Author Topic: Golden Flash Paint Colour Codes  (Read 7638 times)

Offline Stu55Flash

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Golden Flash Paint Colour Codes
« on: 09.02. 2010 20:56 »
Hi

Anybody know the paint colour codes for this bike?

Thanks

Stu
"Keep a distance from lady "L" drivers in cars. Some are not mechanically minded, are slow to acquire road sense, an are apt to panic..." The Pitman Book of the BSA Twins.
Golden Flash Plunger 1955, Francis Barnett Falcon 67 1954, Ferguson TEA Tractor 1951. Looking for another project!

Online bsa-bill

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1961 Flash - stock, reliable, steady, fantastic for shopping
1959 Rocket Gold Flash - blinged and tarted up  would have seizure if taken to  Tesco

Offline Stu55Flash

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Re: Golden Flash Paint Colour Codes
« Reply #2 on: 11.02. 2010 17:49 »
£100 per litre seems a little expensive - like twice the price of a 2 pack mixed - if you know the colour. Can anyone tell me how good a match the: 1970 Ford Ditzler 2044 colour is to the original? This is quoted on: http://bsa.hailwood.com/paint.html

Thx
"Keep a distance from lady "L" drivers in cars. Some are not mechanically minded, are slow to acquire road sense, an are apt to panic..." The Pitman Book of the BSA Twins.
Golden Flash Plunger 1955, Francis Barnett Falcon 67 1954, Ferguson TEA Tractor 1951. Looking for another project!

Offline trevinoz

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Re: Golden Flash Paint Colour Codes
« Reply #3 on: 11.02. 2010 20:01 »
Stu,
            Go to Bikes, Pictures & Members.
Open '55 Flash and you will find a colour match which Orabanda kindly supplied.
             Trev.

Offline Stu55Flash

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Re: Golden Flash Paint Colour Codes
« Reply #4 on: 26.03. 2010 17:21 »
OK thanks for the replies. I've now found a good match to the original paint under the blue paint on the oil tank. After about 2 hours going through paint colour chips, the old boy out the back of the paint shop came through and said - that's Vauxhall Soverign Gold 58L 405. See picture below:
"Keep a distance from lady "L" drivers in cars. Some are not mechanically minded, are slow to acquire road sense, an are apt to panic..." The Pitman Book of the BSA Twins.
Golden Flash Plunger 1955, Francis Barnett Falcon 67 1954, Ferguson TEA Tractor 1951. Looking for another project!

Offline BSA_54A10

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Re: Golden Flash Paint Colour Codes
« Reply #5 on: 27.03. 2010 21:56 »
If you are in the UK Polly Palmer @ Bri-Tie Motorcycles in Wales has correct colour matches for sale.

Now as to the "correct" colour. It is a pile of puss, there is no such thing once BSA stopped using viterious enamel.
The paint for each day was mixed by the day shift foreman by hand for the scheduled production on that day with the available measuring material of the day so no two batches were absolutely the same.
Next, the parts were sprayed by hand by a team of spray painters and no two painter will spray parts to identical colours.
Add to that the paint store was not accessible by the night shift so if they were running short because one of the painters was spraying a bit too thick, then the mix got thinned a bit to finish the run.

Our oldest riding member bought the first A10 plunger in NSW ( in Australia also he thinks ) and one of his favourite stories is how when he went to pick up his bike. He refused the one that the dealer had prepared for him. He made them swap all of his accessories from one bike to another. The reason ? Out of the first batch of 14 Golden Flashes there was only 1 that was the same colour gold from one end to another . On some he reckons that every part was a different shade gold so if you had one of them then you could make 7 different "original" Golden Flash golds depending upon which "original" part you picked to match.

Now the first production run was overpainted with gold on black which is why they have a greenish tinge as it was to be a limited edition colour. When it became a standard production colour then the top coat was over a red, blue or cream undercoat and each one of these combinations yields a different end colour as the base coat shows through the top coat.

Spare parts were all finished black then either despatched in that state for the dealer to colour match at replacement or colour coated at the factory if they were to be sold over the counter for the customer to fit.

While this spiel dose will necessarily help you to find an acceptable colour silver but hopefully it will stop you pulling out your hair while bashing you head against a brick wall trying to obtain some thing that dose not actually exist. 
Bike Beesa
Trevor

Offline MG

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Re: Golden Flash Paint Colour Codes
« Reply #6 on: 27.03. 2010 22:16 »
This is what I found in my literature:

A10 Golden Beige:
Chrysler Champagne Metallic (Berger 7440),
or BL Metallic Golden Beige,
or Chrysler Golden Sand

1950 GF (Polychromatic Golden Beige):
1970 Ford Ditzler 2044

I never verified this information, but maybe it can offer you some starting point for your research.

Good luck!
Markus
1955 A7 Shooting Star
1956 A10 Golden Flash
1961 Matchless G12 CSR

www.histo-tech.at - Restoration, Repairs, Racing

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Offline Stu55Flash

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Re: Golden Flash Paint Colour Codes
« Reply #7 on: 28.03. 2010 19:37 »
Trevor

Thanks for filling us in. I feel a lot happier now that I can use any colour primer. The wife's not happy though as she waited for 2 hours in the car outside the paint shop while I tried to get a good match. The Ford and other colours above where not a good match for my sample and you've explained why.

Thanks

Stu

"Keep a distance from lady "L" drivers in cars. Some are not mechanically minded, are slow to acquire road sense, an are apt to panic..." The Pitman Book of the BSA Twins.
Golden Flash Plunger 1955, Francis Barnett Falcon 67 1954, Ferguson TEA Tractor 1951. Looking for another project!

Offline MG

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Re: Golden Flash Paint Colour Codes
« Reply #8 on: 28.03. 2010 20:06 »
Stu, thanks for the reply. I'll add your find to my records.

Trevor, good point and very interesting reading. Should make life a lot easier for several restorers...

Cheers, Markus
1955 A7 Shooting Star
1956 A10 Golden Flash
1961 Matchless G12 CSR

www.histo-tech.at - Restoration, Repairs, Racing

Austria

Offline BSA_54A10

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Re: Golden Flash Paint Colour Codes
« Reply #9 on: 29.03. 2010 07:45 »
Before you put the colour coat on ring your supplier and ask him what colour undercoat should be used with the paint he supplied.
Unless you put 6 or more coats of colour on the bike the undercoat colour will affect the top coat colour and it will be different depending upon what light you are looking at it with.
I have been to shows where owners have taken to each other with tyre irons over a dispute as to which machine was the correct "kakahi " so it is all too easy to fall into an obsessive trap.
Now if you really want to go the whole hog, ask you wife about the colour.
Women see colour differently to men and can pick a substantially smaller difference that men can.
Also if you have used tell tale coats make sure that you have put at least 2 , prefferable 3 complete coats of undercoat over them before you apply the top coat.
This subsurface "bleed" is one of the reasons why so many use powder coat as it is totally opaque to the substrate
Full colour two pack can also be opaque
Bike Beesa
Trevor