Paint Code

[kevinw]

Does the paint code

Berger 5370

mean anything to anyone around here? According to rebuild records (so I'd better admit that it isn't the 2000 then ) one of my Triumph's was repainted in this colour in about 1992 and I am having problems matching it. Tried local paint suppliers (very good) - they recognise "Berger" as a paint manufacturer, but nothing more; Berger's website shows automotive paint link, but it is a dead link and most of the website is focussed on household paint.

In desperation, I can take the car off to be spectrally matched, but this is a lot of hassle. Hopefully, I will find someone who knows about paint and will know how to decode the number into something generic that I can then get mixed.

Kevin

[David Withers]

Kevin, you may or may not know that a standard route for paint matching is to remove the petrol filler cover and take this along. That should, in theory at least, give a better paint match than relying on the Berger number as the existing paint may have slightly discoloured with age in the 15 or more years since it was applied.

[kevinw]

Hi, Dizzy - yes.... time for a slight confession. It's the TR6 that wants the paint and the smallest removable part is the boot lid. Actually, the only removable parts are the boot lid, bonnet and doors!

The rebuild diary lists the colour as Sapphire Blue and Berger 5370 as the actual paint used. I've noticed in the past that when the car has been parked next to other Triumphs that are supposed to be Sapphire Blue, mine is a lighter colour. I've got some formula colour from two different vendors, which are identical in colour and to my eye, that colour is the same as other Sapphire Blue cars. So, hence the conclusion that mine is not actually the colour it is supposed to be, even allowing for fading and the effect of UV on the colour. It has had odd bits of paintwork re-done over the years, but you need to look very hard in bright sunshine to see the joins.

I think I am going to have to take the whole car to the local factors and get it matched .

Anyway, I'm not going to be happy with the door that I've repainted as having compounded it, I can see I've got a couple of runs in it.

Kevin

[David Withers]

Kevin, in my rush to post before going out for the day, I didn't take in your comment about it not being the 2000! This is not the first time I've made a mistake through hurrying....

I bought a 1965 T2000 in 1970. It needed a part-respray due to scrapes so I bought some Triumph Royal Blue. I sprayed the Triumph in my garage, under fluorescent lights, very carefully blending the new paint into the old.

When I took the car outside it looked absolutely awful. This was when I remembered that my paint cupboard also contained a can of BMC Blue Royale left over from a previous job, on a Morris Oxford I think...!

[Mike Stevens]

It's the TR6 that wants the paint and the smallest removable part is the boot lid. Actually, the only removable parts are the boot lid, bonnet and doors!

The rebuild diary lists the colour as Sapphire Blue and Berger 5370 as the actual paint used.

Hi Kevin,

I though the wings were "bolt-on's" too?

Sapphire blue - is that paint code 96? I ask as the Mk2 PI I'm about to acquire is that colour too.

Cheers,
Mike.

[kevinw]

Yes, Mike! All the wings bolt off, but I thought just a bit big to take with me to the paint shop for matching. Being a later TR6, it doesn;t have a removable air flap in front of the windscreen - British Leyland having worked out that not only could they cut a few pounds out of the build cost by removing the flap and replacing it with a grille, it would also induce the cars to rot from the inside out and thus speed up the replacement process.

Sapphire Blue is paint code 096 - it is just a little bit darker than my car really is. All the paint I have bought recently (3 aerosols and a small tin) are exactly the same colour when tested; all have been made up to the formula, so there seems to be consistency across the two suppliers I have used.

Lovely colour, sapphire blue, but it is prooving a bit of a job to match paint from around 15 years ago.

Kevin

[canberra triumph]

Paint code on my Australian assembled 1976 2500 is AL, and is some variety of (iridescent?) green. Does this code mean anything to anyone as all the info I have been able to source states that paint code should be a number.

[Charles H]

I believe that the Australian built cars were painted in non Triumph colours. I am led to believe that some were colours from Datsuns or Toyotas!

[Jonathan Lewis]

time for a slight confession. It's the TR6 that wants the paint and the smallest removable part is the boot lid.

Stupid suggestions time... Is there perhaps a bolt or similar fitting that got painted last time round and would offer sufficient painted area to facilitate a match if temporarily removed?

Don't know about TRs, but James Taylor's book on the Stag quotes two original paint suppliers (Goodlass Wall and Pinchin Johnson?) and warns that nominally-identical colours might vary from car to car dependent on the supplier responsible for mixing the original paint.

[kevinw]

time for a slight confession. It's the TR6 that wants the paint and the smallest removable part is the boot lid.

Stupid suggestions time... Is there perhaps a bolt or similar fitting that got painted last time round and would offer sufficient painted area to facilitate a match if temporarily removed?

Don't know about TRs, but James Taylor's book on the Stag quotes two original paint suppliers (Goodlass Wall and Pinchin Johnson?) and warns that nominally-identical colours might vary from car to car dependent on the supplier responsible for mixing the original paint.

There might be a bolt I could take out, although, to be honest, it is probably just as easy to take the whole car and then I can decide exactly which part to match, there being already 3 or 4 shades of whatever nominal shade of paint it is.

Rather more pressing is exorcising the ghost of Joseph Lucas who is in the boot at the moment and messing about with the lights! The bulb holders are exactly the same type as a mk II and a Stag - so for once, Triumph shared components between models, but the new holders have proper earth connections instead of relying on a poor connction to the metallised plastic light fittings (or not, as it turns out). The spade connectors are 4 and a bit mm, not the usual 6mm, so while I have thousands of the latter, it's an urgent order to Vehicle Wiring Products for a job lot of what is needed.

As well as the 2000 going to France for the Easter jaunt in a few weeks, just after we get back from that, we're off to Greece in the TR, so I'm frantically trying to get both cars in tip-top condition. Didn;t know James Taylor was into Stags - always liked his music, though

Kevin