Color question

[sluggo]

I'm trying to figure out what the original colors were on my 29 155-A sedan.

Dad painted it Vagabond/Rock Moss on the outside. The Rock Moss is obviously not dark enough as the two colors are very close together. He may have inverted the colors also. The one closest to Vagabond is on the upper body, belt, sills and reveals.

The little research I've done so for indicates that the interior should have been painted the darker (rock moss) color according to the paint guide.

The inside of the tank looks like it may still be original paint. Not 100% convinced. Looks close to dawn gray to me.

The color on the tank almost looks like dawn gray but the stripes look reddish maybe taupe. he painted the dash and the bottom of the tank buff for sure.

Any thought would be appreciated.

Another question I have is what production date splits an early/late 29?
The window trim and dash colors inside depend on that. Late cars supposedly were walnut woodgrained.

Here's a couple pics.

[sluggo]

I found some pictures he had sent me when he first got the car.

It's obvious that it was repainted and was an attempt at the correct colors. I have to assume that the tank and the underside of the tank were painted at that time. That explains the colors inside.

There is enough detail in the pics to make the jump that the dash and the inner reveals were woodgrained.

Anyone have any thoughts?

[Tudortomnz]

Sluggo, that is a solid & nice looking '29 Town sedan. You can be proud your Dad painted it in a scheme appropriate to the A era.If you now want it exactly how it would have been new, that is another thing. It looks great ; there are a lot of Model A's out there painted bright red or yellow, which do not.
My Dad also painted my Tudor & we matched it to some remains of the original colours. Whether it is the same as it was in 1929, not 100% sure, but because he did the job, I will not change it.

[Aerocraft]

The paint and finish guide book has a lot of information about the 155 series (Briggs and Murray) sedans. I have a June of '29 155A which was an unrestored (repainted) original.

Since I was not able to ascertain what constituted "early or late" production, I took my clues off of my car's original "gray check" interior. That interior (fortunately) did not have woodgrained garnish moldings. As I recall, the garnish is painted "Light Buff" which I mixed in lacquer to match a chip. If the interior was other than gray check, I believe the garnish moldings were woodgrained. If you don't know what the original interior actually was, considering the expense of well done woodgraining, it might be worthwhile to use a gray check interior. If you would like, I can take and post some pictures of the L-B interior in my car.

If your car was originally dawn gray, I believe the stripe should be Straw.

Gar Williams

[sluggo]

Originally Posted by Tudortomnz

Sluggo, that is a solid & nice looking '29 Town sedan. You can be proud your Dad painted it in a scheme appropriate to the A era.If you now want it exactly how it would have been new, that is another thing. It looks great ; there are a lot of Model A's out there painted bright red or yellow, which do not.
My Dad also painted my Tudor & we matched it to some remains of the original colours. Whether it is the same as it was in 1929, not 100% sure, but because he did the job, I will not change it.

I get what you're saying. I'm struggling a bit with how to go about this. On one hand I feel I should leave it as is and unfinished. On the other I know that he would have been disappointed the paint colors did not turn out quite right. He put a lot of time and effort into researching and having them mixed. I think the paint supplier goofed up on the Rock Moss. There's no doubt in my mind he would have corrected the colors had he not run out of time.

So my dilemma is, leave it alone in honor of what he did do or correct it to meet what I know his goal was for the car. I'm leaning toward correcting it.

Randy

[sluggo]

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Originally Posted by Aerocraft

The paint and finish guide book has a lot of information about the 155 series (Briggs and Murray) sedans. I have a June of '29 155A which was an unrestored (repainted) original.

Since I was not able to ascertain what constituted "early or late" production, I took my clues off of my car's original "gray check" interior.

If your car was originally dawn gray, I believe the stripe should be Straw.

Gar Williams

I need to scrape some paint off the firewall to be able to tell the production date. The motor number 14333xx dates it April of 29 if I recall correctly. The car was sold May 22 1929.

He purchased and installed most of the interior already. It's not gray check for sure. Door panels and such are green and seats are brownish.

He had reason to believe it was Vagabond/Rock Moss/Straw. He also pulled the original interior out of it so I'm pretty sure he matched that piece for piece. I know he had the interior company fix a couple things he thought were not consistent with what was in front of him.

Do you have a gallery where I can look at detail pictures of your car? It's a fabulous looking example in my opinion.

Randy

[Aerocraft]

Sorry, but I don't have a gallery.

Dan Gambill, president of the Town Sedan club was here in June and took a lot of pictures of my 155A and 155B Town Sedans. He plans to publish the photos in a future newsletter. You might consider joining the club. He can be contacted at [email protected]

If you have any shots in mind, I can take them and email them to you.

Gar