Snowberry White

[andy - CAN 447H]

Good evening,

Wondered if anyone out there can help me - I’m currently having a ‘69 B restored and the ‘paint man’ has used what he tells me is paint of the correct code but it looks far too minty to me - it does seem close to a Moss swatch on the web but looking at an image of an untouched 69 plus one that’s just been restored I’m not happy.
Does anyone have any info ie hard copy target / Lab values etc they could share?

Best regards
andy

[Ian F]

Andy, this is not something easy to reply to I'm afraid.

Firstly, colour rendition on screens and photographs is notoriously variable. I know because when I print hi-res photos from my laptop after a lot of processing, the colours of the print are never true to the colours on screen, and require a lot of adjustment to get anything resembling the original subject.

Secondly, each paint manufacturer will have a different code for a standard BL or MG colour (eg BLVC16 etc). Do you know what paint code and what manufacturer was used?

Finally, paint components in 1969 are not the same as paint components now, many are superceded due to H&S or other "improvements".

I have bought Blaze paint for my BGT from circa 6 different suppliers, all with the same BLVC code but each one different enough to be noticeable on the car. They are also all different from a tin of original A&W Blaze cellulose which I bought in the 1970's and still have.. This was easily the best match to the original colour of the car.

My best advice would be to find some original unfaded paint somewhere and take the panel (if detachable) to a good autopaint shop and get it matched by them. They should have hundreds of paint swatches and perhaps an auto computer device to identify the colour.

Ian F

[Ian F]

Andy, some further information. This is a page from the period A&W catalogue. It lists the codes for snowberry white and the tinters used in Gipgloss (the cellulose paint) and the tinters used in Gipfast 60.
Data, but probably not a great deal of use to you.

I probably have similar data from other manufacturers.

Ian F

[andy - CAN 447H]

Hi Ian

Thanks for the response.

You have confirmed the conclusion I was coming to (after the event unfortunately) that there is no definitive colour match so my brief to the ‘paint man’ was over optimistic (match original SBW) he neglected to alert me to the colour until the job was done.
Taking variation between photo/screen and probably eyes and lighting as well as a given the colour I have (I’ll work out how to upload a photo at some point) just doesn’t look ‘right’ correct code or not. My main objective was to get the colour as close as possible (one good reason for that is that I work in colour management in the packaging industry so didn’t want to look a Charlie if it was wrong).

So my resolve will be to match an area under the tail gate lock that could possibly be the original factory colour because during the ‘93 restoration whoever did it sprayed around the seals rather than removing them.

Cheers
andy

[Ian F]

Good luck with it Andy! Once it's on the road you will probably just enjoy it and overlook any minor irritations and imperfections.

Ian F

[Peter Cresswell]

Snowberry White was the second white colour in the BMC range. It followed on from Old English White which was quite a creamy colour - about the same as Double Cream. Snowberry White was a bit 'Whiter' about the colour of Single Cream - it shouldn't have a minty (green?) hue to it. As mentioned above by Ian, the colours do vary from the original partly I think due to the fact they are now 2 pack. I have had touch up paints for the Mini Cooper I had before buying the MGB, and this was mixed by Halfords. The Island Blue and Old English White were exact matches, so you could try them and ask if they can give you the 'recipe' for Snowberry White - you might have to buy a small tin of touch up to check the colour match with your car.

[Ian F]

Pete,

I still always use cellulose paint, wouldn't use 2 pack, isocyanates are too risky.

Ian F