Morris Minor Owners Club

Would anyone know please what the likely colour would be for the coach line on my 53 Series 2 saloon, the car is painted in Empire Green ,the existing coach line is a grey colour but I was wondering if this is correct

Hi,
I think you will fid it sould be pearl grey so you may well have the right colour coach line. There is a chart on the site somewhere which gives all the colours and trims. Someone has spent a lot of time putting it all together, I think it is linked to the potteries branch from memory.

I think Empire Green should have a cream coach line, not sure what name cream, I must do mine too! So I would also like to know

Look under bodywork heading,line2 will give you all the details

http://potteries.mmoc.org.uk/Identify.htm

All Cams work I believe.

I think, the coachline should match the interior colour. Unless the exterior is the same colour as the interior.

It doesn't give a coachline in the series 2 listing, also Empire Green was discontinued in 1956 when the Minor 1000 arrived. When I first had the car in 1985 the coach line was cream, so I still would like to get the right shade if possible, also my interior, as all Empire green cars, is green also.
Any more ideas?? Thanks,
Phil

Thanks so far for the info , as has been posted my whole car is green , but I must admit a cream colour does sound good as the existing grey does not show up very well , but if it is correct it will stay

Just wanted to know, was having a coachline colour an optional extra, or did certain colour combinations come with the detailing?

All the Minor cars had a coach line, normally white, red or blue depending on the colour of the car. Empire Green had a white coach line but a gold coachline looks good on the green body

mike.perry wrote:All the Minor cars had a coach line, normally white, red or blue depending on the colour of the car. Empire Green had a white coach line but a gold coachline looks good on the green body

I didnt know that. Ive only seen a few minors with painted coachlines, most i see are the same colour as the body.

Ive always thought the coachline would look good in chrome, not original, but it would look nice

Thanks Mike for the answer I will get some white /gold srick on lines from a friend of mine
to see which looks better ( a decision that will be taken by my wife) then I intend to paint mine on the car ,white would be easier as I have already done this on a set of early Triumph motorcycle mudguards using Revell water based plastic modeling paint which is easy to apply and gives a great finish

As far as I am aware all Series MMs >52 had white coachlines although there is a dispute as to the width on early lowlights. From 52 on black and grey cars had red coach lines and dark blue cars had light blue coach lines

Fom my paint of view the coach line colour have the same colour of interior trim!
Sorry if I'm wrong

Thanks Mike but your reply now poses other questions, what were the widths of coach line and what was the dispute about the size of them

Some say that the width of the coachline on early MMs was the width of the moulding. My personal feeling is that this was only on demonstration and show cars as I have been informed by people who worked at Cowley that it would be impossible to paint the wide coachline fast enough whilst the car was moving down the production line

Cars 1949 and 1950 had a full width waist-line stripe.
Cars from 1951 onwards have the 3mm pin stripe.

I disagree, there are many lowlights with a narrow coachline. What is the source of your statement?

Best source of information is the John Pressnall book: Morris Minor, the Official Photo Album which shows various original factory photos.
Pre production cars seem to have full width lines, early, up to 1950 appear to have a line that finishes just inside the the moulding edge by about 1/8" whilst later 1950 onwards the usual thinner coachline appears. So later lowlights can have a thinner coachline. The exact date of change will probably be never known....
Page 38/39 if you want to check.

mike.perry wrote:I disagree, there are many lowlights with a narrow coachline. What is the source of your statement?

Sourced from the Morris Minor Centre, Bath.
Published in Lindsay Porter's Morris Minor restoration guide under specifications. [frame][/frame]

mike.perry wrote:I disagree, there are many lowlights with a narrow coachline. What is the source of your statement?

Like the book says, it is impossible to accurately research all colour and trim combinations and doubtless you are quite right about some early lowlights.
The information is supplied to guide only not as gospel - I personally prefer the look of the narrow pinstripe on any model.