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MG MGA - MGA Colors

In all my years around MGA's I heard that green was never a MGA color. Well I found an original ad shoowing a TD, TC MGA and MGB and guess what the MGA is green. Not british racing green but still a green. I can only think that the car was repainted. Click or copy the link below and it is the last ad posted. This link also shows over 40 MGA original ads.


http://mga60t.multiply.com/photos/album/6
Tom

I've always heard the same thing and while doing reseach on color found that in 1955 the LeMans EX182 was in fact BRG. Barney Gaylord has some great info on colors.
skip

There was no BRG, but Tyrolite Green, Island Green and Ash Green were official colours - only for 1500, there was no green offered for the 1600.

They are all "period" colours, and I doubt any of them would be very popular now!
dominic clancy

The one mentioned is a 1600 MK II by the looks of the grill.

Tom
Tom

Dominic
Popular or not there are still some light green MGA's around. Tom in Tokyo has one and a friend was in Italy last summer and took a pict. of a light green one for me. Can't say that I have seen any here though.
Kris
Kris Sorensen

Hi Tom, all,

Here's one of the cars Kris mentioned (does the front license plate mount look familiar?)

It is an original color matched from a BMC paint chart, but it's not the original color for this car (HDA33--long story).

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mgb1972/my_photos

Probably the only ash green A in Japan. Could be good or bad depending on your view :)

Tom
Tom Baker

Probably a good way to start a flame war, but there is not a rule stating that your car has to be an original or even a period color. Mine will be a kinda BRG color with a tan interior -- only because I like that combo! I have seen others painted this way, and so other folks must like it too. Do what you like!
AJ Mail

I am with Alan you can't paint your car how you want. This thread was about a factory 1962 MGA MKII painted green. I had never heard of that before.

Tom
Tom

Tom - I have some really great shots of my 62 Mk II in BRG. If your interested send me an email.

PS... paint your car any color you want. OEM paint codes be damn.
skip

Factory prepped Sebring cars were BRG (officially any shade of green per FIA). Frank Graham, who sometime watches this board, has one.

Cars shipped CKD to Australia, and other places, were shipped from Abingdon in primer and painted during final assembly outside of Abingdon.

Kind of hard to say that BRG was not an original color for some MGA's, Maybe not offered as a standard but...

I have also heard, although not substantiated, that one could order one any color they wanted if they wanted to wait.

Chuck
'56 MGA (in beautiful Britsh Racing Green)



Chusk Schaefer

Chuck,

You are correct, British Racing Green was a standard colour choice on new MGA's built in Australia.
Also, you are correct that special colours could be ordered for Abingdon built cars, but only for "important" buyers. Two that I know of were the Twin Cam coupe, chassis number YM2 2414, which was painted British Racing Green at Abingdon and the last Twin Cam built, roadster chassis number YD1 2611, which was painted Woodland Green at Abingdon.
Both these paint colours required approval direct from John Thornley.
A photo of YD1 2611 is on page 10 of Clausager's "Original MGA" book.

Mick
Mick Anderson

I have a 1600 Mk11 that was originally Aintree Green which was apparently available in Aust only. I too have read somewhere that you could order your car in primer only and paint it any colour you liked.
Cameron
Cameron

My '60 1600 roadster (CKD) assembled by Nuffield (Australia) Pty Ltd lists the Colour on the name plate as "1/B-R-Green/1". Other details are Type: MGA YGHN/2, Car No: 8/97650/1053, engine No: 16GAUH29171. I believe the 1053 relates to the Australian CKD assembly number, I am not sure what the 8 relates to. Car has since been restored and is now Hawthorn Green.
Mike
Mike Ellsmore

Mike,

The number 8 refers to the year of manufacture in Australia. For some strange reason the first year of Australian manufacture (1957) was given the number of 5. (I must check if the TD and TF were assembled in Australia). So the number 8 on your car is 1960.
The number 1053 is the number of Australian MGA's built, up to and including yours. As well as on the ID plate this number is stamped on the horizontal panel surface, near where the heater would be (no Australian cars had heaters).
With the colour shown, the prefix "1" indicates the paint brand and the suffix "1" indicates baked enamel. All Australian MGA's were baked enamel.

Mick
Mick Anderson

Speaking of colors, and their mistakes, there is a metallic blue roadster on E-Bay http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/02010538140162540_W0QQitemZ4628007425QQcategoryZ80750QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem that looks like it won't be bid on because of the color. Any non period color seems to knock down the value quite badly. Metallic colors seem to kill value the most. A week ago a metallic green carhttp://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1961-1-2-MG-MGA-British-Racing-Green-Numbers-Matching_W0QQitemZ4625761999QQcategoryZ80750QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem was called BRG by the seller just to get bids. Most As end up Red, Black or White.
R J Brown

These cars just don't look right with metalic paint. Apparently eBay bidders agree (for what ever that's worth).
Andy Bounsall

Great! Now when someone asks me if my BRG (well, eventually...) MGA is an original color, I'll say that it is a rare Austrailian-USA import! Perfect!

I'll have to name it something appropriate like Chloe, or Emma, or Kasey...or 'Roo, or Wallabee...what are other good Australian car names?

The color I picked is "Emerald Green" -- think it's a GM color -- non-metallic, but very nice dark green.
AJ Mail

I painted mine Woodland Green, as per the car in Clausinger's.

The color is actually a bit deeper than the photo shows, due to the bright sunlight.

http://usera.imagecave.com/46rob/IMG_0774.jpg

Original or not-- the color pleases me more than the period colors the car actually wore.
R. L Carleen

I just painted mine 1991 Mazda green. Looks great. Much darker than BRG.

Er, I mean "outback green"
Fred H

RL your woodland green looks both period and appropriate. It was a MG color just not on As. It makes a good looking MGA. In my opinion, better looking than the 3 original greens.
My point is that some colors, especially metallics, don't look right and will affect value.
Redder reds are OK but whiter whites look funny. Iris and Mineral blue are underused. Glacier blue looks odd. Ash is the best of a weak trio of greens with Tyrolite and Island almost unusable. My 58 coupe started life Tyrolite green but is going Mineral blue.
On the 1600s beige and gray have proven unpopular (many repainted before first sold) leaving only 4 usable colors. Orient red is quite orange and redder reds seem to be accepted in the market and at shows. MG red is seldom seen, too purple? Black is black, looks great. Olde English white looks good as long as it is not too white, Refrigerators make ugly cars. Iris Blue is underused, looks good. We need a dark blue so use Mineral Blue even though it was a 1500 coupe only color. No orange, ever. Pale yellow if you must, never the trendy yellows of today. For green a true BRG or woodland work well. Pinks and purples NOT. I have a metallic brown, now thats 2 strikes, 60 roadster that will get its original Iris blue back eventually.
One mans opinion.
R J Brown

I painted my 57 vintage race car a D Type Jag color and it's beautiful on a MGA. Happy to send photos if anybody has a need.
skip

To my mind the Woodland Green (wasn't Woodland Green a common colour for the T-series?) TC roadster in Clausager has the edge over any other especially with the cream leather interior and dashboard: this combination is very tasteful and period even though non standard. One of the problems however in picking a non standard paint colour is finding the correct colour leather plus vinyl and piping to match - not to mention a matching material for the hood.
m.j. moore

Mine was painted a dark metalic green when I found it--it wasn't a horrible color, but it just didn't look right. I shudder when I think about how many coats of paint were underneath it. It was even painted gold (apparently out of spray cans)for a spell--It's original color was iris blue, which didn't excite me at all--reminded me of the old Earl Schieb $29.95 paint jobs. That was the color you got for the bottom of the line price.
R. L Carleen

I for one am the proud owner of a 1957 MGA COUPE 1500cc W/W and painted ISLAND GREEN. It is an early model ( chassis 32175) and therefore is called Island Green. They then changed the paint colour slightly and called it Ash Green. Anyone who attened The British Invasion at Stowe Vermont two or three years ago should recall seeing (in the concourse tent ) a pristine example of this colour. While not up to everyones taste ,I particularly like the colour. For those of you who have not seen the colour it is a shade lighter then the new Volkswagen beetles green. Very pretty in the Coupe. You can see the colour on Barney Gaylords website under the title Coupes and sub title windshield install. Thats my Coupe.

SSSSOOOOO CCCCOOOOOOLLLLL @!
Gordon Harrison

An article on page 13 of Safety Fast of November 1982 shows the colours of all mga twin cams built. This was taken from the factory production records.
There were 10 British Racing Green cars and 1 Woodland Green car painted in the factory at Abingdon. So BRG is a factory MGA colour, even if not a standard colour.
To answer Cameron's question, 3 MGA Twin Cams were sold from Abingdon in primer only.

Mick
Mick Anderson

Gordon I stand corrected the coupe looks good, better than I thought it would. So 50s.
R J Brown

I agree with RJ that Iris Blue is underused, which is why I'll be painting my '62 MkII that color (once I finish the bodywork). Iris Blue was also its original paint, though some DPO over the years had repainted it Red.

Seems like you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a Red MGA (followed closely by Black and OEW), so I like the idea of being a little bit different.

Plus, it's just a cool-looking color! :)
James Wolff

This thread was discussed between 09/04/2006 and 12/04/2006

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