golden brown

[edboy]

i noticed an article in a classic bike magazine about a golden flash painted in some drab whitey beige. in the same article was an original bsa advert of the golden flash painted in a glorious gold, almost metallic, surely that caused a stir. what is going on at the factory paint shop.wrong paint ordered? pigment issues? why does every restoration opt for the sickly version when bsa intended gold not beige.has bsa broken the strict trading information act with their promising advert and delivered a turkey?

[trevinoz]

Isn't the colour polychromatic silver beige?

[edboy]

hi trev,
good looking bike.  thats a nice sounding colour .
but where does the title gold flash come from then?

[Brian]

I've attached a scan from an original brochure dated Feb 1950.

You will see that black was actually the standard colour and beige was optional so its really a bit ironic that the model was called "Golden Flash".

I also noticed that it states that the primary/gearbox and timing cover was polished, this may answer a question posted on the forum some time ago about just which bits were polished.

As for the "correct" beige I dont think there is one. I have seen several bikes that were colour matched to a piece of original colour from inside a tool box or the underneath of the tank or similar and they all vary slightly, each owner swearing theirs is "correct".

[trevinoz]

I agree, Brian, about the colour differences. If a new batch of paint was made every day there was sure to be differences.

[Ted_Flash]

The early beige had particles of mica added to give a "metallic" type effect. No wonder they had consistency problems.  I had mine matched to an original section of chainguard, but just as flat beige without any attempt at metallic, mainly due to touch-up difficulties with metallic types.

[bsa-bill]

The early beige had particles of mica added to give a "metallic" type effect.

I've read somewhere that this is what makes " Pearlescent" but maybe back then they didn't have a clear coat / Lacquer to give depth of shine

[edboy]

well i can only guess that bsa were using up desert warfare cammo beige leftover from the 2nd world war and their marketing department were pulling a fast one with the gold flash title. however i am sure the gold flash colour i saw as a teenager was more golden than beige but that may be the clotted memory. however i have found  hammerite smooth gold to be near the golden flash colour i remember and easily available.

[nimrod650]

 i spoke to a former bsa factory worker regarding paint he said the paint shop used to mix a colour to do a batch of 200 bikes at a time gold flash shooting star ect this was in the days before fancy mixing systems like we have today hence they were never a perfect match

[Butch (cb)]

Hmmmm - Beige Flash. Could be my super hero alter ego.

[terryk]

I have a NOS yes new old stock plunger Golden Flash toolbox in original beige colour. I bought it as NOS from the UK many years ago and paid a lot of money for it. it has a sticker on the back but I cant remember what it says but you can tell it is a NOS replacement part. I have it wrapped in bubble wrap in a box in the shed. I will match the paint one day when I need it but I'm sure it's original beige.

[michaelfish]

My 1960 Flash, which I have had since 1963 is described in the log book as beige. Some few years  after acquiring it I needed a replacement for the original front mudguard.This was duly ordered by my local dealer from BSA. The colour of the new one was way off the original.So tying in with the "batches of 200"there were no doubt many shades of beige that left the works.

[duTch]

 I have vague recollection of remnants of 'gold' maybe on what was left of the rear mudguard/fender of mine when I found it in the local  wrecker (frame/1/2 R.Fender/ C.stand/fuel tank/1Plunger unit)....thought it was some kind of custom paint job- didn't take it serious, but it was an actual 'Gold' rather than 'beige'  ...don't think I any longer have any samples

[Topdad]

I remember many different shades of gold ,I think a BMC metallic gold was used by quite a lot of people or maybe Ford but it didn't look quite right ,to golden if you follow my drift.

[sparx]

When I restored my Father's A10 I decided to keep it the original black, rather than change it to Gold, so I went to the paint-shop foreman where I sub-contract and asked him if I could scrounge some black paint from him. His answer had me stumped:-
    "ok Dave, no problem. What colour black do you want?"

  Apparently there are more shades of "black" than any other colour.