having to visit a couple of different branches. And I must complement them on how pleasant and helpful they are at both locations.

[les]

The Bexleyheath place has been a paint shop since the 60s, numerous name changes and since then, obviously staff. I was unlucky with my last paint request, I wanted a base coat with gloss but no luck. That's when I went to Paint Store, the guy had a cunning plan, and managed to mix me a base coat with a gloss finish, a good match as well.