Introducing another South African MK3

Red Riley wrote:Wow! That sounds like a great deal. I wouldn't mind finding a few more at that price.

The seller of SAmk3's car was asking R17 000 but we settled on R10 000. There are two other Mk3's currently being advertised in South Africa. One is a primrose yellow car that looks worthwhile. It has the correct numbers and seems original, even the motor. I think its advertised at R18 000 but I think its probably worth about R15k. The other car is a metallic grey number which is a bitza with a 1275cc engine - not worth a look if serious about originality and being advertised in the 20K mark which is way too much.

SAMK3 wrote:I have the original badge. It will need rechroming. The ebay listing looks tempting. Repro or replaced original? hmmm

Apparently the Mk3 badge cannot successfully be rechromed. Its made of mazak which pits, making re-chroming results disappointing. I suspect that the ones you found listed for sale in Germany are metal repros. But I still want one!

TONYELF wrote:

SAMK3 wrote:Looks like I may need some bumper overriders. Mine are banged up a bit. Maybe they can be banged back into form and replated. Are they hard to find in the UK?

Like rocking horse poo I'm afraid to tell you. Keep and eye on Ebay.
Tony

Lucky for you, your car came with a spare one in a box of random bits. It needs repairing and re-chroming but at least you have two or three repairable ones so far.

Spare hen's teeth or rocking horse poo? Kev, you are awesome. Thanks.

What a great car, and how cool that there is suddenly a little rash of these cars on the EHR! Great that you can all swap info.

Welcome to you all.

Thanks.

Hey everyone,
I appreciate the help I've been receiving here. With some idle time I am poring over photos of Minis, Elfs, Hornets... trying to find a color for my MK3. I haven't even seen the car in person yet, so I can't yet judge how much I like the original color (which I would keep if I don't hate it). The car has been repainted over the years and I'm judging the factory color from some under the carpet photos.

Anyway, I've attached a photo that I pulled off the internet of a green that I really like. I think the pale grey/greens don't look sporty enough for me. I'd like a more saturated tone.

It would be impossible to match a color based on a photograph, so maybe someone has some thoughts as to a color to match this blurry car speeding by? Seems an aqua or aquamarine color. Funny thing is, I've seen another photo of what I think is the same car and it looks nothing like this photo (of course).

I guess I'm asking what colors might look like this particular photo. Perhaps even a bit more color saturated... the image looks paler when seen through my browser than when I look at the downloaded jpeg.



Cheers,
Mark

I would guess that's either Porcelain or Cumberland Green if that's an Elf, although it looks a bit on the blue side of green. Maybe it's Island Green, but I don't think I've ever seen Island Green in person.

Have you taken a look at this chart? minicolours
Unfortunately no pictures, but it has the color names and codes. That aside, the SA cars may not have used these colors at all, so who knows?

Wouldn't it be great to add another column to that table with a thumbnail photo of cars that we know to be an example of the colour scheme shown, so you could click on it and compare it to yours if you were in doubt?

Coco_ChanElf wrote:Wouldn't it be great to add another column to that table with a thumbnail photo of cars that we know to be an example of the colour scheme shown, so you could click on it and compare it to yours if you were in doubt?

A great idea Ali - I could not agree more....
David 2010

David2010 wrote:

Coco_ChanElf wrote:Wouldn't it be great to add another column to that table with a thumbnail photo of cars that we know to be an example of the colour scheme shown, so you could click on it and compare it to yours if you were in doubt?

A great idea Ali - I could not agree more....
David 2010

It's been tried before. There used to be a fairly comprehensive Mini paint color gallery, but I believe whoever was maintaining it lost their web space or something and it just disappeared. This chart faced the same fate, but I managed to steal/rescue it before it completely vanished. I could redo it with pictures if I had the pictures to do it with.

There is this site www.mini-colours.co.uk but it doesn't seem to be active.

Red Riley wrote:

There is this site www.mini-colours.co.uk but it doesn't seem to be active.

It is active, but incomplete!

There are also some paint chips on this website, plus the US site

TCPGlobal has a wide range of paint chips including BLMC/Wolseley/Riley etc.

BU-43 Aquamarine looks nice, but I'd have to see it on a car, not just a paint chip.

If someone is putting together a new webpage of color samples, I've been collecting a bunch of different greens from the internet.

Here's a vote that you keep the colour as near to original as possible. Even if you hate it, you'll grow to like it over time.

I agree with keeping as original as possible but I'd like to see the car in person first. From the photos Kevin has sent me, I definitely don't hate the current color. I kept my last car, the '69 Mustang the original silver jade/emerald metallic... and wow, what a great color. I found this photo of a similarly painted Hornet with whitewalls and really like the overall look. Hope it is ok to post random photos from the web.

we like random 'photos!

Big_Al_Smith wrote:we like random 'photos!

That's right!

Hmm. That broccoli looks a little like cumberland green.

I'm in SA and Kevin drove me to visit the car at the shop the other day. I'm super excited. The car looks great even though we are just beginning the tear down at this point.

Its a pity that you're so far away from where I stay, otherwise you might have been able to come and have a look at my car.

Thanks. I'm now in Joburg for a couple days before heading home. We spent the past week in Kruger and had a great time.

You must take time to connect up with Ryno before you leave!

Ha. Wish I could have. I just arrived back in NYC via London. I'll post more photos soon...

OK, here they are. I wasn't able to drive the car because it is partly disassembled. The car is very complete with unique SA doors. Any idea on the interior color? Kev says blue, I think maybe a dark olive? Hard to tell. The headliner fabric pattern/texture does not match the sun visors, which is correct? The car was repainted, but you can see what is probably the original paint on the panel that was covered by the now removed front grill. Any non-South Africans notice the reflectors installed beneath the head lights? This was done to meet local regulations, a detail I will keeps. The rear reflectors are installed under the bumper with a bracket. I found a photo of another SA MK3 with the rear reflectors installed beneath the tail lights (yuk).

The head lights are flat looking. What is the correct rounded light I should be searching for?

I need suggestions on seat belts... I want rear seat belts, but I want something that looks period correct. Anyone with experience installing rear belts?

Thanks!

It had been a few months...
Car is almost ready for paint. I'll post photos soon, I hope. The body shop says there was very little rust to repair. I got lucky! Also, looks like I could use a new lower dash pad. Any thoughts on the quality of the repros? Or perhaps I should look for a clean original?

And I just got engaged!

Congrats on the engagement.

The hoodlining as it is now is correct. This is down to the fact that the SA cars were required to meet a certain weight target of locally produced items before they could classified as 'Produced in South Africa' and not 'Assembled in South Africa'. It was all part of the local content program that was under way in the country at the time. And regarding the reflectors on the rear of the car, there should be small holes below the tail lamps where the reflectors would have originally screwed into. I would put them back there, but that's just my opinion. The car is looking good at the moment, keep it up.