My father's 74 Midget (that was mine) was originally Purple. A friend of mine
summed it up best - he said that during the period that car was new, they called
the color "Statatory Grape". I can't recall the _proper_ name for it.
My car had a HORRIBLE metalic blue paint job with white racing stripes when I
bought it. The car was kind of neat, only because you could walk around it and
find an example of just about every painting problem outlined in most books on
the subject. Fish eyes, spider webbing, you name it, it was there. The paint
was enamel and was thick. I spent lots of hours sanding, chemically stripping,
and sand blasting just to get to the grape color.
After all of that work, I went on my search for a factory color. I ended up
with
the Damask Red that someone mentioned a few days ago. Its a maroon type color
which is in the purple family. I couldn't bring myself to paint it purple,
especially since the only thing that I had ever seen that looked (just) OK in
this color was a BGT. I'm happy with the choice I made.
My MGA is currently an Olde English White type color that is probably off some
sort of GM van from the mid 1970s. The original color is Glacier Blue with is a
turquois. I know this from the serial number, as well as the build info I got
from the British Motor Heritage Society. The only color difference I'll be
doing is that I'll put in a grey interior instead of Black. I don't care for
black interiors, especially in convertibles. My car came with disc wheels from
the factory, too, but some past owner traded the axle and front hubs from a
wire
wheeled car, so I'll be keeping that setup, too.
My advise is to paint it whatever color you want. You're the one that has to
drive it.
-Al
1957 MGA Roadster
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