23 replies to this topic

[imack]

That 72/73 clubman looks as if it might be harvest gold, a very popular colour in the early 70's.
My 72 'L' reg mini 1000 was originally harvest gold - used to be shown as 'gold' on the V5.
I think colour names on V5's used to be decided by the salesman that registered the vehicle.
Your 79 clubman looks like Sandglow, a colour that replaced Harvest Gold in about 76.

Edited by imack, 10 December 2022 - 08:24 PM.

[classictinkering]

Looks like 'Bracken' to me - a glorious but short lived (1973-75) BL colour. I have an MGB GT in the same colour, which also originally had brown on the V5. Depending on the light, the paint can look yellow, bright orange, or indeed brown sometimes - I love it.

[daveg]

I have been looking on the internet and I didn't realise what a big subject paint colours is. I thought both cars were the same colour and someone in the know would name the colour and paint code easily.

 

I have found some paint charts for 1972, bronze yellow (BLVC15) is the only similar colour but that is strange because imack had a 1972 car that was harvest gold. Bronze yellow does ring a faint bell probably from all the cans of touch up paint I bought years ago.

 

The 1979 car is more of a problem as the paint charts after 1975 are patchy but sand glow (BLVC63) and bracken (BLVC93) could be possibilities from the 1976 paint chart.

 

I will see if the local car shop can get me a can of bronze yellow and compare it with the car.

[classictinkering]

Harvest Gold, Bronze Yellow and Bracken were all available concurrently at one time around that period I believe, so could have been any of them. Bracken and Bronze Yellow are more of a richer Orange colour and more similar to each other, whilst Harvest Gold is paler in comparison - I always think it has a light green tinge in person.

 

For a 1979 car, Sand Glow would be the only option - Snapdragon was available then, but that's a much more vivid yellow. I have the '79 paint code pamphlet somewhere as I was similarly lost trying to determine which shade of white my '79 1275GT was when I bought it :)

 

EDIT: there's a copy for sale on ebay showing the 1979 options: https://www.ebay.co....tm/233688941395

Edited by classictinkering, 12 December 2022 - 02:46 PM.

[Jase]

It's Bracken, my car is a 78 and should be black but I'm building it up in Bracken, the car we had was a 74 M plate Clubman so following that but in GT format.

[daveg]

Classictinkering - thanks for the ebay link to the colour options that would indicate sand glow would have been the original colour. I got a spray can of bronze yellow and sprayed a test stripe on the wing:-

 

 

There is quite a contrast between the two colours although in real life the original paint does not look quite so pale. The test stripe is close to the colour I remember on my 1972 car and I prefer it to the cars current colour. The car is going to need a full respray so I will go with bronze yellow. According to the paint supplier BLVC15 is now known as Rover 15. I have plenty of work to do before it will be ready for the top coat so if I want a break from welding I might get some samples of Bracken and Sand Glow to see how they compare.

[imack]

My 72 mini back in the mid 80's when it was still Harvest Gold - I still have this car. I remember Sandglow being paler than Harvest Gold.
My sister had a 71 Bronze Yellow mini known as 'the cornflake'

Attached Files

•  20190925_193508.jpg   43.9K   0 downloads

[daveg]

It has been a while since my last update but some progress has been made:-

 

 

 

It is nearly completely stripped and ready to make a start on the bodywork. No real problems getting the subframes off apart from rusty fixings. I took the engine and subframe out together but I think next time I will sperate them.

 

The rollover jig  is great, I need to make a few adjustments to get it perfectly balanced but it allows easy access to everything.

 

 

 

The o/s is in the worst condition so the plan is to tackle this first and get some strength back in the body shell.

 

After reading other projects I had decided to fit heritage panels where possible but I have bought a replica half floor as I couldn't find a heritage one. The quality is not great and it is warped and doesn't sit flat so is going to require a lot of fettling.

 

[daveg]

The more I studied the replica half floor the less confident I was in my ability to fit it so I decided to return it and order the heritage version.  I had originally avoided the heritage panel because the foot well shape was wrong. The heritage panel is flat and just looks quality so to me is well worth the extra £30, even my partner said "It looks better than the other bent one you had".

 

Initial fitting went well and it all seems to line up without too much trouble. If I were to do it again I would try and make the join on a flat section rather than a curved bit that made positioning the cut harder.

 

 

 

Next job was to repair the heel board using a heritage half panel. The angle iron is a jig I made to get the heel board to subframe mountings in the right place, i will check with the subframe before welding.

 

 

 

 

Initial fitting of the heel board repair went well so time to try with the new floor section.

 

 

Not a bad fit but the floor pan was stopping the heel board from lining up with the subframe mounts, the solution was to narrow the new floor by 4mm. I am now happy with the fit and it is ready to weld but I will do the repairs to the boot floor first as they should be easier with the heel board removed.