elan chassis colour

[fotsyr]

My take on the red oxide for a S4 elan chassis. Primed & paint baked on. Colour from a sample if found on a seat runner.

[Emma-Knight]

Looks nice. It seems to me that Red Oxide is more a condition than a colour.
Depending on basic mixture and environment, it is reaching from true orange to red orange, red orange with a little medium brown, to red, even red with a crimson shade. Sometimes two or more shades in one chassis, depending on coverage by bitumen or oil spillage.
Anna

[elanfan1]

My take on the red oxide for a S4 elan chassis. Primed & paint baked on. Colour from a sample if found on a seat runner.

I see you only had enough paint left over to do just the one door!

[Lotus14S2]

Red oxide paint was originally called red lead, as it was an oxide of lead used to prevent rust. It was used primarily as a primer, and had a reddish brown color. The real red oxide paint's lead oxide would adhere to the steel or iron surface, and combined with any rust chemically. This effectively neutralizing the rust. Because it has lead it is getting hard to find real red oxide paint, as it is being replaced with paints without the lead.
The odds are pretty good that the original Elan chassis were painted with red oxide lead paint. If you were to try and replace it today, the Rustoleum "Rusty Metal' red primer is probably the closest color.