313 How many MGBGTV8s were made in each colour and what trim colours were used? Geoff Allen, the V8 Historian and Archivist, has produced a comprehensive chart of body paint and trim colours following an amusing discussion between Fred Jenns and Barry Sidery-Smith at a Bonhams auction when Aconite 1261 came under the hammer. (Dec 04) When Fred Jenns reported in early December 2004 that Aconite 1261 was sold at Bonhams the previous evening as a part of the auction of the Patrick Collection, he also mentioned that he had met Barry Sidery-Smith. Barry has of course been a specialist trader of MGBGTV8s since the V8s came off the line, and Fred mentioned they following an inspection of the Aconite MGBGTV8, they had a vigorous discussion over the colour of the trim! They could not agree whether it was Yellow Ochre or Autumn Leaf. So we sent an enquiry to Geoff Allen seeking clarification on this point. He responded with the table set out below and added "as you will see there were no Aconite cars with Yellow Ochre trim. Far fewer cars were finished in Black Tulip with only two fitted with Yellow Ochre and three with Autumn Leaf so the Black Tulip - Yellow Ochre combination was superseded by Black Tulip - Autumn Leaf which continued into the Aconite - Autumn Leaf production". Footnotes: # Flame Red car is GD2D2 100G which is known to exist but is not shown in the Factory production lists. This car has Navy Blue trim and is finished in Flame Red which was a Factory colour, but no other V8s were produced in this colour. # # Car noted as "Not Recorded" is in the Factory Despatch list but no record has been made of either its body paint colour or trim colour. Geoff comments that the table above "covers all colours and is as accurate as I can make it at present, but there is some confusion over the blue cars (Teal and Tahiti). I think there were more Teal Blue and less Tahiti Blue cars than shown on the table as several cars listed as Tahiti Blue in my copy of the Factory production records have shown up in reality to be Teal Blue. They appear to be cars with Autumn Leaf trim. I suggest that you use this list as it is as near as possible the best guide and I will see if I can clarify it by checking up in Production Schedule numbers. The trouble is that the people at the Factory who wrote the details in the production record were a bit cavalier about the names of colours". Copyright reserved by Geoff Allen and the V8 Register