I have a 1958 XK150 DHC originally supplied in Pearl Grey with black hood and red trim but now in White with black trim.
I can of course put it back to the original, or stick with the white or go for a new colour altogether.
I do want to keep more or less standard but equally this isn’t going to be a concourse car so I’m not averse to changing colour.
Pearl grey does not seem to be that popular so before making any decisions I thought I would ask what is regarded as the best colour scheme that most suits the car?
I can reasonably claim the prize for spraying the most test panels before spraying a car. A recent MGA, 7. I’m on my 9th test spray for my 120 OTS, and all I want is a lovely shade of cream without looking too yellow or white. Too much to ask for? Yes, apparently. I mix a small batch, live with it for a while and tweak it again. Cars are never finished in my shop… they pack their bags and run away.
I prefer darker colors on coupes and sedans. Reds, shades of green, blue, etc. Old Jag sedans remind me of banker’s cars, refined and dignified.
Andrew, I would personally go back to the original PEARL GREY as it is a colour that really works well on XKs and is very much ‘period’ correct. Regardless of modern tastes in Colours I keep finding the original colour range (mostly) worked really well, with a few exceptions, but its important to get shade of colour right, as an OLD ENGLISH WHITE (factory technical term), or CREAM (marketing/sales term) is an off-white with a hint of yellow, and works well, but too many restorations paint them STARK WHITE, which really looks (in my eyes) bad…
See attached pic of a mates XK140, still in its original PEARL GREY - love it
Personal tastes are all over the map. There are so many white SUVs in my area that I’m finding I don’t like white cars of any kind at all. In my area there are three 150DHCs I admire, dark green with tan top, burgundy with tan top, and maroon with black top.
I have a book about 120s which lists how many were made in each color, and I imagine there is such a book for the 150, if you wanted to see what the tastes were back in the era.
Anders Clausager’s JAGUAR XK140/150 IN DETAIL tells us there were 960 XK150s (171 LHD DHC) in PEARL GREY and 2431 (625 LHD DHC) in CREAM (note Cream = Old English White).
And if you want to drill down, of the 222 Pearl Grey XK150 DHCs (LHD and RHD), 159 had RED interior, 25 LIGHT BLUE and 38 DARK BLUE
And of those 159 Pearl Grey with Red interior DHCs, some 125 had BLACK hoods, with 28 French Grey next most popular…
So regardless, both Pearl Grey and Cream were popular XK150 paint choices
Thanks for dropping me a line. Yes I know what you mean about yellow because my last car was painted Aston Martin Snowdon White and I made the mistake of visiting the body shop half way through. All I saw was a pale yellow car and I nearly had a heart attack! It turned out really nice old world cream colour but that was only apparent once it was finished,
Just to say, my 140DHC is being painted Mist Grey as I type. I know, technically it’s a 150 colour, but I really like it with the dark blue hood, seats and wheels.
I would encourage you to stay with a basic Jaguar color from the era. I have seen a number of XK’s painted in brighter more modern colors and though they always look great, because the xk’s are just beautiful cars, they are just not as desirable on the resale market. I feel it really hurts the resale value. (…Just my opinion.) I am doing my 140 in the original Dove Grey and I think it is a unique dignified look the car deserves. My personal opinion is that I have seen too many in red and white Jaguar sports cars. …black is very difficult unless the body is perfect. Take a close look at some restored Pearl Grey Jaguars, I think you will be impressed.
Yes, the more I have delved into this topic the more I have come to appreciate that the original colour has importance.
I know that a lot of cars are no longer painted in their original colours and that just shows you how much tastes change over time. I suppose if you are ordering a car brand new then you get to choose the colour but that’s never going to happen for any of us now.
I now need to see a car in Pearl Grey for myself and I wonder whether there is one in the UK?
My car was originally supplied in Carmen Red with black hood and trim, whitewall tyres (sorry, tires - it was a US-market car) and chrome wire wheels.
Carmen red is verging on the orange in some shades and is way too bright for me. I also have an aversion to red cars, but overriding all that is that my wife vetoed it in no uncertain terms. I like darker colours and for a while it was going to be dark blue or black. BRG is out as I also don’t like green much! Then, almost every restored XK I saw was either dark blue or black so I had a rethink. I also have a leafspring Cobra 289 which has always been black, and it is a pain to keep clean and swirl-free, so two black cars would just be masochistic. I thought long and hard about Pearl Grey which I think is a great colour, but the cars I saw looked just a little bit ‘washed out’, with a faint bluish tinge which I wasn’t entirely sure about. Mist Grey, according to some sources, is a Jaguar colour from 1956, but was not used on 140s. It is a Jag colour from the right period so, given that I have converted the car to RHD and am not doing it bright red anyway, I think it’s justifiable. I’ve seen 150s in Mist Grey both in the flesh and in photos and I think it’ll look really nice with the dark blue trim and top.
The really annoying thing is that every single restored XK140 I have seen has chrome wire wheels. This is plain wrong, as I believe the wheels on SEs (mine is an SE) should be body colour. My Cobra has always had silver painted wires, and I think the chrome wheels are generally just a bit too much, in my opinion. Yet my car really should have them! It was sitting on three badly rusted chrome 54-spoke wheels and one black one (the spare, I think) when I bought it, having been in an American lock-up since 1983 so I believe them to be original. But I don’t want to follow the chrome-plated herd so am doing the wheels trim colour, i.e. dark blue.
It’s not due back from the painters for 3-4 weeks but I’ll post a photo when it comes.
Are you in the XK Club? If you get the XK Gazette, you’ll see a series of articles about the restoration that I write now and then. I’m doing everything myself except the hood, the timber and the paintwork, so it’s pretty hands-on stuff. I think we’re on episode 8 at the moment.
I think my red one, above, is Carmen red. Original colour. Sold new in Switzerland. Agree on the orange tinge in some sunny conditions. My only red car. I think it works better on the XKs than on the E-types, but taste is very individual. I like the 5 shades of grey that Jaguar usen in the 50s. Lavender and Battleship are great.
Sorry Peder, I hope I emphasised strongly enough that my opinions are only that, one guy’s preference! There is a lot to be said for keeping a car its original colour - I do with all my others. But as I’m converting to RHD I thought it mattered a little bit less.
I do think the 150 is a bit different. Don’t forget, on a 140DHC you would have a bright red windscreen surround and, for correctness, bright red wire wheels (for an SE). Too much red for me personally!
Roger, I am so pleased to hear your comments about “chrome” wheels on every restored XK. You are exactly right, it is too much too often. …it is like putting lipstick on the Mona Lisa. I had a long talk with the people at Dayton and they will provide new wire wheels for less cost than to refurbish original wheels. In addition, they will paint the wire wheels in any color for nominal extra cost. My XK-140 will have wires that match the body color. That is a firm decision made early on. The chrome wheels serve as a distraction from the beautiful lines of the XK.
