+2 Colours

[Corryvechter]

I am just in the middle of a major restoration of a 1969 +2S, which when I bought it was red in colour. Now when we have stripped it , the original colour seems to have been a dark blue. I would like to restore it to this original colour. Unfortunately Lotus Archives cant confirm what the original colour might have been, so I am looking for some guidance as to what the colour code and name might have been? Does anyone have access to the colour charts and codes from 1969?

Thanks in anticipation,

Paul G

[Elanintheforest]

Hi Paul
I think there was only one dark blue for your car...L09 Royal Blue. Have a look at this.....

Mark

[Corryvechter]

That looks about right Mark, nice colour!

Thanks

[bandjie]

What about L12 lagoon blue? also I found this it might help if you have the original vin plate.
Lotus allocates a paint code to all its colours, and generally includes the code either on the V.I.N. label, or a dedicated label nearby.

Some colours may also by used by other manufacturers, but many are Lotus specific.

The following list identifies all colours used to date, and includes the paint suppliers reference number which should be quoted when ordering material from an automotive paintshop. Note that the Lotus paint code prefix

letter identifies the paint type as follows:


?L? prefix codes indicate nitro-cellulose paint for which two suppliers reference numbers are sometimes quoted .
Regards
Bandjie

[Jason1]

Some colours attached.

Royal blue - French blue - Wedgwood blue

[Corryvechter]

Thanks Jason for showing the other blues. After seeing those, I am sure it is the dark blue that was the original colour, and luckily would have been one I would have chosen anyway. I think before I go the whole hog, I will get the bodyshop to paint the bonnet first so I can see what it would look like in the flesh! As I plan to keep the car, I want it to be right!

[elancoupe]

edited

[Elanintheforest]

Pretty sure it's Royal Blue. Quite a short run from '68 to late '70.

Have a look at the Europa site where all codes are shown...a great site.

http://www.lotus-europa.com/colors.html

Mark

[elancoupe]

I have visited the Europa site before, very good stuff.

I always assumed that my car was Royal Blue ( it was this color when I bought it). I recently mixed some L09 from our PPG paint facility at work and found it to be a very close match for my Coupe.

You can also see this color on page 35 of Lotus The Legend by David Hodges.

[Spyder fan]

My car is Royal Blue, I had some paint work done when I updated the wing mirrors to cope with modern motorway undertaking manouvers (other drivers not me). The paint shop used L09.

[richgilb]

that looks rather pre-zetec.

[Spyder fan]

Rich,
It's actually before and after although you need to look closely. The side on picture is au-naturel and the frontal is post-op. Look at the wing mirrors on the frontal picture.... the side on picture shows a bullet style mirror that was original equipment.

Regards