Elite 503 Factory Colours

[geoft]

Hi, new to forum and I have an Elite 503 in silver.  Complete restro. required.  It is silver but does anyone know what the factory colours were at the time?.  I think I would like a darker colour but the trim is a light colour but will need replacing.  Cheers

[CharlieCroker]

Hi

 

Welcome to the forum, any photos of the car? I'm not 100% conversant with the factory colours but there are some experts on here that will point you in the right direction. 

[Loose Cannon]

Hi Geoff

 

Lots of these cars have had resprays to cover up 70s paint schemes which went out of fashion; you may find yours was a different colour originally. Have a look on the chassis plate inside the engine bay/inner wing and look for a single letter with 2 numbers (A32, A14 etc).

 

As for period schemes I'm sure someone on here will have a brochure or a colour card. Mines from 1981 so not much help, what year is yours?

[Clive59]

Here is a paint code document.

lotuspaintcodes.pdf

[Kimbers]

We had numerous Elites during their production run and I don't ever remember Silver being a normal colour.

 

At the time Browns, Greens, White, Yellow etc were all normal but "Shades of Grey" and metallic were less common.

[geoft]

Thank you for all of your replies.  I will look for a code when I get home tonight.  The car is October 1978.

[geoft]

Another question. Should the chassis be colour black for 1978 please?

 

Edited September 2, 2017 by geoft
Spelling wrror

[silverfrost]

Yes Geoff,  as the lotus chassis was not galvanized at that moment in time they painted them black in 78    ,  later on in the 80s lotus left the chassis in the bare galvanized form due to it already been protected. 

[guitar hero]

My Elite started off as Gunmetal back in 1976. It was 1970s Orange when I bought it back in 2001. Nearest colour match being VW Mars Red 2 - another 1970s - tastic colour.

Found all this out and more by writing to DVLA sending them £5 and receiving info about all the previous owners, registrations etc. Fascinating stuff to plot the history and movements of the car.

Gunmetal paint code = L27

 

Mike

Edited September 2, 2017 by guitar hero

[geoft]

Thank you. I bought a replacement galvanised chassis for it and I had it shotblasted, zinc rich sprayed and then two pack epoxied in silver!!! Going to buy POR15 black chassis paint now. Thanks for DVLA advise as well £5 sent already. 

[oilmagnet477]

Geof,

Welcome to the Forum (belatedly!) - you ought to contact Andy Graham - Archive chap at Lotus - will provide a provenance certificate based on Reg number and engine and chassis number (from the plate inside the engine bay).

He should be able to tell you the original spec that the car left the factory - pricey (was £40 when I did mine but I think it has gone up a bit now) but worth it IMO for the background detail (and evidence for future reference).

More piccies please

Cheers

Ant

[geoft]

Thank you for this. I have been in touch with Lotus. There are two prices the basic one is £55 and a more comprehensive one at £82.50. Made payment on the phone and I have to send one external picture and one internal. This is hard for me as 100% stripped down. Thanks again. Will post some pics soon. 

Edited September 7, 2017 by geoft
Soelling error