Re: [CR] paint colors for old frames (was re: Argos)

(Example: Component Manufacturers:Chater-Lea)

Date: Sat, 12 Jun 2010 15:20:28 -0700 (PDT)
From: "P.C. Kohler" <kohl57@yahoo.com>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: Re: [CR] paint colors for old frames (was re: Argos)


Curious. I thought one of the signature delights of collecting classic British frames c. 1947-67 are the wild and wacky (from the staid English, who would have imagined!) colours in combinations you could never conceive would work so well together without seeing them on a bike. And not just dramatic contrasts of colour but of texture with enamels and polychromatics used as the main colour and constrasted in panels and lining. I have never seen any of these colour schemes without both admiring the finished product and in awe of the creativity of conjuring it up. And appreciating what a pick me up these must have been in drab, dreary immediate post-war Britain. Why the first Raleigh Lenton after the war was in bright orange even if many of the components were still war era black instead of chrome.

A British lightweight of this era in sombre dark tones? Not for me. I want a Polychromatic Lilac and Ivory RRA thanks very much.

Peter Kohler
Washington DC USA