Jubilee frame painting

Hello Peter,

Thanks for that info. I am surprised that Norton used cellulose paint for the frame - I suppose it was cheaper than enamel. I will use 2K paint for the frame as it is so much tougher than cellulose but I might do a final top coat of the rear enclosures/tank in cellulose. I prefer 2K paint for the protection it gives but at the same time I admit it does look wrong on an old machine - it's too shiny. We always got admiring comments on our race MGB from the scrutineers because it was painted in original BRG cellulose - but underneath the cellulose there was 2K, just in case we got a bit too friendly with the armco.

This is Norton lightweight no 4 and will probably be used only to go to some local shows here (next year) in Ireland. I already have two Navigators and another 1959 Jubilee fitted with a 400 Yamaha engine and six speed box. The Yamton is the one that gets most use so I am not really a true concours person at heart I know what you mean by tightening nuts - last time out the tail light lens on the Navi unscrewed itself !.

Thanks again.

Patrick

Hello Kelvin,

Don't know what happened here. I posted reply earlier on today and it has disappeared. So I will try again now it's 9 30 and the computer has woken up..

I actually took a spare downtube from a Navigator to my local trade motor factors who supply all the local garages with paint and got their paint man to match the colour. Paintman checked to his colour cards and we agreed that Mercedes (commercial) paint code no Y404 (listed as Grauweiss) was a good starting point so he put this into his computer and then added some extra pigments to match to the sample. He has thirty or more years experience so is used to matching paint by eye and has a good eye for the final colour.

I do have a 1961 Navigator De Luxe, a 1959 Jubilee De Luxe, the Yamton (which is essentially another 1959 Jubilee) and several other Norton spare bits. All of these have dove grey paint but all are different shades so you take your choice which is right. Norton almost certainly also matched paint by eye so each batch could vary quite noticeably.

After mixing my paint the paint man put dove grey into his computer and discovered that he already had a dove grey in the machine but this was a TOTALLY different colour. It seemed to be for a Ford tractor. There was some general chat at the time at the counter about paint names and my friend who owns the haulage garage said he thought that Ford did a dove grey for cars, and he also reckoned that Hillman and BMC also had their individual versions. Someone there also reckoned that the Ferguson tractor grey was also called dove grey.

So taking a sample of the colour you want is probably best as Dove Grey is just a fairly meaningless name. The Norton version is more of an off white colour - nothing at all like Ferguson grey.

I paid £50.94 for a litre of mixed dove grey, a litre of Post Office Red (BS538) and a litre of activator. So I don't think that was too extortionate.

Patrick

Hello there,

Anna mentions that the finish should be enamel like previous 'big' Nortons but personally I believe that Peter is factually correct when he says it is cellulose.

The spare Navigator downtube that I used for the Dove Grey reference is painted in a very thin cellulose finish which just might be original as the paint is very flat and dirty.

Cellulose paint in the fifties/sixties was up to date painting for flat metal panels on cars and so would be seen by Norton as the way forward. We know that the Dominators were 'updated' a little later for the new De Luxe slimline model and their styling largely copied the enclosed Jubilee. Sounds very silly now but in 1958 Norton obviously thought of the new Jubilee as the 'new' model which was the way forward and so the right time to introduce modern 'technology' such as cellulose.

Anyway I've now got 3.3 litres of 2K and that's what will be used for now. In fact that's should be enough paint to paint all my Nortons the same colours.

Patrick