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Rob Walker's blue?

Started by nivola , Aug 09 2010 00:02

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17 replies to this topic

#1 nivola

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Posted 09 August 2010 - 00:02

Morning all

Has anyone got any idea what the paint codes are or the name of the paint that was used on the cars Owned and run by Rob Walker?

Im trying to get it correct and not get it incorrect.

Ray

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#2 Bjorn Kjer

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Posted 09 August 2010 - 06:33

The ICI paint ref. was P030-3475.

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#3 Barry Boor

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Posted 09 August 2010 - 07:33

Aaaargh, Bjorn, these ICI paint references are no use whatsoever these days.

We have discussed this before. Since the advent of acrylic paint on cars, the new paint codes bear no resemblance to the ICI ones and even within the industry there seems to be no way of connecting the old codes with new ones.

For Walker blue I use Ford Royal Blue but I suspect it may be a tad light.

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#4 SWB

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Posted 09 August 2010 - 07:42

My easy to get choice would be Ford Midnight Blue.

Steve

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#5 kayemod

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Posted 09 August 2010 - 08:47

My easy to get choice would be Ford Midnight Blue.

Steve

To confuse things even further, back in the days when I was a keen car modeller, I used Ford Ambassador Blue.

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#6 Bjorn Kjer

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Posted 09 August 2010 - 09:06

Then I will not tell you what I use.............

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#7 David McKinney

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Posted 09 August 2010 - 10:40

Photographic evidence aside, the first time I saw a Rob Walker car (on-track) I thought it was black and white...

Which would suggest you want the darkest blue you can find

Edited by David McKinney, 09 August 2010 - 10:40.

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#8 kayemod

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Posted 09 August 2010 - 10:45

Photographic evidence aside, the first time I saw a Rob Walker car (on-track) I thought it was black and white...

Which would suggest you want the darkest blue you can find

That's true, the cars tended to photograph a couple of shades lighter than they appeared in the flesh, or in the fibreglass of course...

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#9 Paul Parker

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Posted 09 August 2010 - 12:57

Photographic evidence aside, the first time I saw a Rob Walker car (on-track) I thought it was black and white...

Which would suggest you want the darkest blue you can find

I saw the Rob Walker colours several times in period and the one I recall most vividly was at the 1961 Goodwood TT on 2735 GT which was of course a bright, sunny day.

It was indeed dark blue but not indigo dark in my opinion, more like what I would describe as navy blue. Period film stock is subject to colour bias and also deterioration over time so most colour images from this era will not be accurate.

Obviously this is my subjective opinion based upon memory and impression. Without any detailed personal knowledge about something so arcane can I assume that the cars were always painted a specific shade of blue over the years. They always looked the same to me whether on Coopers, Loti or indeed the two 250GTs but then again perhaps my colour perception is/was poor.

As an aside I always thought that the Equipe Endeavour blue was at least very similar but unfortunately I never saw ECD 400 alongside the Ferrari in 1961.

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#10 Gabrci

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Posted 09 August 2010 - 13:00

I saw the Rob Walker Lotus just two weeks ago in an exhibition and it surprised me that it's acually much lighter than I would have thought. It's still dark blue of course, but not at all nearly black as I had thought.

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#11 kayemod

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Posted 09 August 2010 - 13:06

I saw the Rob Walker Lotus just two weeks ago in an exhibition and it surprised me that it's acually much lighter than I would have thought. It's still dark blue of course, but not at all nearly black as I had thought.

What you saw two weeks ago wasn't 'Rob Walker Blue', it was 'Restoration Blue'.

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#12 Gabrci

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Posted 09 August 2010 - 13:27

What you saw two weeks ago wasn't 'Rob Walker Blue', it was 'Restoration Blue'.

Good point, but the car was in excellent condition, so I guess they paid attention to this too.

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#13 David McKinney

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Posted 09 August 2010 - 14:06

Good point, but the car was in excellent condition, so I guess they paid attention to this too.

Based on photographs, no doubt, rather than memory

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#14 Barry Boor

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Posted 09 August 2010 - 16:15

The thing is, Ray, we have discussed racing car colours ad nauseum on this forum and the truth of it is, since the ICI codes ceased to be used, we have a situation in which we can use more or less any colour on any car that is somewhere near and there is nobody around who can ever prove us wrong in our choice.

So, you pays yer money.....

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#15 Nick Wa

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Posted 09 August 2010 - 16:21

Photographic evidence aside, the first time I saw a Rob Walker car (on-track) I thought it was black and white...

Me too! In fact I would not want to swear that the "A" type Connaught was not black. It was likewise only seeing the car later on display I noticed it was blue.
On the Delage thread I note that when advertised for sale the car is described as black. When I saw the car in the shed that burnt down it was in Seaman's colours black with silver wheels.
I just wonder if Walker did not adopt the blue colour after Ecurie Ecosse sort of established it as the unofficial racing colours of Scotland.

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#16 cs3tcr

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Posted 09 August 2010 - 17:26

My easy to get choice would be Ford Midnight Blue.

Steve

Thats funny, i painted my car the Ford Midnight Blue and someone remarked it looked like Rob Walker blue. Its a dark blue in low light, but a nice medium blue when in bright sunlight.

Low light:
Posted Image

Bright light:
Posted Image

Rod

Edited by cs3tcr, 09 August 2010 - 20:00.

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#17 kayemod

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Posted 09 August 2010 - 18:05

What makes this discussion more difficult, is that I'm not convinced that there ever was such a thing as a single Rob Walker blue, blueness and blackness varied somewhat over the years. No problems when the cars were painted overall, but where fibreglass components were involved, as with the Lotus 18 and 49 for example, I suspect the the colour would have been the darkest blue in the pigment manufacturer's standard range, a special colour would have been prohibitively expensive, with other parts of the car sprayed in as close a match as possible. Rob Walker was never hard-up, but I doubt of he was one to throw his money around with custom pigments etc. My guess would be Llewellyn Ryland's 4546 Oxford Blue, which is still in their current range, and can be found on their website today.

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#18 D-Type

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Posted 09 August 2010 - 20:13

~
I just wonder if Walker did not adopt the blue colour after Ecurie Ecosse sort of established it as the unofficial racing colours of Scotland.

I read somewhere that when Rob Walker was driving he painted his car dark blue to match his school (Merchiston Castle I think) rugby strip and when he became an entrant he stuck with it. so he possibly preceded Ecurie Ecosse.

Ecurie Ecosse adopted their blue because Ian Stewart liked the colour, Ault & Wiborg's Flag Metallic Blue, and painted his XK120 when it was repaired after a smash. When Ecurie Ecosse was formed they adopted the colour. It went with the blue of the Saltire and the Scottish football, and rugby jerseys.

So, as you say blue became the unofficial Scottish racing colour and then when Border Reivers came along they followed suit and painted their cars Fordson tractor blue.

Edit: seeing the photos of Rod's Lotus XI emphasizes the difficulty of relying on photographs.

Edited by D-Type, 09 August 2010 - 20:17.