Here is the article I wrote for THE COVENTRY STANDARD the CITOA's newsletter.
Most of the research was culled from a supplement thet came in a British
auto magazine (either THOROUGHBREAD & CLASSIC CARS or CLASSIC & SPORTSCAR)
enjoy!
gpetrola@prairienet.org 1962 TR4 (CT4852L)
"That's not a leak... My car is just marking its territory!"
Greg Petrolati, Champaign, Illinois
Back in the pleistocene period of automotive racing, long before race
cars became little more than rolling billboards for various sponsors.
National pride was important. Though rarely backed by a country's
"national purse strings", the nation where a team or manufacturer called
home meant a lot to fans who followed the sport. To better identify
those racing vehicles a system of "national colors" was established as
early as the first Gordon-Bennett cup race in 1900. At that time the
French were allocated blue, Germany white, and America red. Since there
was no English entry, there was no color specified for the Brits. Still,
the color various racing cars were painted was generally left up to the
constructor (witness paintings of contemporaneous races where Renaults
were shown painted red, Mercedes blue, and Mors, a French built car,
painted white).
Where did British racing green get its start? Parsons, a well known
paint manufacturer in Britain has a listing for British Racing Green
(#479/16). This green would be more properly labeled "Napier Green", or
an earlier appellation, "Panhard Green". Well, oddly enough, British
Racing Green may have gotten its start from the (gag) French! In 1901
Charles Jarrott, a noted English driver of the period, was contracted to
race a car built by the French firm, Panhard. Upon traveling to the
Panhard works to view his "mount" he later wrote, "It would be difficult
to express my feeling of pride as I gazed upon the monster which I was
to conduct the first really great race of my life. I noticed
particularly that the car was painted green - a beautiful rich, dark
colour that gave the car such a handsome appearance that I wondered why
everyone else had not painted their cars green also." The Panhard had
been painted green to offset the bad luck associated by its designated
number... #13. Green is considered a lucky color by the French.
Ironically, green is considered unlucky by the British superstitious
(possibly dating back to before the time of King Charles II when green
was considered the color of rebellion).
The following year at the Gordon-Bennett race the British Napiers ran
(successfully) painted olive green. This was not a pivotal decision
since, most Napiers of the time were also painted green (good old
English economy, or perhaps Napier's paint buyer was a Scotsman). The
winning country of the Gordon Bennett Cup got to host the next year's
race. Since racing was illegal on the roads of Britain, in 1903 the race
was held in Ireland (at the time still part of the British empire). That
year the Napiers were painted a brilliant Emerald green, in deference to
the Irish. Over the succeeding years which nation displayed what color
at what venue varied, with the French leading the drive for uniform
colors. In 1911 French officials insisted in the following colors:
France blue, Britain red, Germany white, Belgium yellow, Italy Red and
green, America red and white, Scotland green (bicolor designations meant
that the body would be painted one color while the frame would be
painted the other color). Still, constructors often went their own way;
witness the 1912 French Grand Prix where the British Sunbeams were
painted green, and the lone entry from Scotland; Arrol-Johnston, was
painted red and green (in recognition of the Gordon tartan). In 1913 the
Sunbeams were back to their proper British Racing Red... Go figure.
After the Great War, the international colors we know became more
widely accepted. The British fared well with their green. The italians
have their red, which fits them very well (all that tomato sauce). The
French stood by their blue (have you ever known the French to change
once they got their head set on something?). The Germans stuck with
white but, eventually changed to silver (which, if one was thinking in
medieval heraldic terms, as those Rhinelanders often do, is no change at
all). America took white and blue. When bodies enclosed the frames on
racing cars this bi-color designation became "Challenger Stripes".
But back to British Racing Green. Okay, what precisely is BRG? Your
guess is as good as mine. Over the years this green has varied from the
almost black-green of the mid-fifties Jaguars
to the frosty metallic green of Aston Martins of the same vintage. For
many, true British Green is the warm green that many of the racing
Bentleys wore back in the `20s and `30s. This green one, Bentley owner
told me, was achieved by spraying the body yellow first and then
over-spraying it with translucent blue until the proper green was
achieved.
Whatever color flips your switch in this "green rainbow" there is an
aire of almost mystical power that the term "British Racing Green"
evokes. No one today talks about the old international colors. "Italian
red" is now "Ferrari red". "French blue" is all but forgotten. The
Sauber-Mercedes cars are still painted silver. But you can't talk to any
one about an English car without some reference to the green that is
synonymous with cars from the "Sceptered Isle". Think about it. If the
topic of your Triumph or MG comes up in conversation with a stranger,
you can bet that the car is green in his mind, before you set him
straight.
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