Lotus Yellow

[jasper2347]

Been looking for the paint section on here but failed. Having eventually sorted the green metalic car, mate of mine has brought me another one. Anyone know if the Lotus yellow on the later ('73) Elan + 2 was borrowed from a manufacturer or if it was their own concoction? Code on car is L07 but the car has been painted a blue met which is falling off. Want to get the car back to yellow/silver. Roof is currently black. Thought I read somewhere it was a Ford colour, maybe Daytona? Is the silver anything special, or do we just use a nice bright silver met? any ideas welcome. Cheers, Rob

[Nickm]

Click on Wiki at top of page, then Shop Floor, then Paint Colours and all should be revealed!

[jasper2347]

No joy with any of the codes on the wiki bit I'm afraid. Think I'll mix up the two Escort colours and see which is best. The earlier fords seem to be Jasmine or Daytona yellow and the Mk2's are signal yellow. Looking at the years I would imagine Daytona is going to be the nearest as that is in the same years 1969-75. We'll see when we get a bit mixed up on the smart repair machine tomorrow.

[theelanman]

erm........I might be a bit worried about the paint shop if they cant get the paint off any of the ref numbers listed
they did check all the code????.....PJ....ICI.....PPG etc........

Lotus Parts#: A036B6321V & B036B6321V

Cross Reference
Pinchin Johnson: 6170X3940

ICI: P0309547

PPG: 83526

Glasurit: GLA X3940

[Certified Lotus]

I just finished painting my 72 Europa Lotus Yellow. Luckily I had a period paint chip card from Lotus that had been stored in the dark so it wasn?t faded. I had my painter match the color for a single stage paint. Here is what we used and the mixture.

I don?t know about Europe, but here in the US I have been having trouble matching old paint codes as the type of paint that was used 50 years ago is no longer available.

[jasper2347]

Hi Glen, same over here, I had no joy at all with the Renault met green (mid green met) on my own car so did what you have done and took a lump of old car and they matched it for me in the new type clear over base paint. They gave me a mixing code for future use. Very few paint retailers seem to sell any old colours now, especially if you want cellulose. I asked four or five paint companies about the many old paint manufacturer codes available and got a no-can-do sir from them all. As we have a smart mix system, I mixed up some Daytona which looks very close to the original inside the door shuts, the Signal yellow looks too bright, although being a nicer colour, Signal was on the Fords from 1979 on anyway so too new for the '73 Lotus. The Daytona was on the Mk1 Escorts from '70-78. We'll wait and see if anyone comes back with anything else. Just starting the strip down anyway.

[69S4]

I've much the same problem over the last 25yrs with trying to get LO4 Cirrus White. You show the paint factors the various reference numbers and they mean nothing to them. The last batch I had made I took one of the headlamp pods in and they colour matched it.

By contrast, the situation with paint for classic motorcycles is totally different. Companies like RSPaint list paint for just about any motorcycle made in the last 60 or 70yrs and will supply it in tins or aerosols. I've just had some come in from them for a couple of my old Hondas and the matches are perfect.

[Bank16]

I had my +2 re-sprayed last year. Colour is Lotus Yellow L07 but as you've found none of the paint retailers could match the colour to the original paint codes. We started with colour matching one of the headlamp pods and 'tweaked' the colour from there. I had it made up in a Pro-Spray paint which I can let you have the formula for if you want.

[jasper2347]

Had a word with the Lotus guys about our problem and they agree since P & J are no more, no-one has formulas for the colours they used on the original cars. The mid green met is impossible to get as it was a mixed metallic paint not a clear over base anyway. We found the colour in some old Renault paint cards, got the colour code but no go with mixing it. Guy at Lotus has heard of people using Daytona yellow as 07 with success. Wouldn't mind the formulation you came up with for your light pod match as my mates car is oversprayed in a rubbish met blue so all we have is the door reveal to go by. Silver for the roof is yet another problem (his is black) as that was moulded in with the gel coat, good game. This we know,as our car (not the yellow one) is all mid green met being a Lotus owned show and staff car. The roof under the met green which the show cars were painted all over including the roof still has the metalflake silver underneath. Thanks to you all for your thoughts. Rob

[theelanman]

I didnt know there were such problems these days.........
Ive been lucky I guess as Ive only had Carnival Red and Lagoon Blue ones.....
my other Lotus have been 'modern' ones so Norfolk Mustard and Carbon Grey.......all off the shelf stuff.......

[theelanman]

on the flip side of this....I guess that makes the colour chart on the Wiki pointless.......
other than the Lotus Code all the numbers are useless.........mmmmm
thats a shame

[The Veg]

I'd like that L07 formula please.

[nigelrbfurness]

I bought 10litres of Lotus Yellow - described as just that - cellulose from Jawal who advertise on eBay and elsewhere, about 2 years ago. I have had paint from them recently do they are still in business as far as I know. It was a perfect match to the colour of both my (at the time) Lotus yellow S4SEs, one from 1968 and the other from 1970. So at least one supplier has the formula. I had some Ford Daytona yellow at the time too and it is definitely not the same colour, being somewhat darker.

[theelanman]

this was a previous topic........
link at the bottom.........nearly all the way down the page

I have the original paint can label which says Deltron Acrylic
Urethane, color number DAU 81406, Ryder Truck Yellow. There are also
the following numbers:

DMD 648 WEAK BLACK 162.7
DMD 642 YELLOW OXIDE 424.3
DMD 643 LIGHT CHROME YELLOW 2043.8
DMD 645 STRONG WHITE 4589.7

The body shop was able to perfectly match the paint using this info.
This past June 5th I took my class at the Greenwich Concours and one
press type told me it was the best finish he had ever seen on an
Elan. He could not believe it was 15 years old.

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=11654&start=

[elanfan1]

Nicked from Tim?s site any help?