A tank colours

[Arthur Farrow]

I heard somebody had been asking about the colour of red used on pre war series A.

The nearest is FORD IMPERIAL MARROON (this is probably a UK Ford colour)

For heaven sake not chinese red!!

 

[hrdsuper90]

I hope no one takes the Sammy Miller series 'A' tank colours as being standard..... 'cos they aren't - such a pity on a museum restoration.

Perhaps he should stick to Ducatis ?

 

[Arthur Farrow]

Indeed..very sad. The wheel rims are as series B /C which is farcical too.

Research tell me the correct finish is all over chrome BUT the centres between the spokes are unpolished and therfore appear matt.

No objection to non standard bikes, but when they are set as an example in a place like the Miller museum it is a poor example to would be restorers. On a bike as valuable as an A twin there is no excuse.

 

[A_HRD]

Poor A Twin Restoration

Yes, you are all right. Although I haven't seen it, I am advised separately that there are a myriad of 'wrong' things on the Sammy Miller machine. That is a shame. But worse is the poor engineering standard employed during the restoration. One example, the use of gash jubilee clips on the oil pipes! Yuk!

Does anyone have a hi-res picture so that we can all see?

Peter Barker

 

[Ian Savage]

I've had it on good authority that the black tanks on A’s are Ford Regal Black.

 

[Arthur Farrow]

Or an even close match might be Mobylette Noir de Noir mixed with a little Niger valley coal miner.

 

[A-BCD]

A tank RED

When I did the tank on my A / B , I bought Deep Crimson - a standard nitro cellulose colour. It was a little bright so I added a dash or two of Black until it looked about right.

When I parked alongside a couple of genuine A machines, I was pleased to see that the colour was just about spot-on.

Brian

 

[mercurycrest]

I'm not so sure there wern't both Maroon bikes and Red bikes. When I bought my Comet it been canabalized and didn't have a proper tank. I got in touch with Bob Kountz and it turned out, He owned a Comet that was something like three serial numbers from mine. When he got his Comet it was in bad unrestored shape but, had Red paint on the tank so, when He restored it, He matched that Red. Later when Ben Kalka had a line up of A Twins and Singles in his shop in Oakland, there were red ones, Maroon ones, Black ones and shiny, all Stainless ones. I have a picture of a Comet EJO 908 that looks like a very original survivor and the tank is Red, just like Kountz's bike and the Red ones in Oakland were. Phil Irving saw my Comet on several different occasions and not once did He say: "wrong color." Maybe there were Red ones after all. My Build Sheet says: RED/STAINLESS, not Maroon/Stainless.
I was told my D Shadow had the wrong speedo because the numbers weren't the ones listed for Princes listed on the "Official" list.. At the N.A. Rally in Deer Lodge, MT. there were four D Shadows lined up and some bloody bloke had swapped out all their speedos for the same one as is in mine, imagine that!
Cheers, John

 

[Tom Gaynor]

Originality

I've told this story before, and unless stopped, will doubtless tell it again, but my father had a hand-change Norton from the factory in the late thirties. He couldn't ride a bike with foot-change, because he had only one leg, his right, which had to be used for the brake. So, to get the sale, the factory build him a right foot brake, hand-change, Norton. In the run up to WW II, if you wanted a bike with sky-blue scarlet paint, and bananas instead of handlebars, they'd supply. Some time in the early thirties, perhaps 1933, after the first Wall Street crash, Rudge announced a policy of "continuous improvement". What this actually meant was that they'd use up old parts on new bikes to survive, so that, for example, there are many "original" 1934 Rudges, all slightly different, and the "1937-39" frame was being used on bikes in 1936. There is no reason to believe that Vincent weren't under the same pressure.

I'm not so sure there wern't both Maroon bikes and Red bikes. When I bought my Comet it been canabalized and didn't have a proper tank. I got in touch with Bob Kountz and it turned out, He owned a Comet that was something like three serial numbers from mine. When he got his Comet it was in bad unrestored shape but, had Red paint on the tank so, when He restored it, He matched that Red. Later when Ben Kalka had a line up of A Twins and Singles in his shop in Oakland, there were red ones, Maroon ones, Black ones and shiny, all Stainless ones. I have a picture of a Comet EJO 908 that looks like a very original survivor and the tank is Red, just like Kountz's bike and the Red ones in Oakland were. Phil Irving saw my Comet on several different occasions and not once did He say: "wrong color." Maybe there were Red ones after all. My Build Sheet says: RED/STAINLESS, not Maroon/Stainless.
I was told my D Shadow had the wrong speedo because the numbers weren't the ones listed for Princes listed on the "Official" list.. At the N.A. Rally in Deer Lodge, MT. there were four D Shadows lined up and some bloody bloke had swapped out all their speedos for the same one as is in mine, imagine that!
Cheers, John

 

[Hugo Myatt]

The first Vincent I ever saw, a Series B Shadow, in the late 1950s had a black tank with maroon top and side panels. It looked original.