Morris Minor Owners Club

I have a 1559 two door saloon. Which was originally grey, but has been resprayed red then trafalgar blue at some point later. my problem is Which shade of grey is it? I've been told it is clarendon grey but the date on the log book suggests that it is too late as the vehicle was 1st registered 02/10/1959. I think it is smoke grey but does anyone have some pictures of vehicles in these shades for me to compare (My Dashboard is still grey)
Many Thanks
John

Further to above the chassis number is 760061 And the door cards i think are the original Maroon colour, the car also at somepoint has had it's original registration No. transfered to another vehicle because this on is non-transferable. Does anyone know how to trace the original Reg number? If it is not being used, is it possible to get it back? Are maroon interior carpets still available?

From the chassis number, the date of manufacture is probably early to mid September 1959 which would agree with your date of registration.

Clarendon Grey was discontinued in January 1959 from car number 694645.

It could have been Frilford Grey, Pearl Grey or Smoke Grey as these were the only grey colours available during the time your car was manufactured.

Maroon trim was not available for those grey colours but red was. Red trim meant that the car was finished in either Frilford grey or Pearl grey as Smoke grey cars should have had blue-grey trim.

Your carpets should have been either red (Frilford grey & Pearl grey) or blue (Smoke grey). I think these are more than likely still available from Newton Commercial.

I don't have any pictures of these colours unfortunately, but someone on here might.

Not sure about tracing the reg. I've only been able to find out which car my original reg is on. I suppose to get it back you would have to approach the new owners of the reg and offer them a large sum of money! I would say if your reg has been sold on then the chances are it's in use somewhere. I doubt very much that it isn't being used.

Sorry to add to the confusion but Smoke Grey was introduced in 1961, and is a Blue colour.

According to Ray Newell's 'Original Morris Minor' book, Smoke Grey was available in 1959........ is Ray wrong?

But yes, it is a blue colour hence the different blue trim.

Hi,
I've got Ray's book, it was that that helped me decide that it definately wasn't Clarendon grey. But the pictures of other shades are either not very clear or missing, plus, how much will the interior paintwork have faded over the last 45 years? It seems too dark to be pearl grey, but you never know. So has anyone any Photos of grey cars?
How about setting up a gallery, where we can post pics of our cars?

How about setting up a gallery, where we can post pics of our cars?

Good idea!

Create a list of colours with the corresponding years and chassis numbers and then put a picture (or two) on for the example!!

According to Ray Newell's 'Original Morris Minor' book, Smoke Grey was available in 1959........ is Ray wrong?

Right I usually get my colour info from the Bath site, and Smoke Grey is shown from 1961 - 1970 and its forerunner was Clipper Blue with the chassis number mentioned, it also eliminates Yukon Grey as this is also slightly later. There was also an earlier Smoke Blue with a maroon interior but its a few years earlier, I wonder which source is right as regards Smoke Grey.
http://www.morris-minor.co.uk/p708.htm

I have a 1559 two door saloon.

So it has to be the 1st car ever?

the car also at somepoint has had it's original registration No. transfered to another vehicle because this on is non-transferable.

Just because the number plate is non-transferable doesn't mean it's not original. If the car was not registered with the DVLC when they went to the new log books (ie. if it was stored in a garage), the record of the registration dissapeared. When the car was put back on the road, the owner had to apply to DVLC to keep the original number and, if it was granted, it would be issued as non-transferable.
I've got to go through that rigmarole when I'm closer to getting Molly on the road, but I am lucky enough to have the original buff log book which shows the original reg number.