Colour codes

[AndrewJ]

Can anyone tell me - how many  red tones were available for Beta coupes?

The colour of my beta is red now, but I don't think that it is an official tone - it was repainted by one of the prevous owners. Unfortunately I have no colour code plate on it . I want to repaint it till this summer and started to ask about prices and colour codes in some car painting shops.

I found some colour codes in my 2nd serie FL1 catalog:
http://download.lanciak.hu/BETA/Lancia%20Beta%20Coupe%20catalog.pdf
123 Racing red
108 Nearco red

But unfortunately I cannot found this codes in any shops.

I found another code in a french pdf:
851 Rouge course

If I translate it , then - I guess - it is Rosso corsa and maybe Racing red in English.
I could find this 851 colour sample in the PPG/Nexa Color catalog, but it seems to be rather the 108 Neaco red os some bordeaux color, not something like "Ferrari red"

[rossocorsa]

there are several reds for Betas  from the pictures of your car I don't think yours is a lancia colour nearco red is a rather elegant darker tone the red car with black leather on another thread is that colour. I'll check the colour codes and post on here later on I'm afraid the nicest racing red would be that used on very late S2FL2 cars but that would be incorrect for your model year (assuming that you are aiming for authenticity)

[AndrewJ]

there are several reds for Betas  from the pictures of your car I don't think yours is a lancia colour nearco red is a rather elegant darker tone the red car with black leather on another thread is that colour. I'll check the colour codes and post on here later on I'm afraid the nicest racing red would be that used on very late S2FL2 cars but that would be incorrect for your model year (assuming that you are aiming for authenticity)

Thanks  ! In the catalog pdf linked above  you can find also racing red, and that catalog is from the same age as my beta. I don't know if by the later version was the racing red another tone.  My problem is, that the code nr 123 was not found anywhere in the shops @ the sample cards. I think, that I will have the opportunity to choose between racing red and nearco red, because my logbook contains only the colour red.  The nearco red is also a nice tone!

By Lancia Kappa we can find the same problem: There are too many colours. when you see two cars of the same colour then you think that their tones are the same, but if you read the colour plates, you can find different codes, and very-very small differences on the painting. Yes - it's italian made...

Anyway It's not so urgent for me, because I won't do any large projects on it till spring - It's too cold here fo that.  Now I'am cleaning the engine, repainting some black parts, I ordered new headlights a few days ago ( http://cgi.ebay.de/4-Scheinwerfer-Lancia-Beta-Fulvia-Flavia-4-x-headlights-/230560216653?pt=Autoteile_Zubeh%C3%B6r&hash=item35ae75b64d ) Yesterday I polished the old scratched emblem. Next week I will send my radiator to a restorator for changing all tubes in it to new one..
  

[rossocorsa]

ref the headlamps hopefully you have carrello backing plates if you have siem ones they will not fit!! another Italian quirk!!

[AndrewJ]

ref the headlamps hopefully you have carrello backing plates if you have siem ones they will not fit!! another Italian quirk!!

Really? Fortunately I have carello 

[AndrewJ]

Can anyone tell me if the original undercoating of a Beta Coupe was coloured the same as the other sides or was it simply black?

[rossocorsa]

I think it was black but UK cars were often given extra cover upon import so not 100% sure

[thecolonel]

Surely headlamps from Germany will be for european not uk spec vehicles (point to the right not left)

[HFStuart]

Andrew lives in Hungary so not a problem :-)

[AndrewJ]

I think it was black but UK cars were often given extra cover upon import so not 100% sure

Well then I will choose the black colour even if it's not so nice 

Anyway today I found 3 types of rosso corsa colour variants in a PPG-Nexa colour sample kit. Unfortunately none of them had the same codes as Beta, but I will try to compare it with the sample colour in my  Beta coupe catalog. It was funny, but we found rosso corsa colour also in the Ferrari sample table, and it seems to be very-very similar to the beta sample

[AndrewJ]

Andrew lives in Hungary so not a problem :-)

Yes it's true and furtunately they are good for me - they arrived a week ago 

[Grundo]

My coupe (a VX) has the paint label under the boot which was Rosso Racing 114/F (from memory). I haven't found reference to this name/colour for a Beta in any of the swatches I've seen. It may be your colour. I was somewhat amazed when I went to a auto paint supplier who typed in the code into their database and they made me up several aerosol cans of paint for me which matched perfectly!

[rossocorsa]

the correct colour for a S2 or S2FL car is rosso corsa 123

http://color.dupontrefinish.info/scripts/colorweb.dll/scrclname?p=0&s=2&mfname=FIAT+/+LANCIA&mfcode=123

three variations on the exact mix it appears!!!

you can also look here very handy site

http://color-online.glasurit.com/

there is a further code 851 (early S2FL2 pre-volumex maybe also earlier cars) also 854( also known as 'rosso siam') which is from around the 80s and might be relevant oh and 112, I think 112 was used on late S2FL2 cars such as VX it seems to be very slightly darker and less orangey than the other reds

the code 114 is 'amaranto' which is a very dark red it almost looks brown in the chart (maroon would be a near translation into English) I think it was quite a common colour for Trevis


sorry if this is not very precise the whole issue of colours is very confusing on post-Fiat Lancias

[rossocorsa]

My coupe (a VX) has the paint label under the boot which was Rosso Racing 114/F (from memory). I haven't found reference to this name/colour for a Beta in any of the swatches I've seen. It may be your colour. I was somewhat amazed when I went to a auto paint supplier who typed in the code into their database and they made me up several aerosol cans of paint for me which matched perfectly!

I think it'll be 112 I have one german market sample card that shows that colour chip afaik it was used on the later S2FL2 cars from about the time the VX was introduced earlier S2FL2 injection cars were in 851 which is less red a bit more orangey

[AndrewJ]

I had been thinking a lot about the colors, and later I've found the answer for me  . I have a printed catalog of the same version as I own - It contains color samples. I won't bother with code numbers - I will simply compare the printed colour samples . By the oldtimer qualification I can show this catalog and say, that I have an "official colour"..

Anyway I had a big problem also with my radiator - it was absolutely a rusty wreck. Its trademark was IPRA, so it is maybe the original one.. Unfortunately Betas have never been famous in Hungary, so I couldn't find any new radiators for my car here by any spare parts store. I've found the latest orderable radiators in the Valeo catalog from 2001. I asked some radiator restorator workshops about prices - they told me a minimum price of 300-400£ for a custom made version from Nissens material.

Later I visited a veteran radiator restorator near to my home. He's been working since 1990 only on radiators and is a professional. First I called him on phone, and was suprised. He said -" Well, if you have a Lancia Beta, then the radiator must be IPRA or Valeo". I watched it and he had right - even if he never restored any Beta radiators. He wanted to watch it live, so I visited him. At first sight he said, that it is very similar to the radiator of russian LADA 2105 (the older lada models based on Fiat 124 had a hole for crank - it was the main difference) He measured it  and had right: all the dimensions were nearly the same - the maximum difference was ~1cm. Another difference was, that Lada radiator had a water-pour-in hole, and one of the two big snags was winding - and Beta had a small extra snag for the tube from the balance tank. The screw holes for the cooler motor were  also not at the same places.

I asked someone who knows well the practise of the Hungarian oldtimer qualification, and he said, that the radiator is not the most important question, because many cars have problem with it, so maybe I can get the qualification also with a Lada radiator, if I won't say for them, that it is a Lada radiator and looks like the similar style as Beta radiator :-)

So after it I ordered a new modified custom radiator based on Lada 2105 radiator from this veteran restorator, and now I already have it at home. It costed together about 90£ for me (the radiator&modification) and looks great :-)  

[rossocorsa]

well those samples are pretty inaccurate as they are not proper paint chips it would not be at all difficult to paint it the correct red. I am curious was it red originally? For instance what colour is the boot floor (one of the least likely places to have been repainted). I suspect it has had a colour change as in a normal respray they wouldn't usually respray the underside of the bootlid so you would still have had the paint label

[AndrewJ]

well those samples are pretty inaccurate as they are not proper paint chips it would not be at all difficult to paint it the correct red. I am curious was it red originally? For instance what colour is the boot floor (one of the least likely places to have been repainted). I suspect it has had a colour change as in a normal respray they wouldn't usually respray the underside of the bootlid so you would still have had the paint label

Yes I think, that it was rosso corsa, because the colour of some parts seems to be original. Yesterday I watched the details, and I saw, that they sprayed the body around the engine without taking it out. The sunroof was also not repainted, and this seems to be also rosso corsa. Anyway I will have to change the whole cockpit to another one - that I got with the car - , because it is raunchy. I think that I will see the original colour behind the cockpit.