1971 Commando Available Colors Dealer ColorChart

Interestingly, the Fireflake name doesn't appear.
Although Royal Blue, Golden Bronze and Roman Purple are clearly a metallic type paint, if not a metalflake type even .

So is/are the colorchart and the parts lists out of synch, or was the Fireflake paint name used for the gelcoat schemes.... ?

Now that's an interesting find!

I've got to ask where you got this from - I'm not doubting its authenticity, I'm just plain curious

The spangly colours are almost certainly metalflake - the 'fireflake' monniker is probably just branding? The flake is very fine grained, and can appear to be like a normal metallic in certain likght conditions.
Having had the opportunity to inspect a variety of 69-71 metalflake 'artifacts', I've come to the conclusion that the flakes are all paint on top of a similar colour plain gelcoat (cheapest way to get the job done!).

Here's an example:



This is an NOS 'S' Type sidepanel; I also have a fastback tank which is identical - the underside of the tank is a plain gelcoat blue (just like the BSA Barracuda!), and the metalflake is definitely paint; the Roadster/'S' Type tank would - I expect - have a mould line down the middle, but there's none evident. If the flake was in the gelcoat it would be very noticeable. My guess is it was sanded off then painted.

In the meantime, this is my attempt at Golden Bronze; a World's First for a Production Racer?

I could do that Golden Bronze, if I can just find that roach we didn't finish the other night.

Dave
69S

DogT said:

I could do that Golden Bronze, if I can just find that roach we didn't finish the other night.

Dave
69S

Click to expand...

:mrgreen:

I was listening to Jefferson Airplane when I decided on this colour...

CSN&Y is still my favorite.

B+, I've got some stencils for the panels, and have had better luck with the enamel, I'm about to try the stencils on the spray can flake blue, on a test panel of course. I've been procrastinating a lot. I'm going to have to re-do the tank, it got damaged and the spray can paint doesn't seem to match from can to can. But that's OK, I want to change the tank logo anyhow. It's from the 68 FB badge.



Dave
69S

I used to procrastinate ; but now Im not to sure . :lol: 8) :roll: Very Good . :wink:

Candy/metalflake, so `70s... http://3cyl.com/mraxl/paint/triple_colo ... od04e.html

Thanks for the chart. Was wondering if the color on my 71 was stock or not. This appears to be original paint, but it's a steel tank. If it is original, how many years did they use this color? I thought all the 71s had fiberglass tanks?

URL=http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2799066630099865099aHubRo][/URL]





The flake detail does not show up so good up close, but if anybody is interested I can have a DuPont formula developed for it.
MIkeG

DogT's "Norton" script is interesting. It is a variation I've not seen before. There are many "Norton" fonts to be found on the internet. I've mixed and matched in the past (some have great "N's" but others have better "r's") to create a slight variant stencil.

I have a 1972 Roadster with metallic blue tank & covers (not quite stock but similar). I've been considering changing to solid blue like shown in DogT's posting. Thanks for your input.

Sorry for taking this subject thread down a different path.

MikeG said:

I thought all the 71s had fiberglass tanks?

Click to expand...

Yes, your steel tank is from an 850 model. The double pinstripe design was introduced in 1973 and not used on 750 models.

http://www.classicbike.biz/Norton/Broch ... chures.htm