FE-FC Holden Discussion Forum

Hi everyone. Something has been bugging me. I believe Holden must have made a bit of a mistake at times. My car is Breton blue but it looks more like Elk blue. Fc hoon has one and his is more like what I would expect Breton Blue to be like. I think it is supposed to be quite different and I am wondering if they just sloshed any old blue in the mix of a run cos they all vary so much. Has anyone else thought about it? I think Breton blue should be quite different to what it is and if it were the way I'm sure it was originally intended, it would match the teal better. Does anyone have pics of cars with any darker shades? I would think it should be more like this (http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/01/12/11bf061c5cce327db2c33b72e5a1ebc5.jpg)

Deano, I think your car is Teal blue over Breton blue. Breton and Elk are very similar colours, they are both light blue.

Ken

(http://s15.postimg.org/476qb310n/fergus_firewall.jpg) ($2)

55 year old Breton Blue firewall

The formula for Breton Blue in nitrocellulose lacquer is

204-14836  White  ............... 91 parts
204-16312  Brilliant Blue ......   7 parts
204-5062    Bone Black  .......   1 part
204-15668  Red Oxide  ........   1 part
204-5048    Ferrite Yellow .....  Trace

All this equals 100 parts
I think with this sort of formula would have been quite hard to reproduce accurately every time.

Cheers Stewy   8)

If I ever get this book written, this is some of the stuff that will be in it.

GMH sales bulletin 4th Jan 1957 lists the 2 tone blue FE sedan available for the period Jan to April 57 as
Bluebird Blue over Haze Blue - Summit Blue and Cosmos Grey interior.
GMH sales bulletin 10th Jan 1957 lists the 2 tone blue FE sedan available for the period April to August 57 as
Teal Blue over Elk Blue - Summit Blue and Cosmos Grey interior.
GMH sales bulletin 26th Aug 1957 lists the 2 tone blue FE wagon available for the period Sep 57 to Jan 58 as
Teal Blue over Breton Blue - Summit Blue and Cosmos Grey interior.
(I dont have the letter listing sedan colours but you can see the pattern)
Haze Blue, Elk Blue and Breton Blue were all very similar colours and supersede each other during the run of the FE.
There are exceptions of course as colour runs were trialled for evaluation purposes, but with a collection of data such as in my database, it is clear that the colours run in batches. Popular colours get extended or repeat runs. So it is no great surprise that Elk blue looks like Breton blue because one supersedes the other.
However each colour is slightly different to the other two.
On the other hand I am sure variation occurred as Stewy suggests, but not to the degree that colours were drastically different. I can imagine that paint shops of the time would have been very good at eye matching in order to adapt the colour made up by the formula to what was actually on the car.

Ken

Fantastic as always Ken.
Any chance that I could get a copy of that sales bulletin for the 26th of August.
Fergus's birthday is November 57 so right in the middle of that batch.
Cheers
Stewy   8)

No problems Stewy
Send me a pm with your address again and I will get it away tomorrow.

Ken

Thanks for the great reply. Probably sounds a bit strange but I am thinking of going with original colour again because I didn't think it was very rare but it seems to be a narrow window of time that this Breton blue was used but most people wouldn't know the difference between the others. I suppose I could get the paint made using that info above but try doing it on the darker greyed side but still get away with calling it Breton blue based on the variations I have seen. For some reason I thought the colour was a bit washed out looking against chrome but because I'm doing the taxi completely standard and the fe more of a sleeper but with small mods on the body I was thinking of painting the bumpers because I still want to do the bumpers without filler regardless and if I don't like it I will chrome them. I do like certain colours done with bumpers painted but I like to see in flesh.

Ken, can you pls look at the numbers on my build page and comment on the ge specials colour combo that mine has to state what dates the sedan was done in that colour. I definitely know it's original but I don't want info getting lost.

Would there be a way a 2k equivalent could be made up using this formula above. Also, I'm open to using the water based paint on such a colour because they look better on these pastally colours in my opinion and I wouldn't mind a flatter milky look (what's the proper term lol) which the new generation water based paints can give.

So I will pose a question on my build page. Thanks.

Is the gm Chevy colour exactly the same as in this. Very clean looking with the white roof. http://www.oldisnewagain.ca/listing/1954-chevrolet-bel-air-2-door-coupe/

Can't help you with answers (sorry) but that pastel blue & white is a knock out on that Chev. Nice looking unit inside & out.

See these Breton blues are on a 1954 bel air. It seems that it doesn't attract many search results for chevs either. But the models it did feature on were not base models. See the interior door blue, I think this colour would look great as an exterior colour. There's some lh torries similar in colour. So not sure if anyone can check for me whether the gm Breton blue is same. Reason I ask is this car passed inspection by the chev club for authentic Breton blue and I have a few more questions like whether we used the same paint here as on a 54 bel air. Seems everything filtered down a few years later here from the Yanks.

Dj, this is the exact colour I would like. I really like the teal in mine on the metal parts. I'm also a port supporter cos grew up in radelaide. Doesn't this colour look sweet with the badging. Ivory white would look good with it.

(http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/01/13/831ba39317a55867f7a7d6506b2a68a3.jpg)

(http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/01/13/71f68a441ecb3b42b16860c8013dd5e9.jpg)

(http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/01/13/19de7520eab399506f2536c62574ea8c.jpg)

(http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/01/13/d2d6b7a2eab4d91030aada16661ef968.jpg)

Hi Deano,
The BALM  "DUCO" automotive colours which were General Motors Holden's Ltd.
I have some pages from the 1957 automotive colours book which lists all GM colours for
Vauxhall Velox, Wyvern Saloon, Chev Truck cabs, Bedford Truck cabs, Chev saloons and Pontiac saloons.
Breton Blue  features in all of the GM saloon cars from 1957.

Cheers Stewy   8)

Cool so it's probably the same. See I did a thing so they are all together. See highly faded Breton is quite different. Something to keep in mind even for enthusiasts. (http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/01/14/0636ece5ac07f91ad347ffb043ed05f0.jpg)(http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/01/14/b773977dfbba6543e61a629594aa8a81.jpg)

This helps stewy thank you cos I wouldn't have thought about those models but now I can search better.

Nitro paint will fade to a much lighter colour because it goes "chalky" if you get some cut and polish cream and give a small patch a go, you should find a much darker colour.
Ken

Ok.

Hey Ken, if you try find Breton blue on search engine using those cars, you hardly can find anything. It looks like it was a early 50's colour in the states on upmarket cars but the Holdens may have used it the most.

Yes, all the Australian assembled Chevs and Vauxhalls used Holden paint colours of the era but the equivalent model in the US or England had a completely different colour range. The Belair pictured is an apparent exception where Australia seems to have adopted the US colour for some of the Australian models.  I know very little about paint colour selection or market responses so it is difficult to surmise why the Australian colours were so different to GM. It is very interesting reading some of the Sales Bulletins advising that some colours have been dropped due to unpopularity or another colour has been very popular. Take the Yellow and Black FC for instance, it was a 1st release colour scheme but was very unpopular and was dropped immediately never to return.
You could spend years studying paint colours I reckon ::)

Ken