[carmonkey]

Hi all,

I've read many many posts on the black colors used on our Touring Spiders. There seems to be conflicting info. Maybe you all could help me (us) establish once and for all the correct colors.

For a point of reference, here is what i've found for the different sheens:

Flat Finish - 0% to 5% gloss
Matte or Velvet Finish - 5% to 10% gloss
Eggshell Finish - 10% to 25% gloss
Pearl or Satin Finish - 25% to 35% gloss
Semi-gloss - 35% to 70% gloss
Gloss - 70% to 85% gloss
High-gloss - 85% gloss and higher

Here are my main questions:

1. The dash in black, but sometimes people say Satin, others say Eggshell. Has this been decided?

2. The engine bay - Satin or Semi-Gloss?

2a. The underside of the hood (bonnet) is body color or black? Most of it is covered by the silver grey pad.

2b. I assume the hood (bonnet) hinges are the same black as the engine bay?

3. Is the whole interior of the car painted black? I've read door jambs are black, but what else? Is it the whole interior and under the dash etc?

3a. What about the trunk (boot)? Most of it gets covered in rubber mats, but what about the rest of it?

4. Wheel wells? Black? Which sheen?

5a. The engine head, cam covers, intake manifold and air box are all black wrinkle paint. I think that has been established.

5b. The engine block is painted black, but what sheen? And are all accessories like the generator that same black?

5c. Radiator? Probably the same as the generator?

6. The oil pan is NOT black. Apparently it is either some strange yellow or the blue green that Austin Healey's use on their engines. IS there a decision on this? And how do I find this odd color?

7. Suspension pieces? Satin or Semi-gloss?

8. Wheels? Is there a specific silver that should be used?

Thanks for everyone's help! Hopefully we will soon have one thread with all the color questions answered.

 

[tubut]

Eastwood Chassis Black and Underhood Black are good choices for those areas (see here for what it looks like on my car). I used rubberized undercoating/primer rather than chassis black on the undercarriage and wheel wells -- a bit too shiny but close enough (and better long-term protection), but Chassis Black for the suspension components.

The more reflective (or brighter) the top of the dashboard is, the more trouble you'll have driving against the sun because of reflections in the windshield.

BMW Polaris Silver is generally accepted as a good substitute for wheels.

For interior paint, others who know the differences between early and late cars will be able to give better advice than me.

 

[DPeterson3]

The powder coater I use has a 60% that I use on nearly every mechanical item that isn't specifically gloss. For instance, it is what I used on my 2000 engine blocks, but the oil filter canister was done in gloss. Suspension pieces, rear end, 60%. Engine bay, trunk, 2 pack semi-gloss. I prefer powder anywhere oil or brake fluid might get.

Pax compartment and trunk, POR 15.

Avoid flat black. Too easy to show a visible scratch.

Eggshell on dash and door jambs.

 

[IRONBLOCK]

Carmonkey,

Here is a link to my friend, Norm Petersen's (s)old car. Aside from newer paint, wheels, plug wires and side mirror it is mostly original or should I say more original than most? This car was sold many years ago in the $60K+ range and at the time was the 'high water' mark for Touring Roadsters. Just for the record I don't recall door jambs being black or egg shell but I could be wrong...

1962 Alfa Romeo 2000 Spyder by Touring

I believe that the top spot is now held by Jeri Shaff's car at $121K, which in most ways is much less original, while still being a treat for the eyes!

1962 Alfa Romeo 2000 Spyder by Touring

Mark

 

[hotlegs32]

paint

Both my early and late 2000 Roadsters had the door jams in body color.
The red one has half and half. Blue is all body color. But could be due to repaint. I can't imagine opening the door and seeing black at the rear jam. Unless the car is black. My 2 cents worth.

 

[IRONBLOCK]

Karen, I looked at the pictures of Don's car again (top link in post #4) and his front vertical jamb on only the body is black. The rest of the jamb is body color and so are the doors.


Mark

 

[carmonkey]

So I will consider it answered that the underside of the hood and trunk lid (bonnet and boot lid) should be black. And it is possible that the front vertical door jamb is to be black.

Hood/bonnet hinges appear to be body color.

Also, wheel wells and underside appear to be black.

What about question 6: "The oil pan is NOT black. Apparently it is either some strange yellow or the blue green that Austin Healey's use on their engines. IS there a decision on this? And how do I find this odd color?"

And what about the dash? Satin or eggshell?

thanks!

 

[hotlegs32]

Paint

I think the hhod and trunk hinges should be the same color- black- as trunk and engine compartment. All the 2000 roadsters that I owned- including several parts cars- had hinges painted black. I think it would look strange to see body color on these parts when the hood/trunk is opened. Again, just my 2 cents worth. Karen

 

[DPeterson3]

When I had my car painted, they left the forward door jamb the Grigio Biacca body color. This was my fault as I had not provided sample pictures of this area as I had elsewhere. So, I took it back and paid to have this area painted the same black as the dash.

They did the work by removing the door hinge pin. Now I have a sort of "barber pole" hinge, alternating white and blacks. Oops. Failure to communicate again. I believe either the entire hinge should be black, or that it should have been masked so that the entire barrel was black, with just the tang that attaches to the door left body color. This issue remains a mystery to me, and perhaps someday I'll return to it and sort it out.

Note that the black on the front jamb continues upward unbroken into the dash black. It's one continuous surface.

My body shop did the underside of the hood and trunk lid with a coarsened black, possibly POR-15 with a kind of granulation stirred in. It closely matches what was there originally. The rest of the trunk was done with the rough black, as it is highly resistant to wear. The engine bay is not rough, rather done in a satin black.

The dash was done in eggshell, but this isn't much different than satin. The closer black is to "flat" the more susceptible it is to showing scratches. Satin black, being slightly more glossy than eggshell, might be a better choice for the dash. Simply installing the tonneau cover tends to leave visible marks. Nobody is going to know or care, so long as the dash isn't body color or glossy.

I've seen oil pans both blue green and baby-poop yellow. I chose the latter, but wonder if the blue-green might have been more "correct". Either color is quickly going to become a mixture of oil, road grime, and squirrel parts. At least the lighter colors will be quick to indicate an oil leak, but if you attempt to repair any of these you're likely to wish you simply didn't know about them. Ignorance is bliss.

I tried to establish the one, true color for the oil pan, and finally gave up. It may well be that there are no un-redone pans out there to see.

 

[carmonkey]

Okay, I see why the front jamb is black. None of the pictures are clear enough to see the door hinges, so I think I will have the hinges painted all black, but I wonder what the factory did.

The oil pan bugs me. Not that we aren't sure what color it is, but I just don't see the point of it not being black since the block is! However, as Don says the color is "quickly going to become a mixture of oil, road grime, and squirrel parts." But Don, exactly how many squirrels are you hitting? ;-) I'm picturing you driving wildly down a country road swerving toward squirrel after squirrel! That actually sounds like a pretty good video game!

 

[DPeterson3]

Okay, I see why the front jamb is black. None of the pictures are clear enough to see the door hinges, so I think I will have the hinges painted all black, but I wonder what the factory did.

The oil pan bugs me. Not that we aren't sure what color it is, but I just don't see the point of it not being black since the block is! However, as Don says the color is "quickly going to become a mixture of oil, road grime, and squirrel parts." But Don, exactly how many squirrels are you hitting? ;-) I'm picturing you driving wildly down a country road swerving toward squirrel after squirrel! That actually sounds like a pretty good video game!

Yeah. One can hope. We have a plague of rabbits in my yard, but only one squirrel. They work as a team. The rabbits buzz saw the top of whatever was about to bloom, and "Cyril" the squirrel hauls off the bulbs. All of them.

I suspect the odd light-blue-greenish color for the pan. I found a picture of the yellow, so used it, after which I found more than one pic of the blue-green. When I saw them, it jogged my memory of my first Alfa, a 1959 Touring, and I felt a resonance for the blue-green.

It is possible that the entire door edge should be black, as well as the dash and jamb. This would support an entirely black hinge. The rear jamb looks right in body color.

 

[sdubi]

I am still laughing at the mental image of Don in his 102, with the rabbits, Cyril the squirrel, and maybe a rogue possum or raccoon for extra points. Thanks, Carmonkey.

I talked with Jay N. a long while ago and one thing we discussed was the black paint in the door jams. This was before the paint was stripped from my 102 so I took a closer look, using razor blades and such to remove the layers of repaint, leaving only the original colors. As Jay had said, I found that the jam and leading edge of the door were originally black, so both sides of the hinges are the same color. Separation from the body color on the door is easy due to the defined edges, with the exception being the lower edge that wraps into the door bottom. I found that the door bottom was body color, with a very small amount of black overspray wrapping under from the front edge as a result of the application of the black paint after the body color.

My oil pan was repainted black, but due to poor prep, it still has some shiny green-gray original paint on it. I have previously heard this color is well represented by the 1960s BMW color called Florida green. My friend had a BMW 1600 painted that color, which he called kaibo green. Kaibo is a Canadian term for outhouse. I think the pan color has more gray in it than Florida, but it is a good, solid industrial color, something appropriate for machine shop equipment like a lathe or mill. I will try to match this original color and foolishly hope to keep it oil-free.

 

[carmonkey]

Hey, I assume the front and rear engine covers are also painted black? Or are they left natural? Also, Is the tranny black?

Thanks!

 

[MAS Restoration]

Here is a pan from a 60' 102 spider with the original gray/ green color. This Nason urethane formula is a very good match. It's just called light gray.
Also, on this original spider at least, the engine block seems to a have gloss black finish, not semi-gloss, and after taking off a few parts from the firewall, there was a gloss finish to it too.
Mark

 

[Seattle Dan]

Hi Mark,

Wow, I gotta say that color is nothing like whats on my oil pan. My '60 spider is a very original 46K mile car. The oil pan color is much more closer to the 1960's Pontiac engine color - I guess one could debate is it more blueish or greenish....but it can't be argued to be "greyish"....sorry.

Perhaps different years had different colors or perhaps the different models (berlina/sprint/spider) had different colors. I hope others chime in.

All the best....Dan