Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Understanding the Sprint gold paint is available in the UK in spray can form as well as mixed paint, it cannot be sent to North America, Canada in my case,

Would any Sprint owner in NA know of the gold being available anywhere, not a great deal required as only need to paint front bumper? Does not have to be a spray can.

I can have the paint matched locally but thought I would ask.

Thanks for any suggestions!

Kind regards,

On my Sprint i think the Garage used a Renault Gold colour
Alan

The colour is Talbot Aztec Gold, the paint code is on Tim's excellent lotuselansprint.com site.....

Hope that helps

A

Alasdair

Zip into Lordco - you will find what you need in the spray bomb section - there is a gold for wheel painting that exactly matches the sprint gold stripe decal color on my '72 Sprint. I also used a clear coat to finish it off.

I am happy with the result!

Bill

Many thanks fir the Feedback!

Bill, unfortunately the store you mention is only in BC, I will take a bumper to Canadian Tire to see if they may have the same paint options?

Kind regards,

I would suggest taking the rear bumper into a Paint store and have them custom tint some colour for you.

I have tried all the variants of the Talbot Aztec gold (Dupont, Spies Hecker and Glasurit) and it didn't match our original Sprint paint or the Sue Miller decal (the decal didn't match the original paint either), so i didn't bother trying to get it looking original and colour matched the decal.

You would be looking for --- Dupli-Color high performance wheel coating -- #CHWP107 Gold

Bill

Did the original gold on the bumpers match the original factory stripes exactly ?

The “original “ paint code was a good bit darker than the stripes made for me by Sue Millers supplier, I ended up colour matching to the stripes for the wheels and bumpers for my car.

Like Grizzly, I can confirm that Talbot Aztec Gold (143 or D512B) is NOTHING LIKE the Sprint bumpers. A nice enough colour in a 1970s sort of way but far too red for our purposes. Don't use it; you will be disappointed.

So after a bit of digging I found Ford Aztec Gold (M6819) which was current in the late 1990s on US-built Fords and Japanese-built Mazdas. I'm happy because I'll be able to go to the suppliers and quote that Ford part number for another couple of decades to come, even here in NZ. Here it is. I think it looks right.

I do wonder (given that the colours have the same name) whether this is a case of mistaken identity. Incidentally I have found more than 30 automotive colours called Aztec Gold. Quite a lot of them are Ford colours dating back as far as the 1930s.

To add to the confusion I have found the gold colour goes considerably lighter overtime. My Elan was repainted in the UK in sprint colours back in the early 70's. When I repainted the car after a rebuild in the early 80's they matched the colour. When I took it back last year to get the rear bumper resprayed after an incident requiring some repairs they used the same mix from the 80's paint job ( it was the same paint shop) and it came back a much deeper gold colour than the front bumper now is !

So if just doing one bumper you need to decide to match the original colour or the other bumper or repaint both

cheers
Rohan

I just looked at the pot with the Gold paint that was used on my Sprint and it's marked "Renault Lotus 118 GE".
Now what that means i have no idea and it was 21 years ago (painter retired no contact).
Maybe it was some colour used on "R5" Renaults.
The Bumpers still match the Sidewinders that i bought from "SJS".
Alan

A thank you for all the suggestions and information, much appreciated from a knowledgeable group!

As picky as I am, I have realized that after so many years, many bumpers have been repainted, not sure if I would ever get a very original colour as so much has changed in paint over the years. I have been to quite a few paint stores with bumper in hand and have found a few that are very close to the shade off my bumper but, I assume it was also repainted at some point? The other problem is if I use a spray can, I bet the lid is not that accurate, same if I had paint mixed.

I will pick a can that is very close to my bumper and be satisfied, not many Sprints in my neck of the woods to compare or critic! I will check out the recommendation paint options posted from the forum, Unfortunately the rear bumper is perfect but, will probably have to repaint it as well depending on any shade difference.

Again, many thanks.

Kind regards.

Alasdair, the correct Sprint gold shade is very difficult to replicate.

Having seen a fair few original ones, it becomes obvious to the 'trained eye' what is factory correct and what is not. Added to which, as has been noted above, the effects of UV over time means there probably no longer exists a Sprint bumper that represents exactly how the car left the factory! If you are ever at an Elan gathering, it is instructive to compare and contrast Sprint bumpers.

In the attached photo Malcolm Ricketts' red mono Sprint is in its factory original paint (he has since had the car resprayed). You can just about make out the differences in all the gold bumpers. Disregard the Pistachio Green interloper!

Tim

Many thanks Tim!

trw99 wrote:Alasdair, the correct Sprint gold shade is very difficult to replicate.

I get what your saying but if you have a section of original paint that can be cut back to the original colour underneath it can be matched to almost perfect, if you then use the correct finish (make sure the gloss level isn't too high) you can get it very close.

We do it allot!! not so much with Lotus cars but there are tricks of the trade to make modern water base or Solvent look like 1970's direct gloss.