1967 · Jaguar · 60s
1967 Jaguar E-Type Series 1 — Deep Forest BRG
A ground-up respray of this immaculate Series 1 E-Type in a bespoke British Racing Green formula developed in-house — deeper and more complex than the factory shade, with a hint of black-pearl depth that shifts in natural light.
Before & After
The Brief
The owner had spent three years tracking down this matching-numbers Series 1 and wanted the colour to honour the car’s heritage while being unmistakably personal. British Racing Green was non-negotiable — but which BRG mattered deeply. The factory Opalescent Dark Green (BRG heritage) was too blue under artificial light; the Sherwood Green of the early ’60s too yellow.
We developed a third way.
Colour Development
Using spectrophotometer readings from three documented period cars, we built a formula that reads true BRG in overcast English light and shifts toward a near-black forest green under direct sun. The Carbon Black Pearl is the critical component: invisible at distance, it gives the finish a dimensional quality that flat pigments can’t achieve.
Total development time: 11 colour pulls over four weeks before the owner signed off.
Strip and Prep
Every panel came off the body. Bare metal was achieved with a combination of chemical dip on the doors and boot lid (which showed evidence of a previous respray) and media blasting on the main shell.
Surface preparation totalled 160 hours. Guide-coat blocking through three stages of primer revealed a small dent in the nearside A-panel — repaired before a drop of colour touched the car.
Application
Five coats of base colour, each given a 30-minute flash-off period in our climate-controlled booth at 22 °C. Three coats of clear, baked at 65 °C for 40 minutes, then rested for 72 hours before wet sanding commenced.
Result
Final clear thickness: 8 microns across all panels (verified by DFT gauge). DA correction through P1500 → P2000 → DA polish → finishing polish. The car left with a 20-year workmanship guarantee on the paint application.