Author Topic: Road Rocket Tank Colour  (Read 4768 times)

Offline mark

  • Melbourne, Australia
  • A's Good Friend
  • ***
  • Join Date: Jul 2009
  • Posts: 160
  • Karma: 2
Road Rocket Tank Colour
« on: 09.05. 2011 08:31 »
I am ready to get the tank of my 55 road rocket painted. I have obtained a sample of Devon Red from a tin of original BSA touch up paint but am not sure if this is an original rocket colour. Bacons book says it should be Brilliant Red for the 55-57, doesn't give a name for 58-59 then says Royal Red for 1960. In a previous entry he says that Devon Red is also referred to as Royal Red. Does anyone have further information to help me decide whether to go with the Devon Red or not and also the gold pin stripe, it looks like there should be two but I'm not sure of the width.
Mark
1955 Road Rocket
1953 Super Flash
71 Norton Commando Roadster 750
Australia

Offline trevinoz

  • Newcastle, N.S.W. Australia.
  • Wise & Enlightened
  • *
  • Join Date: Jul 2006
  • Posts: 3184
  • Karma: 71
Re: Road Rocket Tank Colour
« Reply #1 on: 09.05. 2011 23:02 »
Mark,
           It is definitely not Devon Red which is close to the Triumph Amaranth Red. More a maroon.
Look at Orabanda's Rocket in an earlier post. It is a very orangey sort of red.

  Trev.

Online orabanda

  • Wise & Enlightened
  • *
  • Join Date: Nov 2008
  • Posts: 1180
  • Karma: 24
Re: Road Rocket Tank Colour
« Reply #2 on: 09.05. 2011 23:29 »
Mark,
Here are some pics of my RR, which I believe is the right colour. Don't know what it is (painted by John Berkshire).





Richard


Offline mark

  • Melbourne, Australia
  • A's Good Friend
  • ***
  • Join Date: Jul 2009
  • Posts: 160
  • Karma: 2
Re: Road Rocket Tank Colour
« Reply #3 on: 10.05. 2011 01:01 »
Thanks for that guys. I thought that the Devon Red was a bit dark. It looks like I'll need to pick something that looks correct. Orabanda can you tell me the width of the gold lining, it looks like they are different widths.
Mark
1955 Road Rocket
1953 Super Flash
71 Norton Commando Roadster 750
Australia

Offline mark

  • Melbourne, Australia
  • A's Good Friend
  • ***
  • Join Date: Jul 2009
  • Posts: 160
  • Karma: 2
Re: Road Rocket Tank Colour
« Reply #4 on: 10.05. 2011 07:04 »
Just dropped off the tank to the painter. He had a few different reds made up for previous jobs and there was one that seemed to be quite close that he had called Bultaco Red. Since it seems that accurate info on the exact colour for the early rockets is non existent I'll make out that this is really the exact colour and "experts" can argue all they like. I'm also going with 2 gold lines, the one against the chrome about 4mm and the other one about 2mm wide.

Mark
1955 Road Rocket
1953 Super Flash
71 Norton Commando Roadster 750
Australia

Offline trevinoz

  • Newcastle, N.S.W. Australia.
  • Wise & Enlightened
  • *
  • Join Date: Jul 2006
  • Posts: 3184
  • Karma: 71
Re: Road Rocket Tank Colour
« Reply #5 on: 12.05. 2011 04:54 »
Mark,
           I'm not sure that swinging arm bikes had 2 pin stripes.
I have had a look at many photos and the majority seem to have only 1. I have a single 2.5-3mm stripe on my tanks.
If you have the "Road Rocket" transfer, it goes between the fuel filler and the bung with the lettering across the tank.


Orabanda,
                   Please don't take this as a criticism of your bikes.

  Trev.

Offline Brian

  • Wise & Enlightened
  • *
  • Join Date: May 2007
  • Posts: 1806
  • Karma: 43
  • Mt Gambier, South Australia.
Re: Road Rocket Tank Colour
« Reply #6 on: 12.05. 2011 05:20 »
Trev when you say swing arm bikes do you mean all of them including the Flash's ? Its just that I picked up a load of parts recently and amongst it is a tank which appears to be still in original paint. Its a early s/arm tank with the screw on winged Golden Flash badges. I've added a photo of the bit of the lining that is still visible.

Offline mark

  • Melbourne, Australia
  • A's Good Friend
  • ***
  • Join Date: Jul 2009
  • Posts: 160
  • Karma: 2
Re: Road Rocket Tank Colour
« Reply #7 on: 12.05. 2011 05:30 »
Trev, I also have looked long and hard at all the photos I could find in Bacons book p44,46,86 and the Gold Portfolio p138 which is an ad from 1955 and reached the conclusion that there are two, however it's not crystal clear.

Mark
1955 Road Rocket
1953 Super Flash
71 Norton Commando Roadster 750
Australia

Offline Brian

  • Wise & Enlightened
  • *
  • Join Date: May 2007
  • Posts: 1806
  • Karma: 43
  • Mt Gambier, South Australia.
Re: Road Rocket Tank Colour
« Reply #8 on: 12.05. 2011 05:38 »
This could be one of those "there is no right or wrong answer" questions. Bacons book also has a photo taken in 1958 on page ten showing a Super Rocket with only one stripe.

Offline mark

  • Melbourne, Australia
  • A's Good Friend
  • ***
  • Join Date: Jul 2009
  • Posts: 160
  • Karma: 2
Re: Road Rocket Tank Colour
« Reply #9 on: 12.05. 2011 05:57 »
Is it possible that the early ones (road rockets) had two and the later (super rockets) only one?

Mark
1955 Road Rocket
1953 Super Flash
71 Norton Commando Roadster 750
Australia

Online orabanda

  • Wise & Enlightened
  • *
  • Join Date: Nov 2008
  • Posts: 1180
  • Karma: 24
Re: Road Rocket Tank Colour
« Reply #10 on: 12.05. 2011 09:00 »
Trev,
No offence taken.
We can still be friends (as the actress said to the bishop).
Richard

Offline bsa-bill

  • Wise & Enlightened
  • *
  • Join Date: Mar 2006
  • Posts: 5720
  • Karma: 66
Re: Road Rocket Tank Colour
« Reply #11 on: 12.05. 2011 09:05 »
My 61 Flash had one thickish line and all the folks I know around the Northeast shows say One line, (I know this because my restored Flash has two and they tell me)

I'm not sure Richards Rocket is correct (sorry Richard) but could be the lighting in the Photo because the first one looks to orange and the second one looks  a shade pinkish.
However many reasons why it wouldn't look right on my computer, Lighting as I said, my computer screen and of course it's a fact we all see colours differently (our eyes all see the same thing our brains though interpret individually )

but I got this off the old WWW, and it looks right on my screen, would be interesting to know how it appears to anyone else
All the best - Bill
1961 Flash - stock, reliable, steady, fantastic for shopping
1959 Rocket Gold Flash - blinged and tarted up  would have seizure if taken to  Tesco

Offline BSA_54A10

  • Wise & Enlightened
  • *
  • Join Date: May 2008
  • Posts: 2544
  • Karma: 37
    • BSA National
Re: Road Rocket Tank Colour
« Reply #12 on: 12.05. 2011 10:55 »
Once again we get into the "correct" quandry.
There is catalogue correct ( what the BSA marketing team thought that the production bikes would look like )
There is factory correct ( the condition that they left the production line )
There is dealer correct ( what they did in the shop to convince you to ride it away ).
Tastes vary all over the world so there were a lot of slight variances.
I have a few of what I think are original tanks, some  with one stripe, & two stripes , some are thick-thin while others are thin-thick.
We have a few one owner bikes in the club, no two have the same detail finish on the tank.
Ken did not like the original striping on his bike & got the shop to change it . Also fit a duel seat and a few other bits.
Is it "original " ?

As for the name of colours, BSA changed the names according to what they though the market would jump at.
Bacons books are all rehashes of the BSA factory publicity material that he stashed away and in most cases are the Home or Home & Europe or the Home & General Export specifications which may or may not be the same as the USA version which may or may not have been different between the East Coast & West Coast.
So basically it is a case of what do like best ? It is your bike after all.
If others don't like the way it looks then tell them to go & bother some one else.
If they tell you it's wrong the answer is " funny this is my (dads, uncles, etc,etc, etc ) bike that he has owned since new & he never repainted it " then watch them squirm and make up excuses.
Bike Beesa
Trevor

Offline bsa-bill

  • Wise & Enlightened
  • *
  • Join Date: Mar 2006
  • Posts: 5720
  • Karma: 66
Re: Road Rocket Tank Colour
« Reply #13 on: 12.05. 2011 11:28 »
Quite right Trevor
Also BSA often had cash flow issues (towards the end anyway) so suppliers sometimes would not supply, but others would in the hope of getting the trade, in the case of paint supply this is of course significant
All the best - Bill
1961 Flash - stock, reliable, steady, fantastic for shopping
1959 Rocket Gold Flash - blinged and tarted up  would have seizure if taken to  Tesco

Offline cus

  • Valued Contributor
  • ****
  • Join Date: Jun 2009
  • Posts: 305
  • Karma: 4
Re: Road Rocket Tank Colour
« Reply #14 on: 12.05. 2011 22:54 »
G'day everyone,
Paint names like Devon Red, Chinese Red etc etc, don't mean much in today's
panel repair shops, everything is coded with correct quantities of the mix.
The best solution as I'm sure many of you have done is to get an original bit
of tinware with some colour still in place, usually best if it's underneath or on the back,
so fading is minimal, & get it matched to that. There is also a fancy colour scanner
available now, that some paint reps have, once scanned it will bring up the closest
match available, could be a Toyota, Subaru colour etc. Saying that, I've had a hard time
getting a colour to match my '63's metalic (candy apple) type red. I didn't want a real
candy apple red, so had a metalic pearl type base coat mixed that was close & 2-pack
clear over the top, not totally satisfied with the colour, it's not as crisp as the original red,
but it's growing on me. I've asked about the stripe thing as well, I've also seen both around
the traps, I ended up putting one 4mm gold line.
The other thing is I'm pretty sure all the original paint was either enamel or maybe acrylic lacquer,
if you are re-painting I'd recommend 2-pack or acrylic lacquer, the old enamel doesn't like fuel too much.

Cus
56 G/Flash project