TR2/3/3A TR3 Paint Colors

[oxendine]

Getting near the time to finally paint my 1960 TR3. I am not a purist by any means as my car has panasports and a small mouth apron on it. Kinda leaning towards black but the Mrs. likes old english white, silverstone grey, etc. The interior, top is the Roadster Factory tan. Any pictures would be appreciated.

Thanks, Donnie

 

[Geo Hahn]

Anything but red.

Tan top & interior go with many colors but (IMO) looks best with a green exterior.

OTOH, as Passenger 57 said: "Always bet on black".

 

[tinman58]

I painted my TR3 a VW color "Moonlight Beigh" I really like it with the panasport rims and with a tan top it would look great. It looks good with my co pilots.

 

[angelfj1]

IMHO, black is the MOST demanding of all colors regarding surface preparation, and will show the most minute imperfections in body work. That said, it does look beautiful when done correctly.

 

[JohnnyMead]

Being among the legions that own signal red TR3s, I must say I like how they look in off-white, like Dan's. That interior-exterior combination is great.
I'm always drawn to those colors when I see TR3s lined up at a car show.
John

 

[TR4]

My favorite would have to be Old English White with Tan Hides.

 

[GeeBee1]

Dan:

Your co pilots are adorable.

Pat

 

[Gordon_Dedrick]

Frank is absolutely right, but mine didn't turn out half bad! After all the time and $$ I spent on body work and paint I'm always interested that the first comments I get on the car are how nice the interior looks......go figure!
Gordon

 

[Moseso]

Not sure how it would go with the tan softwork, but I must vote for my favorite TR3 color: Powder Blue

 

[Twosheds]

Ditto.

 

[Don Elliott]

When Bill Piggott, the English author of many TR books came to TRA in Williamsburg VA in 1996, he said he hadn't seen so many black sidescreen TRs on the same showfield at the same time. There must have been 15 to 20 black TRs there. Mine was one of them.

 

[luke44]

Anything but red...

Why the anti-red sentiment? You can't say the car doesn't look good in red, and I would argue its the <span style="font-style: italic">best</span> color for the car. The BMH build certificate for my car showed it came from the factory originally in signal red with black leather interior, overdrive and wire wheels. Somewhere along the line it was painted an off-color - sort of a green-beige.

My plan is to restore it to its original color scheme. Time to let the old girl wear her original colors again!!

Oh - a PS on my color research - the "correct" Signal Red (a lot aren't) is an awesome color. It lies squarely in between 2 factory red colors used on Ferraris. I'll post the color chip later.

 

[emmett1010]

Hi Donnie-
If you go to some LBC car shows, you can see many different colors up front and in person. Its hard to tell colors from samples and/or photos.
You need to see the colors on small cars to get the overall effect.
Then you and the missus select 3 or 4 that you like, talk to the owners, and get the paint and codes that they used.
Worked for me.
Emmett

 

[newguy]

I have seen a few with two-tone paint. What is the general opinion?

 

[ekamm]

I agree with the original color but really not sure how important it is. I personally think that there are enough Red, Green and black tr3's. I really would love to see some more of the unusual factory colors that were available. I am not a huge fan of the primrose color of my car, but it is the original and the way it has been since it's inception. Explore the options that will still let you use Triumph colors available to you model era.

 

[tinman58]

This is how I bought my TR3. It looks better in the picture than it did in real life. 2-tone not so much.

 

[ekamm]

Ya I forgot to say that the two tone not really my thing. I guess that I'm a traditionalist.

 

[Moseso]

I have seen a few with two-tone paint. What is the general opinion?

While never done that way originally, the few I've seen looked very sweet.

I have no idea how that stacks up with the general opinion -- other than to say, outside of keeping the oil, coolant and brake fluid levels up, there is no accepted general opinion. :cooler:

 

[Andrew Mace]

But if there WERE an accepted general opinion, it might be along the lines of "it's your car and your money; do what pleases you!"

 

[luke44]

... I really would love to see some more of the unusual factory colors that were available...

I agree. I will admit I'm originally had second thoughts about about the red b/c there are lot of them, but you can't fault the car in red either, and my car <span style="font-style: italic">was</span> signal red originally from the factory, and my very first 3 as a teenager was also signal red - so in the end that was my decision. But I also like some of the more unusual colors. I kinda like the earlier colors....here's a few of the more unusual I've come across...in order of my preference...

How about apple green....

Or Cotswald Blue.....

Or Primrose yellow....