colours

[TLC]

When was the colour green introduced to the colour range ?its not in the 1988 car book range.

[Guest]

Which green? Opeline green was from 1983 till 1986 on maestros, (came out in 1982 on Metro)

[E_T_V]

Which green? British Racing Green or Opaline green?

[TLC]

BRG is the only one

[G51 NAV]

BRG as we know it on 'our' cars was first seen at the 1988 International Motorshow on an MG Maestro 2.0i (same show which debuted the MG Maestro Turbo). Press photos from the same period also showed the MG Montego and MG Metro in that colour too.

[Russ]

The whole mmm range was updated for the 89 model year which as G51NAV says was first shown at the 88 motor show BRG was introduced along with flame red and cross spoke alloys were made standard across the range except the non turbo metro

Russ

[TLC]

The pulication that i have covers all cars inthe rover range may - augest 19888 and doesnt show brg.So it must be in the following broacher

[G51 NAV]

Correct. Possibly the first brochure showing cars in BRG was the brochure with MG Maestro Turbo #1 on the front? It's at home and I'm at work so I can't remember what date is on it.

[tali]

Opaline green i seem to recall is very rare on Mg Montego Turbos (My avatar is one) and i have only seen one other one ever

[Russ]

I cant ever remember seeing one ,there cant have been many as that colour IIRC was phased out about 86
There were special order colours aswell though I think they were rare there was a mk1 metro turbo on ebay a bit back that was in that bronzey red that was popular on maestro vps and hls's but i cant remember its name!
The lad who painted my metro did some paintwork on that too and said that it had been that colour from new as there was no trace at all of other colours
Russ

[Russ]

Oporto red metalic was the colour I think

[tali]

I think the opaline green was phased out with arum white(replaced by diamond white spec) - iirc these are the only 2 colours that got dropped at the time.
Odd to think that despite both running the same time, arum white is v common whilst opaline green is v rare.
Can't recall ever seeing a MG with special order colour (i'm not saying that they don't exsist)

[Jonathan]

Some time ago I started compiling a definitive colour guide for a new FAQ part of the website in the hope it would be helpful, but have not yet had time to finish it.

Can anyone fill in any of the gaps/errors?

[matthewsemple]

There is a colour chart on the MG 'M' Group website but it only covers MGs. The example pictures in that pdf are a good idea.

The best site for this kind of thing is the Photographic Mini Colour Guide, here: http://www.minicolours.co.uk/cgi-bin/index.cgi

As Minis were built before and after the Maestro/Montego, it covers all the colours we'd need and many more with photos, dates and all the paint codes.

[matthewsemple]

Can anyone fill in any of the gaps/errors?

I can't see Monza Red - used on Maestros from March 1983 to July 1984. It was replaced with Targa Red when the big badges and S-Series engine came along.