paint colour under the bonnet

[Andrew Eales]

Hello everyone,

A quick question -

I have viewed many many photo's of bradford engine bays and bulkheads. Most appear to be matt black in colour on the inside of the panels, and the bulkhead, regardless of the exterior paint colour. Occasionally however I see a bulkhead matched to the exterior colour of the vehicle !

What was the ex factory set up ?

Thanks

[David Kemp]

I am not an expert , but all the Bradfords I dismantled & my Dad did, the body colour & bulkhead were always the same colour unless someone had repainted after.
One car I dismantled possibly had a new coat of paint for every owner . The paint come off in chunks! Most of ours were CKD units or had been chassis units ,bodied in NZ. I doubt Jowett would have gone to the expense of painting the bulk head a different colour to the body. This I believe is a General Motors tradition from the sixties, You can buy GM Black at any parts store, but Bradfords look better (to me) with the body & bulkhead the same colour as per factory.

[george garside]

My recollection is that all vans & utilities had blck bulkheads, inner wings etc the exeption being the de luix utility that had body coloured i.e. catalina tan bulkhead & inner wings. I understand black wings were common to all exept the de lux utility & this of course would account for black inner wings.

However -- as many vans weere suppied in works primer it is quite possible that some first time users had the bulhead painted in body colour but not very probable as to do so would have involved removing wiring etc etc.

The waters are furthur muddied by the ckd 'kits' supplied to Austalia & New Zealand which are more likely to have had body coloured bulkheads as these could be painted before assembly.

george

[Andrew Eales]

THanks for the replies,

Black it is !

[John Wolf]

Hi Andrew,
I can recall my Dads Bradford, which he purchased new in 1951 was painted a very dark green under the bonnet and fire wall, and also under the mudgards. The finished colour for the exterior was Gun Metal Grey or what ever the Jowett spec was for this colour.
I have looked at other old panels that I have and have also found the same dark green paint on the underside of these panels. I think that this green (primer) is documented is some of the Jowett publications.
I would think that Dads Bradford would have arrived in NZ as part of a CKD pack and all the panels would have been painted with the green primer at the Jowett factory in the UK. When the vehicles were assembled in NZ the completed vehicle would have been painted to the Jowett Colour specification. The under side of of the bonnet, front scuttle and mudgards were definately not painted to match the exterior, they were left in the dark green primer colour.

Regards
John W

[Andrew Eales]

Following my quest for a registration document for my van (with the invaluable assistance of the club and Mr Ian Priestley), I have uncovered some more details about the vehicle.

This email in particular states it left the factory in Primer and was therefore painted by the dealer. I reckon taking off the wings and bonnet by the dealer to paint is easy enough but the bulkhead would have been too much time hence its matt black finish applied with a brush. Thats my Miss Marple moment over !
Interestingly the van was registered by the factory on the 29th Dec 1949 with Bradford Council, prior to being shipped north to the supplying dealer. Maybe that was how it worked then.

Dear Mr Eales
I've had a look at the Bradford van factory records, and I've found the following entry:-

Date delivered - 2/1/50
Engine and chassis number - EO/CC/25477
Model and type - fourlight 8cwt
Colour - primer
Agent's name - Robb, Kirkcaldy
Customer's name and address - X XXXX, dairyman, North View, Leslie, Fife
Date delivered to customer - 17/1/50

I hope this information is useful.