Caracciola's colour code in 1938

Hallo all

Many souces describe Mercedes 1938 colour codes as follows:

Lang: blue
von Brauchitsch: red
Seaman: green
Caracciola: white

There should have been around Caracciolas front grills of his driven Mercedes a thin white stripe. I cannot see any white stripe in many photos... I think rather of reflections.

Is there anybody to bring light to this?

Thanks in advance!

Fabienne

In one of my books there is a reproduction of a painting of Caracciola at the 'Ring in 1938. The nose and the grille of the care are silver with no sign of a white stripe. I would expect a painter to exaggerate a feature like that so your suspicion that there was no white stripe is probably correct.

Edited by D-Type, 22 April 2012 - 20:22.

go in this thread to CARS
then MERCEDES-BENZ
then scroll to 1938
http://www.kolumbus....snellman/c9.htm

Daimler-Benz introduced the first marking with coloured grills 1937 at the Avusrennen to test their effectiveness.

1938 Mercedes marked their grills for the first time at the French GP, in the colours already described by you, however Caracciola drove white or without any colour marking. This was done for easier identification of the cars passing the Reims pits at rather high speed.
Additionally each of the Mercedes drivers had to wear a cap in corresponding colour. Caracciola white, Brauchitsch red, Lang blue and Seaman green.

Dear Mr. Etzrodt

AVUS 1937: Do you know the colour codes (car/driver)?

Masaryk 1937: Seaman was white. But Caracciola, Lang and von Brauchitsch?

kolumbus.fi, France 1938 Reims: The marking for Lang seems to me doubtful. His car is shown only in the upper half blue. Photos suggest the hole grill to be blue..... ?

What do you think of Caracciolas white striped grill?

Please, can you help me?

Thank you very much


Fabienne

I have no additional information about colours. This is a subject hardly ever mentioned in contemporary magazines or in books published many years later.

The color codes white/red/blue/green are mentioned in George Monkhouse's "Motor racing with Mercedes Benz" (1948). They seem to fit in the few cases they can be confirmed by color film/photos. There also exists a color picture from Tripoli with Lang having red radiator but it is possible that the picture might be hand colored.
The pictures on my website are the results of long studies of photos. Of course there can be errors.

AVUS 1937: Do you know the colour codes (car/driver)?

Unknown.

Masaryk 1937: Seaman was white. But Caracciola, Lang and von Brauchitsch?

Unknown. I have therefore just added a red variant to show what part of radiators were colored without mention the driver.

kolumbus.fi, France 1938 Reims: The marking for Lang seems to me doubtful. His car is shown only in the upper half blue. Photos suggest the hole grill to be blue..... ?

The variant shown on my site is the result of a picture from Reims practice shown in George Monkhouse's "Mercedes-Benz Grand prix 1934-1955" (1983), page 66 in the German 2002 edition.

What do you think of Caracciolas white striped grill?

Its is very hard to see the difference between the white and the silver, but I still claim the car was white colored, at least at the 1938 & 1939 Swiss GP.

Edited by Leif Snellman, 29 April 2012 - 07:36.

~

Its is very hard to see the difference between the white and the silver, but I still claim the car was white colored, at least at the 1938 & 1939 Swiss GP.

Leif,
Are you referring to the stripe or to the whole car?

Leif,
Are you referring to the stripe or to the whole car?

Sorry, meant the radiator only.

Dear Mr. Leif Snellman

You wrote: "Lang, Mercedes 1938 Tripoli, his grille could be hand-coloured."
I know this photo. But now I found a b/w-photo clearly showing Langs front to be painted.

Please, can you send me your private mail-address, I' d love to send you this photo.

Thank you very much in advance.

Fabienne