Mercedes W114 250 Coupe - help!

[Charles Morgan]

Spoilsport...

 

[Charles Morgan]

I quite like the astral silver, magnetite blue or the beige grey. I think the beige grey is my favourite at the minute! Found a picture on the net of a coupe in this colour.
I am a very long way off painting my own coupe yet though!

It's very attractive, the flat colour is less elusive than the metallic too.

The key I have decided is to see in a car in the flesh in that colour as photos just vary so much.

To that end I went to the Morgan Car Club event at Brooklands today and popped over the fence to MB World (when I wasn't being driven around the track in a Plus 4 behind a wonderfully sonorous 3 wheeler.) where there was a car in the chosen colour.

The colour of my car is now confirmed as beyond doubt.

 

[Charles Morgan]

Who'd like to see a photo of the colour chosen?

 

[Mike Walker]

Not interested any more ;-)

 

[Charles Morgan]

I was invited by a neighbour to the Morgan event (cars not people) at Brooklands today so thought I'd pop in to MB World beforehand to check if there were any period Benzes in interesting colours. I saw a white Pagoda, a silver grey Gullwing and a 190sl in light grey. There seemed to be fewer old cars there, so moved on to the Morgan event. Coming back through MB world to check on AMG experiences I saw a car out the back of the ground floor I'd missed.

Coincidentally, SPX had sent me a text recently with a pic of a car he'd seen in the flesh, saying how lovely it looked. It was a different car but same colour.

And here it was, the colour I had decided on, in the flesh on a car of similar age, looking lovely. Fate making the choice.

 

[grober]

Excellent choice.

 

[BTB 500]

That will look stunning.

 

[trapperjohn]

Beautiful if I may so so.

 

[C43AMG]

I saw that on Saturday Charles at the AMG GTG and thought of you as that was the colour you had already posted. Lovely colour, not sure if it is the right colour for the Coupe.

 

[Charles Morgan]

Ala iacta est.

 

[Charles Morgan]

Rather irritatingly I missed out the E in Alea, and cannot now edit it in my usual manner to pretend that no mistake had been made.

Anyway chatting with John today at Simeon's and he thinks a bigger fuel rail is a good idea as it will maintain more consistent fuel pressure. Peter is finishing the welding on the car this week and it should go into primer next.

 

[Bellow]

Rather irritatingly I missed out the E in Alea, and cannot now edit it in my usual manner to pretend that no mistake had been made.
.

No matter, Google still found the translation for me.
It is a lovely blue - but too modern for the W114 - or for me...

 

[Charles Morgan]

On the other hand I'm loving this W108 in anthracite with the exact same red interior as mine.

 

[WDB124066]

^ Better.

 

[grober]

I am always a bit wary of viewing highly polished cars under artificial light -especially display lighting. Left to the flatter illumination of a dull overcast day outside in the UK you want a colour that will retain a degree of vibrancy if at all possible.

 

[coalville126]

^ better.

Much better.

 

[Charles Morgan]

Very true Graeme.

But the tone of match with the red is the most important thing here and all my cars have an exceptional state of polish.

 

[Bellow]

On the other hand I'm loving this W108 in anthracite with the exact same red interior as mine.

The die is uncast?

That possibility means I'll qualify this..

It is a lovely blue - but too modern for the W114 - or for me...

Just about every (if not actually every) manufacturer has a similar blue available and IMO the W114 deserves an exclusively period colour.
Also, IMO (again) the exterior colour needs to markedly differ tonally from the interior. On top of that, there is a blue/red combination which fight with each other (see Gang Of Four's second LP Solid Gold's sleeve in the flesh for a vivid example) and that blue and red are very close to that scenario I suspect. To my mind it that blue will not easily let the eye transition to the interior - always pulling it back to where the colours meet. I don't think the result will be in any way pleasing.
Page #1, post #2 in this thread shows exactly the tone I think will work best. In any colour - but something greenish (that doesn't clash with the red but reacts against it) would be worth a look. A grey with a green bias? (Grey, incidentally, is all the colours in one. It is merely a darker tone of white. Any of the colours within can be accentuated).
Ultimately CM the choice is yours! Put another way, you aren't going to please everyone no matter what you choose so please yourself (as you (should and) surely will.)

PS.
Any decision on shaft length? (That'll get tongues wagging....)

 

[C43AMG]

On the other hand I'm loving this W108 in anthracite with the exact same red interior as mine.

Great colour combination.

That must be the most photographed Mercedes of all time. I do love the 300SEL, that's the engine I should have had instead of the 6.3, I could be still driving it now !!

 

[Charles Morgan]

The die is uncast?

That possibility means I'll qualify this..



Just about every (if not actually every) manufacturer has a similar blue available and IMO the W114 deserves an exclusively period colour.
Also, IMO (again) the exterior colour needs to markedly differ tonally from the interior. On top of that, there is a blue/red combination which fight with each other (see Gang Of Four's second LP Solid Gold's sleeve in the flesh for a vivid example) and that blue and red are very close to that scenario I suspect. To my mind it that blue will not easily let the eye transition to the interior - always pulling it back to where the colours meet. I don't think the result will be in any way pleasing.
Page #1, post #2 in this thread shows exactly the tone I think will work best. In any colour - but something greenish (that doesn't clash with the red but reacts against it) would be worth a look. A grey with a green bias? (Grey, incidentally, is all the colours in one. It is merely a darker tone of white. Any of the colours within can be accentuated).
Ultimately CM the choice is yours! Put another way, you aren't going to please everyone no matter what you choose so please yourself (as you (should and) surely will.)

PS.
Any decision on shaft length? (That'll get tongues wagging....)

I shall revert on that imminently!

When you and Peter both thought it a colour you were unsure about for the car, I had pause to reflect. I appreciate you setting out an argument based on aesthetics and suitability. I don't like the blue grey alas, but a grey with a green bias would be lovely - this contemporary Rover P6 colour is utterly delicious, Luna grey, but there is nothing in the MB period range that comes close.

I saw a similar colour on a Morgan roadster at Brooklands this weekend which I really liked, but Tony2 thought would not work (I wouldn't try it as non-MB).