Metallic or Metal Flake Paint on a Seven

[Jamie]

I have always wondered what a metallic or metal flake finish would look like on a standard Ruby, rather than a custom car or a dragster. Does anyone know of pictures of one, or other Sevens, that have been painted like this? I had wondered about using a picture editor to mock up one, but I lack the skills to do it effectively.

Jamie.

[Peter Naulls]

There was a "polychromatic" (metallic) red Ruby at Beaulieu many years ago. It was very shabby looking and the owner claimed it was the original paint, I didn't believe a word of it until I saw reference to it in a sales brochure. I think it was an option on very late cars.

Metallic paint does have a tendency to show up any uneven-ness in the surface.

[Hugh Barnes]

Gaining the skills in photoshop or whereever, would be a far easier approach than painting a car and then deciding it looked awful...

[Ivor Hawkins]

The Austin Seven being a car for the people, should, in my view be a plain colour, preferably black!

Metallics really didn’t come into their own until the 50’s and tended to be restricted to the “posher” cars, where the finish enhanced the lines.

[squeak]

I'm with you Ivor, although maybe not Black. Mettalics are totally awful on an Austin 7. 
Years ago in another club we visited a private garage containing a couple of restored Delages, the owner was adamant that they originally sported paint made with FISH SCALES and he had copied this using mettalic. 
Any one confirm or am I gullible?

[Robert Leigh]

I understand that fish scales were the way which early 'metallic' paint got its sparkle.

[Mike Costigan]

DuPont pioneered metallic lacquer for spraying in 1927--one of the very first cars to be painted with it was the 1928 Miller 91 driven by Louis Meyer (later of Meyer-Drake, manufacturer of the legendary Offenhauser engines). His car was painted gold, which was made by mixing finely ground brass powder in clear nitrocellulose lacquer.

The problem with nitrate lacquer and metallic powder was that this early form of lacquer had very little resistance to UV light, even rain -and it wore away rather quickly. That exposed the metallic powders, which then dulled, in addition to creating a rough surface, that no amount of polishing could repair. For that reason, the metallic paints available pretty much all through the 30's to the 50's, were not all that popular.

Pearlescent paints have been around since at least the early 1910's - but were difficult to paint, as pretty much all car painting in that era was done by hand, with lots of rubbing and polishing afterward. While early pearl paints were created using ground fish scale, even powdered mussel shells, it wasn't until the use of powdered mica that pearlescent colours became practical and popular. Many 'quality' cars in the late-1930s included metallic or pearlescent colours in their range - the Talbot Ten introduced in 1935 was possibly the first British car to be exclusively available in metallic (silver, grey and gold) and pearlescent (maroon, blue and green) colours.

[Chris KC]

Our friends on the Indian subcontinent have a penchant for jazzy colour schemes, I'd be surprised if one of them hasn't tried it.

I think the question really boils down to which "tribe" do you want to belong to - if you run with the hot rod crowd then you may get some admiration for your paintwork (if not your speed). If you plan on bringing your Ruby to Austin Seven rallies you should probably expect a few tut-tuts & looks of horror.

[Steve Bryant]

I think that the colour should reflect the character of the car and its shape which can make or break the look. Sometimes what you think will look good really doesn't.

[Tony Griffiths]

Go the whole hog and chop it? Click it for a brighter image.