Colour of paint for kick plates

[Trabantdave]

Hope this has not been covered before; I have searched but found nothing...

Does anyone know what colour silver was used for kick plates on a 1960 Minor 1000, and/or a rattlecan equivalent? Mine have been repainted but have a couple of marks on and I want to bring them up to scratch (no pun intended)

Regards

Dave

[MarkyB]

If the wheels are silver I'd suggest using the same shade.

[alanworland]

I used a Vauxhall Star Silver (cos I had it) but it looks good with a laquer

[swithland]

This is something that had me completely baffled. Ive got a 1953 tourer in black. I thought the colour should be silver, but considering the interior is gold, it seems crazy to do it in silver. So I painted mine in the same gold as the interior and then painted the outside trims in black to match the bodywork. It seems to match the car well even though its not strictly original. Pic attached. I agree its a great idea to use lacquer on top. The finish looks like glass and the lacquer fills in any minor defects in the metalwork giving a really smooth finish. .[frame][/frame]

[MarkyB]

It may not be original but it looks great.
Tell people it's the Super Deluxe version

[swithland]

Sounds like a plan !!

[IaininTenbury]

I've used normal aluminium spray cans or wheel silver in the past, then after seeing a well preserved original car and itsslightly textured look finish, I tried spray Hammerite and gave it a couple of thin coats which looked very effective. (Not brushed on - far too thick).
What I'm after is a source of aluminium kick plates for MMs...

[RobThomas]

S'funny you should say that. The ones on mine are a little tired and I thought about making some new ones, however, it would be soooo much simpler to ask Hadrians (or whoever owns them these days) to slap some ali plate in the machine instead of steel. Anyone know who makes the panels?

PS Our 52 saloon has the slightly Hammerited finish and it seems to be a hard enamel finish. Powdercoated?

[swithland]

Isnt it possible to buy the kick panels in Stainless Steel ? I shot blasted some grubby stainless steel not long ago and really liked the satin finish. Just an idea....if you could get hold of the stainless plates, you could have them shot blasted on the outsides giving a really great satin finish that would not need any further treatment. The problem with fully polished stainless steel is it shows up every mark...

[Dean]

I did mine the same color as the body work, as I didn't know what colour they should be. At the national everyone said the proper colour is silver, but they looked good and don't change them.

[chickenjohn]

I tried something different for the kick plates on the convertible- the only silver paint I had was some zinc galv spray, so I gave the kick plates a couple of coats and then when dry, gave them a few coats of lacquer. Looked quite good! With the bonus that the zinc will inhibit rusting!