Can I paint my 3A red ?

[Norman D]

Having welded, leaded, filled, stoppered ,etch primed, primed ,guide coated, flatted,flatted again I now am ready to colour coat my bodytub. I have bought 4 litres of red paint but ,the thing is ,reading the forum over the few months I have been a member( ps thanks to all whose replies have helped me) I am sure I have detected an undercurrent of bias against red TR3,s , Is this so ? Am I being hypersensitive? Are there too many of them? Whats the forums views?

Dont mind chucking away (sorry disposing responsibly) the red if I am about to commit a cardinal(no pun intended) sin.

Thanks. [Dont know the exact name of the red I chose it from a colour chip at the paint shop.]

[stuart]

Having welded, leaded, filled, stoppered ,etch primed, primed ,guide coated, flatted,flatted again I now am ready to colour coat my bodytub. I have bought 4 litres of red paint but ,the thing is ,reading the forum over the few months I have been a member( ps thanks to all whose replies have helped me) I am sure I have detected an undercurrent of bias against red TR3,s , Is this so ? Am I being hypersensitive? Are there too many of them? Whats the forums views?

Dont mind chucking away (sorry disposing responsibly) the red if I am about to commit a cardinal(no pun intended) sin.

Thanks. [Dont know the exact name of the red I chose it from a colour chip at the paint shop.]

There are indeed a lot of red 3As around as it was the colour of choice in the ninetys when a lot of cars were restored. Personally I am not a great fan of red and it is one of the worst colours for fading due to sunlight and the consequential problems of matching further down the line. What colour was your car originally as I tend to prefer going with the colour it left the factory.(incedentally white was very prevalent at the time) At the end of the day its your car and you can paint it what colour you like though a non standard colour can detract somewhat from resale value, although Triumph would paint cars in any colour combination you chose at the time.

Stuart.

[TR 2100]

Hi Norman,

 

Yes, you are being hypersensitive. Do it your way.

Original colours are more 'popular', and the original colour for

the car is even better, especially if you can't make up your mind.

There is quite a range of fairly rare 'original' colours.

 

All to often, non-original colours don't look quite right somehow, but

it's what you are happy with that matters.

 

Stuart is right about matching up red paint after a few years.

It's certainly an eye-catching colour, especially if it's a top quality

mirror finish, but there's a lot of them about.

 

Also give some thought to the trim colour you want. Some trim

colours don't go with some body colours. Black trim goes with

any body colour, of course, but not everyone likes black trim.

 

AlanR

[Kiwifrog]

Paint it red or yellow or blue or green or bright orange with purple stripes and little silver stars .... Its a car not a rare work of art and more importantly ITS YOUR CAR do what you like with it, red TR3A do look good thats why there are so many about

 

 

Cheers

 

Alan

[Jack Horner]

I personaly don't like Red cars, but thats just me.

 

I would always take Powder Blue over any other colour on a TR3a. The colour just looks so right for the car.

 

Best get the colour YOU want first time.

[vivdownunder]

Norman, the advice to paint your car the colour you like is spot on, but I've found over many years that red TR's are invariably the easiest to sell promptly for the correct money.

 

The original red for TR's was called Signal Red, and used up to the 1971 TR6's as colour 32. However, there were a few shade variations over the years as S-T swapped between paint suppliers, and as formulations were modernised, so any bright red pretty much suits the car.

 

Although I have seen a 3A finished in Porsche Red, and it looked a bit odd for some reason.

 

Suggest test painting a piece of sheet metal, or even a panel such as the spare wheel cover, before you spray the whole car, just to make sure you are happy with the shade of red you have purchased.

 

Regards,

 

Viv.

[RogerH]

Hi Norman,

why did you choose red in the first place. If the reason is still valid go for it.

Use a quality wax polishing system to deter the effects of sunlight -

 

if in doubt only drive at night, this has two advantages it won't look red under sodium lighting and the paint will not fade.

 

Roger

[Badfrog]

Hi Viv,

 

A key question indeed. Art is a bridge between reality and fantasy.

So I suggest you go down this line for your choice:

 

Reality :

is there a colour more attractive to car thieves and traffic cops? Is there a colour that kangaroos don't see when they jump across the road? Avoid both.

Is there a colour you like? Consider.

In your culture, is there a lucky colour ? remember that death is white to Asian and black to europeans.

 

Fantasy:

What motoring stereotype do you feel related to when you drive: Jim Clark, Mad Max, Lara Croft or the Dalai Lama ?

Does dark BRG with a large yellow stripe appeals to you?

 

IMHO:

Black, powder blue, dark BRG with a large yellow stripe (yes, yes, yes). No metal, no candy. I must add I've been driving the same faded, pieced together, multi-shade red signal 32 TR4 for 37 years.

 

Reality: because that's how I found it at the junkyard and never bothered to change. Snakes moult, not frogs.

Fantasy: Dorian gray.

 

Badfrog.

[Don Elliott]

It was in May, 51 years ago that I ordered my BRG with red interior 1958 TR3A but the S-T dealer said there would be a delay due to it being a special order with Coventry because of this colour combination. I was 20 and couldn't wait so I took a black one with red interior. I love it and never regretted the decision. And I'm still 20 every time I drive it.

[BrianC]

Personally I'd go for (almost) anything other than red, but (of course) especially dark green (BRG or Conifer) or black.

 

However, my first TR3A had just been resprayed Ford Aubergine when I bought it in 1972. This was a very popular colour at the time and actually suited the car quite well, complemented by the white hardtop. However, the paint soon started to chip and flake off, especially from the fibreglass panels. I would have dearly loved to return it to its original Powder Blue (my personal favourite TR colour at the time), but money was too tight to mention, so I comprised with a 'temporary' pale blue Hammerite, applied by a friend with a roller (decorating not motor). It certainly caused a stir whenever I turned up at TR Register AGMs and shows and the Hammerite stayed on better than the Ford Aubergine.

 

As Badfrog proves, colour and immaculate paint jobs are not essential to enjoying a TR - neither are other people's opinions. Provided you keep the car and use it, you need not worry about resale value as tastes will have changed by then.

[Herald948]

Fantasy: Dorian gray.

Great idea for a color. The car would never age in any way, although photos of same would look worse and worse....

[peterc]

Hi Norman,

It is what suits you. My car was white and I discussed the respray with my family. the decision was red but a Burgundy red. The resprayer was a compleye prat and I have ended up with an acceptable colour but not quite what I wanted. I suggest if you want red do your own thing and choose anything colour rather than 'signal red'. I have seen pictures of a sidescreen TR painted canary yellow with black wings. dare to be different.

Peter C

[dykins]

Norman

 

Whatever you like is all that matters.

 

...but since you have asked I think red is a very common colour on TRs - in particular on TR6s.

 

But that's just my opinion, and as I was told tonight by my teenage daughter, my opinion doesn't matter for much anyway!

 

Regards

 

Peter

[Andrew Smith]

Red is a **** colour, particularly signal red!

 

Cheers

Andrew

Edited April 21, 2009 by Andrew Smith

[BrianC]

Further to my previous comment, I will make one concession. I remember a couple of sidescreen cars which were resprayed in what I believe was 'Rolls Royce Regal Red' in the '70s. These were like a breath of fresh air amongst the predominant Signal Red cars of the day. I probably have slides of these stashed away in the loft but does anyone else remember them or have photos?

[Alec Pringle]

Hi Brian,

 

giving our age away time !!

 

Yes, there's nothing wrong with Signal Red - as long as you're a Postman Pat fan. I'm not.

 

Regal was a late 60s early 70s RR red, considerably darker and richer than Signal. There were indeed at least a couple of real TRs thus resprayed, and very good they looked too. Can't think Regal would suit the Michelotti or Karmann TRs, but I reckon it would look good on a Wedge.

 

Come to that, there are more than a few colours that suit real TRs and Wedges alike, but look half-baked on the windey-window cars. But then the windey-window TRs looked better overall in their day, whereas 2,3,7 and 8 were ever ugly ducklings.

 

Perhaps sky blue/pink with yellow trim would look refreshingly different on an early car ? Lady Black meets Lady Docker sort of thing ?

 

Cheers,

 

Alec

[Ian Vincent]

Hi Norman,

 

When I bought my TR3a sight unseen on ebay it was red and the plan was to rebuild it and respray it in the same or similar red. When I eventually got it to the UK it was clear that it had originally been dark BRG.

 

I have had some paint made up to the same shade and just resprayed the engine bay and inner and underside of the body shell in BRG colour coat; it looks really good.

 

So I would go with Stuart and go for the original shade but like everyone else says its your car. One point though - I used nearly 5 litres to paint my bodyshell - 4 litres won't go very far.

 

Rgds Ian

[Andrew Smith]

........Come to that, there are more than a few colours that suit real TRs and Wedges alike, but look half-baked on the windey-window cars. But then the windey-window TRs looked better overall in their day, whereas 2,3,7 and 8 were ever ugly ducklings.........

Oh, how "I love the smell of Napalm in the morning"

............and Ride of the Valkyries! Link

 

Cheers

Andrew

[Alec Pringle]

Hi Andrew,

 

when you've stood your ground against gunships you can tell me about it, and we'll exchange t-shirts.

 

TRs aren't that significant . . . .

 

Cheers,

 

Alec

[Don Elliott]

A chap in Ohio who owns a beige TR3 smallmouth bought a TR3A for his daughter who was just at the age to pass her driving test. Tom painted it pink for her. Not the TR2 geranium colour but the pink colour of the "Mary Kaye" cars won by the best cosmetic sales ladies each year.

 

I saw it first in 1992 and a few years ago, I saw it again. It's still pink.

[Herald948]

A chap in Ohio who owns a beige TR3 smallmouth bought a TR3A for his daughter who was just at the age to pass her driving test. Tom painted it pink for her. ....

And then there's Donna Mae Mims, first woman to win a (US) SCCA class national racing championship in 1963. She was in a pink Sprite then, but she also drove at various times pink Corvairs, Corvettes...and a TR3!

[peterh]

Red is a **** colour, particularly signal red!

 

Cheers

Andrew

 

So you not to old to learn!

Peter

[vivdownunder]

Isn't it great.

 

Any mention of red TR's, or of what oil to put in an overdrive gearbox, and there's hearty debate.

 

I'm certainly not wedded to red, and really enjoy the quirky offbeat colours, because it's the form of the sidescreen cars that has always attracted me. Same with the purity of line of the early E Types.

 

Badfrog, how true to avoid kangaroos, no matter what colour of car. Despite fitting "shoo-roo" high pitched whistles beneath the front bumper, there's the ever present menace of a huge grey buck entering uninvited via the windscreen.

 

Speaking of which, and with Alec mentioning gunships, that's exactly what the TR2 used to become down on the family property at weekends in our youth. After dark it was spotlighting for roos, hood down, yours truly driving, a passenger scanning with a powerful light, bulldog clipped to the battery, and two sitting up on the back scuttle with weapons. One swept strictly to the left, and one to the right. It was just something to do out in the sticks, but there was also a practical reason. Roos were in plague proportions, stripping grass and knocked down fencing, so the TR2 gunship trundling along the gravel roads bordering the paddocks was the ideal conveyance to cull the freeloaders.

 

And despite the old tale, Signal Red never once attracted a marauding farm bull.

 

Nowadays roos are protected, and it's a huge no no to harm them in any way.

 

Cheers,

 

Viv.

[RogerH]

Hi Norman D,

you're not French are you!!!

 

Roger

[Pat G]

Hello All

 

Only slightly off topic. Anyone have paint codes for Dark BRG? I am shopping for a new color (my wife won't approve of the factory light yellow) for my TR3A. In my view, nothing beats BRG with a honey tan interior. If anyone has a photo of a TR with a stripe, that would be a great addition to the color scheme too!

 

Best wishes from Sacramento, California, home of the governator, Arnold.

 

Pat Galvin