Project Dick's cars: Riviera Mini run 2025

[Dick Cheeseburger]

5 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Isn’t there a plate riveted onto the slam panel with the colour name? 
Similar to the VIN plate but it’ll have the cars exact details - paint colour/code, interior type/colour etc.

This part of the vin plate mentions colour? 

I've just found this online -1978 Ford colour chart, so one year out from my car. 

This is solar gold.

Mine:

Still scratching my head!

[High Jetter]

It was a popular(!) colour, used to sell those aerosol cans of spray. Bronze metallic was darker, autumn gold?

[danthecapriman]

Hmm, my VIN on the Crapi actually says exactly what the name of the colour is. I assumed yours would be the same but obviously not.

It does look pretty close to Solar gold to me… don’t forget yours is old paint too so it’ll have faded and weathered.

Aztec gold is another similar shade??

Its definitely not Arizona gold as that’s quite a bit darker and more orange/copper.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Cheers. I only need a bit of paint to blow in the red primed area on the O/S front wing. The paintwork on the car has character* anyway, so I reckon I'll buy some Solar Gold and crack on with it 😉. 

[danthecapriman]

1 minute ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Cheers. I only need a bit of paint to blow in the red primed area on the O/S front wing. The paintwork on the car has character* anyway, so I reckon I'll buy some Solar Gold and crack on with it 😉. 

I’d say Solar is about the most likely looking at it.

You might be able to polish it a bit afterwards to try to blend it in a bit.

Theres also Champagne gold which is quite a light shade but I don’t think it was available on the Escort when yours was made.

[High Jetter]

24 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

Champagne gold

That was a popular colour, now you mention it

[danthecapriman]

1 minute ago, High Jetter said:

That was a popular colour, now you mention it

I remember it being pretty popular on mk2 Granada’s. When I was at school a friend’s dad had one, a 2.8 Ghia saloon and it looked the absolute biz!

[bunglebus]

On 09/06/2024 at 21:28, Dick Longbridge said:

The fuel tank is venting correctly behind the back bumper, so I'm wondering if the fuel smell is just the way it is?

No, it shouldn't smell of fuel inside the car. Worth looking at the filler neck and the pipe that exits the tank, E10 loves to eat rubber bits

[JeeExEll]

I had a June 79 Capri 3-litre in Oyster gold.

Solar gold replaced oyster in late 79 for the 1980 model year.

[grizz]

On 09/06/2024 at 08:52, Dick Longbridge said:

I visited Royal Cornwall Show yesterday with the family. There was some interesting metal on display. The Julian's cart was something else. The older I become, the more it like old commercials - we saw a rough 60s commercial up for sale at £6k and I joked with my lad whether I should buy it or not. Got some looks from Mrs L.... 🤣

Lots of the commercials have Cornish registrations too, suggesting they've never travelled far in their decades of existence. 

 

I really should go back to getting out to a few of these shows. 
 

Used to do it but stopped over time. 
 

Love your reports. 

[Shite Ron]

1 hour ago, JeeExEll said:

I had a June 79 Capri 3-litre in Oyster gold.

Solar gold replaced oyster in late 79 for the 1980 model year.

As above, it is either Solar Gold or Oyster Gold, Ford changed colour and spec. almost every year. If it is a very early V reg then it is Oyster Gold but if built after October 1979 then Solar Gold.

My money is on Solar gold, it could however have had a dodgy respray at some time in it’s past to confuse matters.

[rob88h]

17 hours ago, Dick Longbridge said:

This is solar gold.

For the full Shitters experience, I found that there was a Gold Hammerite (from about 2007) that was an excelent match to Solar Gold 😆

[Dick Cheeseburger]

1 hour ago, rob88h said:

For the full Shitters experience, I found that there was a Gold Hammerite (from about 2007) that was an excelent match to Solar Gold 😆

Ha! I used Hammerite paint a fair bit in the 90s and it seemed ok. The last lot I bought was around a decade ago and it was shite in comparison. I think I'll buy a solar gold aerosol and be done with it. The 'Scort is already 50 shades of gold so this will just add to the patina. 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

And purchased. This should enable me to give the paintwork a full restoration to do a mismatched repair on the front wing. That should make things look slightly less shit! 

[High Jetter]

5 hours ago, Dick Longbridge said:

And purchased. This should enable me to give the paintwork a full restoration to do a mismatched repair on the front wing. That should make things look slightly less shit!

All-purpose! You can do anything* with it!

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Shite 

Factree. 

The whole front corner has already been blown in so my paintwork in the corner matches the rest of the newer paint.

Sticky locks sorted. 

[JeeExEll]

I'd guess it's Solar gold, it's a little bit of a lighter colour than Oyster gold.

But it does depend on the accuracy of the person who mixed the painf.

[JeeExEll]

I don't know how much real gold is included in the paint.

Would be interesting to find out the contents of gold car paint 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

20 hours ago, JeeExEll said:

I don't know how much real gold is included in the paint.

Would be interesting to find out the contents of gold car paint 

[Bazfr69]

I’ve always been a two door fan primarily but I do love a four door escort. 
Always preferred the normal grill over the RS snoot as well for some reason. 
 

Lovely motor. 😎😊

[Dick Cheeseburger]

So, I moved the 'Scrote onto a fella in the SW recently as I needed the funds when Mrs L's motor shit itself just before going on holiday. To add to the fun, we've just discovered our nine year old, uninsured cat is diabetic and will need two injections daily to keep him going. I guess one bittersweet positive is we lost our greyhound a few weeks back, so some costs saved there. Miss the old girl though. 

Any opportunities of projects aside from the Lambretta are firmly on hold for a minute. 😬

 

 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

At least the Escort has gone to a good home. The new owner is a proper classic Ford nutter who likes getting his hands dirty. He owns a two door Mk1 Escort and a Mk2 Escort van. He plans on using the 4 door as a local runaround after he's done a few tweaks. He's based near Exeter so if you're in the area, you may see it around. 

I spent a fair bit of time cleaning up the paintwork and blew in the edge of the bootlid where I'd exposed a few areas of bare metal where I'd removed the mastic from the old spoiler. I spent some more time on the interior, too. I'd like to think that both HMCs and my efforts have allowed this mk2 to go on to be properly looked after and enjoyed.  

[Dick Cheeseburger]

We made our annual pilgrimage* 10 minutes down the road to the Riviera Mini run once again over the weekend. The standard of cars was superb as always. 

This traveller was car of the show for me. Absolutely stunning. 

Special was a close second for me! Spotless, inside and out.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

This one was for sale for £6k. Bottoms of doors and wings a bit scabby but largely very original and for some reason I kept going back to it. What are classic Minis actually worth in the current climate though? Overpriced, I guess.

Headlights were pretty cool

[Dick Cheeseburger]

MX5 tan leather looks spot on in a classic Mini cabin

Small wheeled shocker below!

And one for luck...spotted on the campsite as we left...