Doug,
I brought this up to the list during the summer also. (It may be in the
archives.) I "specialize" in the 1963 Spridgets and have no less than 12 of
them sitting in my workshop/warehouse. All of them were original,
unmodified cars when I got them. The 3 light blue ones with darker blue
interior all have a dark blue gearshift surround to match the interior, and
each of them is the same shade of blue. The 2 red ones with black interior
have black surrounds. The BRG one with black interior has a black surround.
The 3 black ones with red interior all have a red surround, again, with the
exact same shade of red, which would indicate a factory applied paint. The
2 white ones with red interior, one of which is a pristine, 28,000 original
miles car, both have red surrounds. I feel as you do that in '63, along
with adding more stuff to the interior to cover up more of the metal, they
also had to paint the gearshift surround to match the interior, or it would
look out of place.
Bob
-----Original Message-----
From: Doug Ingram <dougi@home.com>
To: Spridget List <spridgets@autox.team.net>
Date: Wednesday, December 29, 1999 11:24 PM
Subject: Gear Lever Surround Color on Sprite HAN7 and Midget GAN2
>This is long, and will be of interest to originality/correctness types, and
>hopefully to others who own HAN7 Sprites or GAN2 Midgets. It concerns the
>correct colour for the metal gear lever surround on those models.
>
>As far as I can tell, my project car (HAN7L/30003) is original. Not that it
>is in great shape (thus earning the designation "project"), but there is no
>evidence that it has been modified, and certainly it still wears its
>original coat of paint, except for rear end accident repair. All the
>interior is unquestionably original down to the smelly upholstery and
rotten
>carpets. The known history of the car also suggests that it has not been
>tampered with, as was a daily driver, then abandoned, and then impounded
for
>about 20 years before I acquired it. So what, you say?
>
>Well, both the concours standards and Original Sprite & Midget state that
>the gear lever surround should be painted body colour. My car is Old
English
>White, with a red interior, both confirmed accurate by the heritage
>certificate. Thus, the gear lever surround should be OEW, but it's not -
>it's red. Red to match the interior, not the body. The HAN7 was the first
>model to have Vynide covered inner door frames - previous models showed
>painted metal, the same colour as the exterior. So it actually makes more
>sense that the gear lever surround match the rest of the interior, rather
>than being the lone interior component wearing exterior colour.
>
>Earlier this month, I wrote to Terry Horler about this, and recently got
his
>reply. To paraphrase, he states it is very probable that the gear lever
>surround should match the interior. He says there were very few HAN7 and
>GAN2 versions for him to inspect in the research for OS&M. The GAN2
examples
>that he looked at were both red on red, so nothing can be learned from
them.
>The HAN7 he looked at (OEW with hazelnut trim, pictures in the book), with
>the hazelnut gear lever surround, may be correct after all, although at the
>time he believed it was not.
>
>Terry will try to find out more, through the Midget & Sprite Club (UK)
>newsletter. Can anyone add anything to this? Perhaps someone has an
original
>HAN7 or GAN2, or remembers seeing one in the past, or has old
>photos..........
>
>I would appreciate any help. With sufficient evidence, I'll attempt to get
>the concours standards revised.
>
>Thanks for your interest,
>
>Doug Ingram
>Victoria BC
>1958 Sprite (AN5L/636)
>1963 Sprite Mk II project (HAN7L/30003)
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