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Correct colour of safari roof on S3.

chris_debian

chris_debian

Trekker
Hi,

As you've probably seen from other threads, I need to paint or replace and paint my safari/ tropical roof.

Does anybody know how I can find out what colour it should be?

I think I read somewhere that all safari roofs were limestone..is that true?

Cheers,

Chris.
 
Thanks for the link, good for general advice, but I was wondering, if there are any specifications regarding SWB Stationwagons, and the relevant paint schemes used, perhaps for different years.

Cheers,

Chris.
 
As far as I know, and have seen...they were limestone, unless the buyer requested different. (In which case they would in all probability be the same as the body colour. Thinking AA, GPO, Royal mail etc...though they most likely wouldnt be safari style, but hard tops. I suppose the principal is the same though.)
 
I think SIIs generally had body coloured safari roofs, while SIIIs had Limestone (the white roof, safari or standard, makes an enormous difference to how hot the interior gets in the summer).
 
Cheers for that.

Now I just need to decide whether to try to make the best of a bad roof, or try to source a fair/ good Series 3 Safari/ tropical roof.

Thanks,

Chris.
 
My own opinion is that I tend to think mostly toward limestone even for the SIIs. Not only because mne is but because if I was asked what colour are safari roofs I would have said limestone.
 
chris_debian said:
Limestone it is, then. Another summer job lined up.

Thanks,

Chris.
Click to expand...
Good choice. I think they looked quite agricultural in body colour (I only saw them in Bronze green, dark grey and light grey). The limestone will help keep the interior cooler, doesn't need a chamois after washing like darker colours do, and looks "right".
 
Hit a snag. Just been looking at the parts book (Part J 2H 17), and it looks like I will need to remove rivets to take the tropical roof off to do the painting and sealing. Is this the case.

If so, the obvious workaround is to paint as much as can be seen....not my idea of a proper job. Is it difficult to remove and replace rivets. What a nause!

Cheers,

Chris.
 
So, as the weather gets better, I am thinking about sanding the roof and painting it limestone.

I have done some research on the net, and was just looking at:

http://www.landrover.net/paint/

It would seem to suggest that different colours need different primer/ undercoat.

So anyone know which you would use under limestone?

BTW, I want to lighten my dark grey interior, anybody hand painted the inside? Hammerite, or any other suggestion? The landy is currently grey (see avatar), but I want it to be marine blue. My choice of interior colour should complement the future body colour.

Cheers,

Chris.
 
On a S3, unless it was for one of the special Fleet customers, both the trop top/roof panel and the rear station wagon body sides would be in Limestone.
With the 2/2a things are not so straightforward. Generally on a 2/2a the body sides will always be body colour. The roof panel may be body colour or Limestone. The tropical roof skin itself would normally be Limestone, although I have seen early S2's with the whole lot body colour. The colour-coded roofs fitted to County and XS model Defenders are nothing new - quite the opposite!
 
Crashbox,

Is this documented, anywhere?

So if I want my landy to be Marine Blue, and limestone, would it be:

wheels: Limestone
body: Marine Blue
"upper rear body" and all roof: Limestone
inside surfaces: Marine blue

Does that sound like the correct spec?

Cheers,

Chris.
 
No, in the case of your one being a Series 3; everything below the waist level body capping - marine blue or whatever colour you desire. The doortops will obviously be body colour too. Everything above waist level would be limestone inside and out.
It's all to do with production line convenience. The Factory just kept a stock of limestone hardtops and safari tops and popped one of these on each vehicle irrespective of what colour the customer wanted. On the Series 2's, especially in the early days, the factory would have to paint each top body according to the colour the customer specified. It's easier and cheaper from a production engineering perspective to just stock one colour top. If you look at current Defenders, the basic utilities and basic station wagons have a white top. If you want body colour, they charge extra for the work & inconvenience it causes on the production line.
 
I should have said, I'm not aware of documentation. it just comes from how many LR's of different ages you've come across or photos of vehicles when they were new.
On a S3, the wheels should always be limestone regardless of colour. On a S2, if the vehicle was green the wheels would be body colour.
 
That clarifies things.

So what colour primer should I use, under limestone? Should the inside of the vehicle be same colour as the outside lower body?

Thanks,

Chris.
 
From previous replies, I have decided to sand the top half of my landy with Wet&Dry 100. Would it be a stupid undertaking to do this by hand, or should I buy a sander?

Chris.
 
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