OK, here is a comment from an old fart. In the Spring of 1960 I bought a
new (special order from the factory) BN7 from the Paris, France AH
distributor. It was Healey Blue over Ivory, w/ blue leather/ivory piping
interior. I loved this car, and cleaned/waxed it repeatedly. Put over
50,000 miles on it b/4 shipping it to the States. By the time it left
France, the "Healey Blue" was all multi-clorored, w/ various areas of
different shades of blue. While I'm not a paint expert, it is my opinion
that the factory paint was not that great.
I'm now in the middle of restoring a BN7 MK2 which will be "Healey Blue"
over Ivory. Base coat/Clear coat. After talking to various experts, the
Healey Blue on this car will be "correct", whatever that means.
John Snyder
Sent: Monday, July 19, 2004 1:33 PM
Subject: Re: Horses of a Different Color
> there is a reliable reference, the BMC factory paint code BU2. in my
100-6 parts manual, the nomenclature for BU2 is Healey Blue, however, you'll
probably get as many variations depending upon mixers trying to follow the
formula. the colour is also dependent upon the painter and how the metallic
stands up. for example, there are 3 different Healeys on the cover of the
anderson/moment restoration manual, all Healey Blue, and all a different
shade of blue. bear in mind, the early metallics of the 50's bear no
resemblance whatsoever to the quality of metallic paint today. anyone
painting metallics today uses a clear coat which protects the metallic and
allows you to polish the clear without moving around the metallic.
metallics before clear coats were the pits.
|