Cylinder Head Paint
Cars produced up until November 1961 had the cylinder heads painted the same colour as the XK150S engines - Bradite 'Golden Yellow', a British Standard colour known as BS381-356. After this date the heads continued to be painted Gold but rather than a solid paint it was a metallic finish - known by Bradite as 'Old Gold 2991 Air Drying'. To Jaguar it was still "Gold"!
Waddicor (Bradite)
Canley, Coventry, Warwickshire (now West Midlands). Telephone: Coventry 5306. Telegraphic Address: "Bradite, Coventry"
1936 - Bradite Ltd company established by James Waddicor to manufacture specialist paints under the Bradite brand.
1937 - Listed Exhibitor - British Industries Fair. "Bradite" Cellulose Finishes. "Bradsyn" Air-Drying Synthetic and Super Synthetic Stoving Enamels. "Maxi-covering" Synthetic Brush Finishes. Paints, Enamels, Varnishes and Distempers. Insulation and Moisture Absorption Paint. See examples of modern cycle finishes
Date unknown - Bradite Ltd bought by HMG Paints Ltd, Manchester
1996 - Bradite Ltd renamed The Little Greene Paint Company Ltd based in Manchester
2009 - name changed to Bradite Ltd based in Manchester and Bethesda, Wales
To understand what colour was used by Jaguar we need to first understand how industrial paint was marketed and sold in the UK in the mid 20th centuary, in particular the British Standard for paint colours BS381.
BS381
Published in 1930, BS381 was the BSI's first colour standard. In fact BS381 was not a co-ordinated range of colours at all but rather a collection of individually specified colours; used for camouflage, identification, signalling and coding systems; by the armed forces and other government departments, public bodies and industry.
In 1948, shortly after the Second World War, BS381 was revised as 'BS381C: Colours for ready mixed paints'. A further revision in 1964, published as Colours for ready mixed paints, was described as "for identification or other technical purposes, or for purposes based on long-established practice". In subsequent years various colours were added in response to the requirements of London Transport and the Ministry of Defence. At one point the standard consisted of 107 colours; however this has now been reduced to 91, in the latest version of BS381C.
Although each colour within the standard has its own number; each also had its own name, used more often in the past than now. These names, often predating the standard and relating to "long-established practice", will strike a chord of nostalgia to anyone who loved Airfix models as a child. Such evocative names include: Oxford Blue, Brunswick Green (often known as British Racing Green), Light Buff, Golden Yellow, Camouflage Desert Sand, Signal Red, International Orange, RAF Blue/Grey and Dark Admiralty Grey.
Note: there is no 'Pumpkin' in the BS chart.
Gold paint
The original cylinder head paint was produced by Bradite and Jaguar records show it was 'Gold' although as it was to BS381c standards it was known as 'Golden Yellow' in the paint industry. Those same records do not show a different colour paint used after 1961 - it is recorded as 'Gold' throughout XK150S and 3.8 production. Confusion was caused by Bradite supplying Gold
metallic (known as Bradite Old Gold) to Jaguar from mid 1961 onwards rather than the solid Golden Yellow used previously. We do not know whether this was a request from Jaguar after supplies of Golden Yellow were exhausted, a clerical error in the order process or production problems at Bradite which forced the change. The early cars non metallic paint has retrospectively been called 'Pumpkin' by the Americans who know what that vegetable is but a puzzlement to us Brits (we don't have Pumpkins - Turnips, yes). "Gold' is a shade of Orange that is 71% saturated and 81% bright. For reference purposes, Gold has the hex value #CFB53B."
The Bradite company still exists in Wales but they no longer have any NOS samples to hand or any knowledge of the paints supplied to Jaguar back in the day. However they do produce a heat resistant paint
Even today many paint manufacturers have a solid paint in their range that is called Gold (e.g. Crown has 'Tivoli Gold' trade paint which is very close to the fabled Pumpkin). If we go back to basics and consult the British Standard paint charts in use during the 1950's/1960's we find BS381c-356 'Golden Yellow':
BS381-356 'Golden Yellow' is the correct period colour for the cylinder head for the early cars. Hex value #F2A600. Bradite do produce a heat resistant paint called 'Fastrac Heat Resist' and it appears to be available in BS381c colours.
After October 1961 the heads were painted a metallic gold however, unlike solid paint, there was no British Standard for metallic paints. Without a reference number finding an exact match is difficult. This is the original colour but of course it will be affected by your monitor:
Fun Factoids:
'633 Squadron' is a 1964 British film that depicts the exploits of a fictional World War II British fighter-bomber squadron which was based on a novel of the same name by Frederick E. Smith, published in 1956. The RAF did not form a unit called "633 Squadron" during the Second World War however Smith drew on his military service and used the nickname aircrew gave to the painters who worked on the base - the 633 Squadron. '633' is the BS381c paint code for RAF Blue/Grey and they painted everything that colour - bowsers, Nissan huts, kerbs, gates, equipment etc.
Have you noticed how the paint on the head near the number is usually flaked away? This is becaause the heads were painted first and stamped with the number later. It caused the paint to flake off. An original painted head will show this defect, heads repainted will not.