Black inside door paint

[Clifton]

 I've seen a few doors that were black on the inside. I plan to use Satin or Flat just around the inside of the window so I don't see white paint.  Satin looks a little shiny in the pic. What has everyone else used?

Flat    https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-up607/overview/

Satin  http://www.tcpglobal.com/RSP-AU1904-QT.html#.W4cTE38nbIU

[dakazman]

 I think it’s your opinion as far as interior color , cleanablity, glare .

If your car is white, I would paint it the interior color or a close match. I have seen white door trim with beige leather trim and it looks great with white. Go on Pinterest and search car inferiors.
Dakazman

[BDA]

Use whatever color you want, but on the TC at least, the fiberglass part of the window frame was originally black satin.

[Sherman Kaplan]

I'm using Eastwood single stage underhood black for the front radiator/spare tire compartment and the engine compartment. It is listed as a 20% - 25% gloss.  So far I have sprayed the front compartment and I am happy with the results.  I think it is a fair match to original.  I think the window/door parts that were black match the front/rear compartment.  I  can't see Lotus using different shades of black.

Here is a link to the Eastwood product.

https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-underhood-black-single-stage-urethane-quart-kit.html

Sherman

[TCS4605R]

I used SEM Hot Rod Black HR014 - it is a 2-part product using SEM HRC06 catalyst.  It is semi- gloss in appearance.  I also used it on the underside of the fiberglass tub before attaching it to
the frame, inside the engine bay and inside the wheel wells.

Tom
74 TCS - 4605R

[EuropaTC]

Hi,

I've used 2-pack satin black on my car (yellow exterior). It's always been black from new and I find it easier to keep satin paintwork clean with a simple wipe over. And 2-pack because it seems to be more chip resistant.

Brian

[4129R]

Use whatever color you want, but on the TC at least, the fiberglass part of the window frame was originally black satin.

All my 14 doors are in the original colour of the outside. You can normally tell the original colour behind the chassis plate in the plenum chamber by drilling the 4 pop rivets off.

I have no doors with any colour than the original, anywhere on the doors.

Normally a different colour on any part of the door means they have been resprayed in a different colour, or the door comes off another car, which is easy to tell as the chassis number is scraped into the flat top bit of each door, so they are matched to the shell early in the production line.

Strangely the people who spray my car worked in the Lotus body shop; one made the doors, the other painted the shells, and they asked if I wanted the inside of the doors painted black. It may have happened, but I have seen no evidence on 2520R, 3089R, 3755R, 4129R, 4259R, 4483R and 4688R, with the last 3 being the latest export spec,with the map box on the engine bulkhead, and the engine cover strut supports, and the cloth trim to the seat squabs and seat backs.

[EuropaTC]

Use whatever color you want, but on the TC at least, the fiberglass part of the window frame was originally black satin.

All my 14 doors are in the original colour of the outside. You can normally tell the original colour behind the chassis plate in the plenum chamber by drilling the 4 pop rivets off.

   that's Lotus for you, always looking out to save a penny or two.....   I wonder if the later cars were just painted the same as the body and they did away with masking off to paint the interior black ?  That would have probably saved a few quid on the production line and I doubt anyone would have noticed or complained back then.

They were shown as black on the sales brochures though....   this is the one hanging in a frame above this PC !

 

[BDA]

That is very interesting. I've owned two Europas - one, a 4-speed TC I bought from a dealer as a "demonstrator", probably in '73 and my current TC that I bought in '75 new from the distributor at the time in New Orleans. My current car came to me with the interior window area painted satin black. I can't honestly say that I remember the color of the interior of the doors of my first Europa but I THINK I might have noticed if the color had changed, but I can't be positive. I also spent a lot of time at the distributor at the end of Europa production and the beginning of Elite and Eclat production - there were plenty of unsold Europas there as well as several that came in for service - and I don't recall any Europas that were painted differently than mine. I readily admit that I could have missed a detail like this. It has been a long time.

I had assumed they were all satin black. All this is to say that I will have to adjust my assumptions and I'll pay more attention in the future.

[4129R]

To paint the doors a different colour from their production colour, you would have to take the doors off the car, (very difficult), and strip the doors right down to the bare fibreglass, prepare and paint them, and put it all back together, probably with new hinges.

So it is unlikely (unless you are as stupid/dedicated/thorough as me,) that the original inside door colour would have been changed since production.

The one who worked in the paint shop said he thought they were painted black inside, did I want it? I said no.

So much like the Weber/Dellorto changes, it seems Chunky changed the spec without much consistency.

I can understand the Weber/Dellorto thing, as he would change when he ran out of credit with one of those suppliers. 

[4129R]

The inside of the front rough fibreglass compartment where the spare wheel, radiator, horn etc are, is painted satin black on all my cars.

The plenum chamber above the driver's / passengers knees is smooth fibreglass painted to match the outside.

The whole of the rough fibreglass in the engine bay is satin black.

They must have painted some of the insides of the doors satin black in production when they were painting the spare wheel compartment and engine bay.

[jbcollier]

Can’t comment on TC/S Europas but S1 and early S2 Europas had satin black on the interior door surfaces.

[Clifton]

Thanks everyone. I'm ordering a quart of acrylic urethane satin black.

[JR73]

The original doors off my 1971 S2 are satin black on the interior surfaces (yellow exterior colour) - Parents bought it new and it was never painted/altered in that department.

The inside of the front rough fibreglass compartment where the spare wheel, radiator, horn etc are, is painted satin black on all my cars.

The plenum chamber above the driver's / passengers knees is smooth fibreglass painted to match the outside.

The whole of the rough fibreglass in the engine bay is satin black.

Totally agree with the above.

Whilst i was at Banks i did overhear Richard (on a number of occasions) trying to convince people that the front plenum/luggage compartment was originally painted black just like the radiator/spare wheel area - this was purely because he didn't like leaning in to paint the body colour in the plenum area along with the extra work involved in flatting and polishing it!! (He was VERY particular about his paint jobs so removing the awkwardness of leaning over the painted shell to finish the plenum to the same standard as the outside was kind of understandable....)

[BDA]

My plenum/luggage compartments of both my cars (TCs) were painted the car color.