Jowett Colours

[Keith Clements]

It is true, but many would remove the suspension to repaint. There are many such areas, such as under the flock covering in the tool tray, behind the regulator, or chassis plate, behind the door hinges... it really depends if the chassis has been completely stripped before painting.

[Nick Webster]

While discovering long lost paint is a good way to determine the general original colour it is not a particularly good way of colour matching. My experience has been that where paint has been sandwiched and had possible exposure to oil / rubber / glue /possibly even over painting, there is a tendency for the tone to darken. I might also add that once I discovered original (non Jowett) paint underneath a thickening panel for the mounting of a number plate. I immediately dabbed a few selections of similar colour paint around it to find that unfortunately non of my in stock colours matched. I then left the panel for a couple of weeks and on returning found that the original colour had reacted with either light or air and was much closer to one of my sample colours than it was before. To sum up: It is a mine field!

Nick

[Keith Clements]

Chris has recently matched the colour on my red SA using some sophisticated and expensive equipment combined with a lot of skill.
Matching the paint on a panel will have more than just colour to consider.

[ian Howell]

Any 'reds' and black are notoriously difficult to match.

[Chris Spencer]

Tim's research into the Jowett colour range is very, very helpful - however the formulas quoted cannot be relied upon - these are quoting old formula data & tinters which will have changed with time. So here is a simple explanation has to how your colour is mixed when you order it from a supplier - There are close to half a million formulas for vehicle colours available and obviously it is not economic sense to keep half a million tins of mixed paint on shelves in stock - so colour is mixed to a formula by weight from a bank of tinters - normally somewhere between 70 - 90 tinters are held in a colour bank (much like the household paints at decorators / DIY stores). Different paint brands & types will have different versions and ranges of tinters - hence formula quoted will be for one paint range / brand alone.

Automotive paint technology has moved on considerably with time - Very early Jowetts would have been coach painted by brush with an enamel paint until spraying technology came to the market - air drying enamel paint was then sprayed until cellulose paint became available allowing the first metallic paints to be applied (paint thinned by solvent in order to apply it by spray gun) - the solvent then vaporises over a period to leave the paint on the applied surface - 2 pack paints (chemically cured - paint with a catalyst harder mixed into it) largely replaced the solvent applied paints as the 2 pack paints could be applied, cured and handled in much reduced timescales - today most colour coats are applied as water based (basecoat) then have a 2 pack clear lacquer applied over the top of them.

If you have an original sample of the paint large enough for spectrometer reading (needs to be a flat area approx 75mm x 75mm) then this can be used to identify the colour and provide a matching / close matching formula - however has already stated within this thread - paints fade over time and can be effected by other factors such as traffic film / oil / sunlight or age - some chemical breakdown of the colour will have occurred over a substantial period. Finding a supplier that still retains old formula data is very difficult, further to this as the demand for the older / slower moving tinters occurs the paint manufacture will delete the said tinters and replace them with a faster moving product - I know of one specialist in the UK that retains old stock formula & tinters for cellulose automotive paints but it is getting very difficult to supply them - spectrometer technology gives you the very best option of matching a colour that will have a formula available for tinters that are readily available in todays market but you well have to use a modern 2 pack or waterbased paint.

I have been using automotive paints of all types for the last 40 years - hence hold much experience on the subject - if I can help / advise fellow Jowett members & owners just give me a call or drop me a mail

Chris

[billyjowett]

thanks for all the info here guys, but one small question, i'm pretty sure my car has suffered a re-spray and was wondering how to find the original colour?
is it part of the boby number or is there a colour code somewhere else?
thanks

[Keith Clements]

easiest way is to look under areas that are unlikely to have been repsrayed. See earlier post on where to look . Some factory records are available if you can tell us the chassis number. Contact the registrar.

[billyjowett]

thanks kieth. been looking in those hidden little places, but i cant tell if it was dark blue/dark green.
will however try the chasis number route

[Keith Clements]

Since everyone has a slightly different perception of colour, worth getting a second opinion. Note that if grease or other contaminant may have altered the colour.

[Jav8092D]

Hi Everyone,

I believe that when I repaint my new aquisition back to its original factory colour, Turquoise Blue. I will be in rare company as there are few of this colour, so I'm told...

I took ownership of a failed restoration project that has sat for at least 12 years, 1950 Javelin E0PB8092D.
It has already been confirmed that this car left the factory on April 5th 1950 with 2 other cars, sequentially numbered, all Turquoise Blue with beige interior shipped to Melbourne.
At some point in its life, an attempt to match the colour was made (evidenced by paint matching brush strokes on the metal of the dash panel) but the result was darker. The car was painted in that attempt. It was again repainted, but colour changed to Connaught green? The 'apple green', a colour I'm not a real fan of.
The previous owner to me decided to paint the firewall in the engine bay and in doing so covered up the only obvious remaining factory paint that he described as a "Duck egg blue".

It has taken me some time working with the local paint shop to finally match the original factory Turquoise Blue.
This was achieved by finding 4 different areas on the car where original paint still existed. Unfortunately for me, the person who recoloured the car had it done properly, down to painting places like inside the tool tray, the frame that the rear seat bolts to (inside the boot and the interior) etc.
I had to work with the metal dash panel that the original timber covered, the centre of the door panels behind the door cards where the green had only over sprayed by about 4 inches, the underside of the rear parcel shelf inside the boot, behind the car ID plates in the engine bay and believe it or not, in the air intake ducts in the wooden silencer box mounted in the bonnet. NB ALL of these matched each other, with the interior single coat areas just being lighter in appearance

Using a spectrometer initally gave varied results as the paint on the door internals was only a single coat and the readings gave a more grey green colour. By using tests from all the areas we were getting the same overall results in the right ball park of a turquoise. The air intake was actually the life saver as it gave a strong clean and clear sample that allowed us to get the spectrometer results from every where else, compare them to the intake test (which narrowed the results further) and then with some eye matching the guys got the colour you now see.

Bare in mind, what you see will vary considerably depending on the device you view it on. I wouldnt have believed this until I looked at the same photo of a car on the web on my laptop, tablet and phone all next to each other and it was completely different in all 3!
I have since compared the result to the test areas and it is in the right colour band for the lighter single coat interior samples, very close to the firewall and an exact match to the air intake.
Will these have changed from the factory over 70 years? Well yes I imagine so, but in the absence of a formula its a pretty good result I think.

When I have the formula, I will make it available here. Bare in mind that it was made using Valspar paint and their spectrometer (in Australia) and then varied slightly by the guys at the shop, They tell me that if your local paint company cant use that formula (presumably a brand thing and their tinters), most companys can analyse the formula and convert this to what they use. I have had this done before by Glasurit for example..

Attached is the result from the test sample mixed up..

Cheers
Chris