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MG MGA - MGA hood colour

A bit of a silly question, really, but one never knows. I have found a tan hood, with matching side screens, that must have been taken off a car shortly after the car was new, and never used. I expect the car was prepared for racing. It's in very good condition throughout, with the exception of one corner at the rear which must have been sitting in something damp and has rotted the stitching and lining at that point. Its all very flexible and the windows are pretty clear. The hood frame (still attached) is rather stiff at the joints, which is something I'd need to work on, but it all just needs a good clean.

The hood on my own car is the wrong colour, non-originaland a poor fit at the screen, so I would like to use this. Trouble is, it's the wrong colour. My trim is grey, as are seats,tonneau & carpet, and the hood should be pale blue to be correct (though I could live with grey).

So the question is: is there any way I can 're-colour' the tan hood and screens to match my car? Are there any plastics experts out there who could advise?

Pro
Gus Gander

Have you checked with a local auto upholstery shop. They might be able to stain your top. Tan to blue might be a challenge though. Not just the color change but getting the process/color evenly.
Good luck!
Robert Maupin

Is your hood ice blue? I spent years looking for a solution to this problem and I came up with only two answers. The first was to get the top and tonneau cover "painted" by an upholstery shop as Robert mentions. The only problem is that this process is aimed at show cars that don't see a lot of use, and the applied color will tend to crack and flake off over time if the top is flexed, so be forwarned. The other alternative was to have a bolt of ice blue top material made, and I found a company in England that would do it, but I would have ended up with enough material for dozens of tops and I could only find two or three other people who were interested in getting one. That would have left me with several thousand dollars worth of material. The story of the search is here:

http://www.tildebang.com/mg/index18.html

I would just add to what Mr. Nimoy reported :-) that I later learned from the owner of a car that had an ice blue top, that the material did tend to fade to a greenish-gray color after years of exposure to sunlight. My tonneau cover is still in a closet. It's shrunk a little over the dacades and so I've just been putting off getting it stretched to fit.
David Breneman

This thread was discussed between 23/01/2009 and 24/01/2009

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This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGA BBS is active now.