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MG TD TF 1500 - British Racing Green, or BRG, myths and formulas

British Racing Green -- A History and Formulation discussion

I have spent the last six months gathering a fair amount of information on British Racing Green from a variety of sources and I thought I should summarize it here for the benefit of all. I do have quite a bit more information if anyone feels that they want some of the more obscure mythology.

First, it is well documented that BRG is a range of colors – both for aesthetic reasons and because it visually varies significantly with small changes of formulation. Before the advent of repeatable paint mixing methodologies and more stringent controls on factory colors, the variations often occurred within the same brand and automotive model. In addition, painting techniques and base/pigment choices have evolved or become obsolete. Lead based pigments are no longer an option – therefore formulations exist for many of the variants, but the ingredients do not.

My painter uses PPG paints exclusively and prefers the DCC single stage Acrylic Urethane. Specifically PPG Deltron Concept 2K Urethane so all of these formulations listed here are for one quart quantities of PPG DCC. And I should acknowledge the help of the people in the Color Science Lab at PPG for their responsiveness as I went through this lengthy exercise.

I started off by gathering samples of BRG painted metal items and by accumulating as much of the history as I could gather. I had the computer system read about 15 metal samples (the underside of boot lids seemed the best candidates) and then I selected a few formulations and had these mixed up for testing. Once I had a candidate formulation, I had a sample sprayed onto a 6” x 9” primed metal sheet. These were then color sanded and waxed so that the entire process truly emulated the intended restoration approach. As I started changing the formulations, I learned a few things. Removing some of the black in the formulation, really gave a good insight into what kind of underlying green any particular approach to BRG was based on. When a percentage of the black is removed from the typical GN25 MG green formulation it shifts towards a very earthy muddy look -- trending towards a military type green. Perhaps there is something to the apocryphal story that after WWII the motor vehicle industry in England was well stocked with ingredients for military green paint formulations and that black was added to create a new family of colors that became known as British Racing Green.

In addition to using the computer paint system to read (and attempt to understand) the colorimetry of surviving period painted automobiles, I gathered information about what people have been using for BRG on the typical bulletin boards and forums. While there have been many different approaches used to pick a BRG for individual projects, there do seem to be a couple of trends. Mike Goodman (who recently retired after almost 50 years of MG repairs and restorations) painted many MGTC and MGTD cars in a BRG formulation that was felt to be close to GN25. This PPG code was 44644 (which is called Cypress Green) and it was a Volvo P1800 sports car color with a Volvo color code of 110. Later on, the PPG code for MG GN25 (which was 43342) was switched to the same pigments and sometimes the exact same formulation is used. If one requests the formulations for 43342 and/or for 44644 from PPG you are never quite sure what you will get -- but they can both result in:

DMC900 Strong White 88.6
DMC936 Blue Shade Phthalo Green 668.0
DMC902 Carbon Black 217.5
DMC905 Lemon Chrome Yellow 172.1

Unfortunately, DMC905 is a lead based pigment and is no longer available (at least in California). This above formula is what Mike Goodman used for years. To my eye, it is a very slight bit too yellow green and not quite dark enough.

The other most common BRG formulation is Jaguar HEN or Jaguar color code 701. (Used on 1987-1990 Jaguars) This is PPG color code 46169 and results in a formulation:

DMC937 Green 605.1
DMC901 Strong Black 341.5
DMC908 Yellow 115.7
DMC904 Blue 31.4
DMC900 Strong White 24.9

This is a very dark BRG with a strong blueish tint. It can require a second look to not think it is black – particularly if it is not in direct sunlight. This is a true Jaguar color and quite popular on XKE’s and on XK120 and XK140 cars. To my eye, on cars like an Austin Healey or an MGA it looks too dark.

In 1991 Mazda built a commemorative edition of the Miata and it was painted British Racing Green. It is Mazda paint code HU. Since it is a more recent automobile, the color formulation is available from many manufacturers. The PPG code is 47037 (called Neo Green) and the DCC formulation is:

DMC937 Green 671.2
DMC901 Strong Black 396.9
DMC900 Strong White 41.4
DMC919 Yellow 5.7
DMC918 Yellow 1.0

This is a gorgeous dark BRG and it looks great on more modern British sports cars. For instance, I believe it is the best choice for a British Racing Green colored Jensen Healey. (Be careful not to end up with the 2001 special edition Mazda Miata British Racing Green. The 2001 version is a modern metallic color and not appropriate for anything.)

One thing to notice is that the more commonly chosen BRG formulations listed above have either four or five pigment tints used in their formulas. It appears that with BRG this is critical. When I used the computer to “match” the period painted samples of BRG that I had collected, I often got a suggested formulation with 12 or more tint ingredients. The color may have come out a match, but the paint was dull and lifeless with no kick. I gave up on the computer system and set about adapting the PPG codes 44644 and 43342 into a modern lead free formulation. In the course of all this testing, we mixed up 19 different formulations. Each was mixed with the hardeners, sprayed, sanded, waxed and evaluated.

A few observations. BRG covers a very subtle range of acceptability. It is easy for the colors to get muddy, lifeless and drift towards military olive drab. It is easy for them to slide into a blue black that is almost not a green at all except under very direct sunlight. All of these colors are attempting to emulate obsolete formulations that are in turn revised as the laws governing paint continue to change. The revised formulas that target the BMC and British Leyland colors tend to go too yellow or they go dull. The revised Jaguar type colors tend to go too blue.

After about the 10th sample, probably most people would just say “Pick something”. I am sure that is what my local paint store felt. But I work in the motion picture industry adjusting subtle color for a living. This became a personal challenge and a goal to sort through. I now have a formulation that I am happy with. It is not quite as light as the color Mike Goodman used but I think it is more correct. In bright sunlight the color shifts from a green with hints of yellow to a green/blue depending on the angle of the sun. With the painted object between the viewer and the sun, it is very green with some earth yellow but with the sun at your back, it is quite dark and somewhat blue. I think it does everything that British Racing Green is supposed to do. The PPG DCC formulation is:

DMC900 Strong White 54
DMC936 Blue Shade Phthalo Green 700
DMC902 Carbon Black 170
DMC986 Organic Yellow 170
DMC919 Inorganic Yellow 35

I think an MGA painted in this color would be gloriously stunning. I am currently doing an MGTD in this formulation. I would encourage anyone thinking of using British Racing Green on a MGTD, a MGA, or even an Austin Healey BJ8 3000 to mix up a quart of this and give it a try.

Ray Feeney


Ray Feeney

Wow! Great job. As I am in the middle of my TD restoration (which will be green), I have been researching the green color a bit. I recall reading recently that at least some of the "original" PPG codes are only available in the Omni line, which could be due to pigment unavailability? Can't wait to try your mix. George
George Butz

Great article!! I am restoring my TF. What I did was go to several meets where there were several BRG cars. I found one I liked and got the code! It is Deltron made by PPG - DBC3568 base/clear New Racing Green. Does this match any of yours? Only problem is I would like to see what yours looks like, but my body guy will only use Dupont I think - can I convert your numbers to DuPont? If you look at the www.mgcars.org.uk site he says the TF had a metallic green on orig cars he saw. Sounds far fetched, but the only problem is, I knew an owner in 1975 who had an original and I swear it was a slight metallic BRG and he claimed it was never repainted.

Keith
Keith Murphy

Don't hesitate to ask your PPG jobber to check with the factory to see if they can create a paint formulation in a line that you prefer. I am using PPG single stage CLV Urethane which the factory lab matched to the "MG red" formulation that the "original MG site" references in OMNI. I have shot the tub and several body parts and they look great. Not as glossy as a BC/CC (which is more traditional), but deep color.

Dave
52TD
mgaviator

Keith,
I think the New Racing Green that you are referring to is BLVC25 (PPG code 44446) which was a 1971 MG and Triumph color. This is probably Dupont 30012 -- and is usually described as a medium dark BRG. By all means, if you like it, use it. It is your car after all.

I didn’t check the TF colors or the MGB colors as I was attempting to reach further back to the TC and TD timeframes. The formulations that exist for the TC and TD as single stage paint (not a base color and clear topcoat) are no longer viable. The revised formulations have drifted from the desired green and do not have the same behavior in sunlight that the original pigments seemed to have exhibited.

The only advice I have is to be sure that you spray a sample of whatever type of paint that you are contemplating using before you commit to the entire car. And if you choose a two stage paint with a clear coat, be sure to put clear on your test piece.

Good luck,
Ray Feeney
Ray Feeney

Your research into BRG is amazing, however, as an automobile racing colour, BRG can't really be traced to one particular 'shade'! There was never a formula for it.
In '63 we bought a '58 MGA and tried to find BRG... there was none, so we mixed up a dark green with yellow... looked similar to Vanwall green!

British racing green or BRG, otherwise known as brunswick, hunter, or forest green, takes its name from the green international motor racing colour of Great Britain. Although there is still some debate as to an exact hue for BRG, currently the term is used to denote a spectrum of deep, rich greens. 'British racing green' in motorsport terms meant only the colour green in general - its application to a specific range of shades has developed outside the sport.
In the days of the Gordon Bennett Cup Count Eliot Zborowski, father of inter-war racing legend Louis Zborowski, suggested that each national entrant be allotted a different colour. Every component of a car had to be produced in the competing country, as well as the driver being of that nationality. The races were hosted in the country of the previous year's winner. When Selwyn Edge won the 1902 race for Britain in a Napier it was decided that the 1903 race would be held in Ireland, motor racing being illegal at the time in Great Britain, and the opening of Brooklands still 4 years in the future. As a mark of respect for their hosts the British cars were painted green. Initially this colour distinction only applied to the grands épreuves, but was later codified in the Code Sportif International (CSI) of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA).
Reflecting the Irish roots of this colour choice, many of the earliest greens used on British racing cars were of a lighter moss or emerald green. In the 1920s Bentley cars were hugely sucessful at the Le Mans 24h races, all sporting a mid- to dark-green. The first recorded use of the darkest green shades was on the Bugatti of Briton William Grover-Williams, driving in the very first Monaco Grand Prix, in 1928. This colour became known as British Racing Green and was regarded as a semi-official shade, especially in the 1950s and 1960s when British teams such as Vanwall, Cooper, Lotus, and BRM were successful in Formula One, all in different shades of dark green. However, reflecting their long racing heritage, Napier and Aston Martin retained the lighter shades, and Scottish teams such as Ecurie Ecosse and the Rob Walker Racing team used a dark blue. The Brabham team also used a shade of BRG, despite not being British. As Australia was a member of the British Commonwealth the base shade was the same as Britain, but this was augmented with a gold (later yellow) stripe, gold and green being the national sporting colours of Australia.
Under pressure from a number of teams, most famously the Lotus team who wished to use the Gold Leaf livery on the Lotus 49, in 1968 sponsorship regulations were relaxed in F1. In 1970 the FIA formally gave Formula 1 an exemption from the national colours ruling and the previously common green color soon disappeared, being replaced by various sponsor liveries. This exemption has since been extended to all race series, unless specific regulations require the adoption of national colours.
The history of the famous greens was revived in 2000 by Jaguar, but after this team was sold to Red Bull by Ford in 2004, the new Red Bull Racing team used their own colors. Other traditionally British manufacturers have since followed suite. Bentley returned briefly to the Le Mans circuit in 2003 with the winning Bentley Speed 8, painted in a very dark shade of BRG, and in recent years Aston Martin has also returned to endurance racing with the DBR9 painted in, a typically Aston, light BRG.
With the many successes of British racing teams through the years, British Racing Green became a popular paint choice for British sports and luxury cars, and a popular choice for the Mini Cooper, the BMW MINI and the Mazda MX-5, whose styling was heavily based on the 1960s British Lotus Elan . British Racing Green was not traditionally a metallic paint, but tends to be such on new cars, as such a limited range of "solid" colours is offered by manufacturers.
Possible origins for the use of the darker shades are many and varied. The dark green colour was used for the uniforms of the cavalrymen of Braunschweig, Germany, and later by British riflemen in the late eighteenth century. The current British Royal Family traces its origin to the House of Hanover, also known as the House of Brunswick, Hanover Line, and Brunswick Green therefore acquired British national symbolism. From the late nineteenth century, certain British railway companies, such as the Great Western Railway (GWR), chose to paint their locomotives in this colour, and it may be that the competition and association with speed (a GWR locomotive was for a long time the fastest in the world) lent these darker shades a romantic air.

gblawson - TD#27667

Gordon,
Great summary of the racing history of BRG. And yes, British Racing Green is not a single shade. At Barney’s request, I clarified some of what I was attempting to accomplish over on the MGA forum. It is my belief that just ordering British Racing Green by using the OEM color codes no longer guarantees success.

I would like to quote one short paragraph from that post:
You are correct that trying to pick a BRG is complicated by the variability of what was done "back in the day". I do believe that there are two main families (or styles) of BRG. The MG type and the Jaguar type -- and they were very different. I used the formulas and the samples to get a spread of what I believe was covered by the MG type of BRG. I then compared the way the colors behaved in sunlight and calibrated my personal viewing adaptation (how it appeared to me) by spreading out a bunch of similarly prepared samples and looking at them across a variety of lighting conditions. So by this I mean cloudy days, bright sun, twilight, etc. and it was interesting to see what happened to the appearance. I attempted to create a color that was solidly in the spread of what I think the original family bracketed. And one that seemed (to me at least) to exhibit the desirable qualities of the assortment. I wouldn't call it an average, but perhaps more of an optimization based on the behavior of the current chemical composition. (I agree that today’s modern sensibilities do lean towards a flashier two-stage paint that is “wrong” and I was certainly not going for an updated look.) Also, I did not do much with the Jaguar type BRG colors other than to include the formulas since many people prefer that as their personal BRG preference. While the Jaguar type BRG can look good on the 50’s and 60’s era MGs, I think it feels out of place on these older MG’s in some disturbing way that I can’t put my finger on.

Ray Feeney
Ray Feeney

Very pleasant to read such in depth information.
I have seen several green MG TD's which are painted in Connaught Green, a solid, warm, dark green, which suits the TD very well. It is for years the interpretation of BRG by Morgan, the British car manufacturer. As already said, there is not a standard BRG formula. If you look at a row of twenties Bentley's,the best known wearers of BRG, You see several shades of green. I am happy that my TD will be black, just black.
Just for information and not to confuse matters.
Frank
F.P. van Geldern

I understand the reason for your research...again, it is great and indepth... It just brought back the fun we had in the '60's trying to find one that looked good on the 'A'.
Seems the T's were offered in "Woodland Green" which also is called 'BRG'...however it seems pretty light? (Have only seen illustrations)?
When looking for various info this morning for my posting, I came across an interesting 1920's Bugatti that was painted BRG for the driver in the first Monte Carlo Grande Prix... not still green however, still, was an early mention of BRG:

http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/public.sh/pubweb/publicSite.r?sContinent=eur&screen=LotDetails&iSaleItemNo=2582833&iSaleNo=12172&sServer=http://images1.bonhams.com/&sPath=2005-09/05/7118993-110-28.jpg

Wonder what it sold for?
gblawson - TD#27667

Great work Ray! Not cheap to do either!!

Any chance you took photos of the samples in various light conditions? It would be great to add them to one of the MG sites for reference. Maybe Bud could host them on ttalk?

Evan Ford - TD 27621

I did not shoot pictures of the samples. I thought about it but when I was doing my research, I found the pictures already on the net confusing enough. In addition, the variations that I was working with at the end were so slight, I think nothing helpful would make it through. Instead, I decided to post the formulas for the most commonly accepted (and currently used) colors and all the OEM codes. There are whole sites devoted to attempting to reproduce the OEM codes (and/or the chip charts) on the net. One of the things that I did when starting the whole process, was to order the spray paint cans of touch-up paint from several of the online manufacturers that offer the service. Although they were not very accurate, they did allow me to tell which of the colors were not a BRG. Some, like Woodlawn Green, are called BRG on some of the sites, but are the much lighter almost lime green.

Ray Feeney
Ray Feeney

Ray Freeney

The color of my TD is said to be Rovers BRG
code no. BLN29 dark what do you think about
that could this be a correctBRG
My TD is imported from CA

TD 4490 Thoralf
t g sorensen

Obviously, I meant "Woodland Green" (not Woodlawn Green) in the above post. I have a mental block about this color name. I did try a Woodland Green for a 1985-2006 GM and it was a lighter green (GMC color code 45). MG Woodland Green seems to be one of the colors with much contradictory information on the net. Most of the time, it is attached to GN29 as the OEM code. Some sites say that the original PPG code was 43217. Some sites suggest using PPG 43342 as GN29, but PPG 43342 is the BRG discussed above. Several sites suggest PPG 46446 which is definitely closer to the lighter MG color rather than a BRG. In fact, the most common formula listed for GN29 is PPG 46446 -- which turns out to be a 1989 Toyota color (Toyota color code 6K3). I suspect that much like Mike Goodman switched to the Volvo 110 color for GN25 (once the original mix was no longer available) someone, somewhere switched to Toyota 6K3 as a replacement for the lighter MG color – and it became enshrined.

GN29 is described as a Dark BRG, but many people have discussed being surprised when mixing a trial version of the paint to see that it came out much lighter than the formulas in general use for GN25. I suspect that this is a mistake and this PPG 46446 is really targeted as a match for one of the lighter greens – and the mistake has become replicated throughout the British car community.

One of the reasons that I steered away from this path is that it appears that the dark versions of GN29 converged back to the same formulas that I listed at the start of this thread and the other branch of the GN29 tree has become a lighter more “Leaf Green” color. For example.

This site identifies Woodland Green as GN29 but with the PPG code of 43342 which is often used for GN25:

http://www.mgcars.org.uk/mgtd/mgtd_finishes.htm

And this site calls out GN29 as Dark British Racing Green – but with the PPG 46446 code which is lighter than GN25 – not darker as one would suspect:

http://www.mgcars.org.uk/midgetspriteclub/sprite/spritepaint3.htm

And both of these data pages are on the semi-official mgcars.org.uk information site. And there are several other sites with similar results.

Ray Feeney
Ray Feeney

Thoralf,
I assume that the BL in the name stand for British Leyland. There is a color BLGN29 (not BLN29) that is listed on this page as a Medium Dark Yellow Green version of British Racing Green:

http://www.british-cars.org.uk/kimber/namgbr/paint.htm

From the description, I would guess that it is a reasonable color for a MGTD. This site lists the BLGN25 as PPG 43342 which seems to be the defacto lead based formula for GN25. From the description, I would guess that this site also thinks the GN29 version (called here BLGN29) is the lighter MG color.

But this all a guess. As long as you like your color, that is all that matters.

Ray Feeney
Ray Feeney

Keith

Some TFs were indeed painted in a metallic green. The colour is listed as Almond (or MG) Green.

Clausager lists in his Original MG T Series book the colour codes as follows:

ICI 2007 (Metallic)
Ditzler 44159
Rinshed-Mason BM 076

He also lists the codes for Woodland Green as 0191, 2246 and BM 078 respectively.

I have seen a couple of TFs in Almond Green metallic but I have to admit that it would not have been my first choice of colour. I was glad that I restored my TF1500 to its original Ivory with green interior. It proved to be a Show winner wherever it went.

It has now been sold and resides in a Racing Driver's Museum and I have moved onto a 1968 MGC Tourer. I loved my TF with a passion but the MGC is much more fun to drive!

Robert
R Lynex

Robert in UK - Thanks for the verification of a metallic green on TFs. As I recall it was a bit lighter or muted than I prefer for BRG effect. My TF was originally an Ivory with Green interior which was still in in when I purchased in 73. But it was painted Maroon on the outside! But It has always grown up in the family as BRG with tan interior, so I am restoring to same. Thanks for your comments.
Keith Murphy

This thread was discussed between 20/10/2006 and 22/10/2006

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