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elan color

PostPosted: Fri Oct 21, 2016 5:05 pm
by redcarandco
Just because a friend of mine and me had a long chat about that and nobody around us can give us a ""definitive"" answer..And knowing the incredible amount of elan knowledge behind this forum....I would be very happy if one (or more) can answer the following question...Is it true that a lotus elan is always "primerised" in a color of same shade that final color...? Sorry for difficult english...
Roger

Re: elan color

PostPosted: Fri Oct 21, 2016 8:40 pm
by Elanintheforest
I believe that having a primer that is a similar shade to the top coat is a fairly recent thing, Roger.

The early Elans (S1 and S2, and early S3 Coupe) all seem to have a pink primer, which is very obvious when you start to rub down a shell with original paint, or one that hasn't been completely stripped before..So if you have a red early car, it would look like the primer is a similar shade!

For the later cars, I have only seen grey primer.
Mark

Re: elan color

PostPosted: Sat Oct 22, 2016 7:06 am
by redcarandco
Many thanks for answer Mark The question appeared because I am at cosmetic part of rebuilding the car and I am "scraping" the paint to have it absolutely bare and I always arrive at a slightly dark green just before the polyester itself and this dark green is the most difficult thing to scrape I have ever seen at a point we decided to let it as well...So this green is the real shade of the car paint so should be BRG I join a photo but not very good quality for the shade...The bodyshell itself is already primered but presented also of this green shadow ...........just for info we found 7 layers of different paints before polyester.....
Roger
001.jpg and

Re: elan color

PostPosted: Sat Oct 22, 2016 8:07 am
by Elanintheforest
It does sound like the original primer to me, as that is the layer that seems to be much harder than any of the others! What year is the car, and which model is it?

I think that you will only get a definitive answer on coloured primers from the companies who have re-finished many Elans in the past 20 or 30 years. But if others chip in here, you may get a consensus.

As with many things to do with Elans, there are usually several answers. I can easily see them in the later production years using a darker primer when the top coat is dark, and a lighter colour with a light top coat, but I doubt very much that the primer layer was ever colour coded to the top coat any further than that.

Mark

Re: elan color

PostPosted: Sat Oct 22, 2016 8:58 am
by redcarandco
Dear Mark,
the car is 1965 and VIN is 26 R 14 but during our chat the man in charge of the painting came home to manage rendez-vous for the rest of the job and he says that the green is the original paint but as it has been sanded to be repainted it makes it so thin that becomes impossible (almost) to scrap ....
006.jpg and

Roger

Re: elan color

PostPosted: Sat Oct 22, 2016 6:18 pm
by RichardHawkins
Roger,

I am not sure if this is relevant, but my 1999 Elise which is dark red, has a primer tat is nearly white beneath the stone chips.

Richard Hawkins