Quote from Rob-USLE on 5th February 2010, 7:29 pm

I ordered already twice a striping for US LE's, those have the same LE striping in silver as the UK LE from a company called British Victoria in the US.
However I am sure that the repro's are also available (both in gold and silver) in the UK from the larger part suppliers.

The advantage is that the volume of US LE's of 6,668 pieces is large enough the keep the striping available, by the way I though they were made by 3M USA originally.

I used one only for part replacement on a US LE and did not see or notice quality difference.

Quote from phill mc on 9th February 2010, 5:59 pm

Not sure on the quality front but I'm definately sure the off the shelf ones are a slightly different colour than the original. I can only say for the LE Roadster ones, as my car had an original set and a repro set on before I had it all taken off to do the sills. They were a different shade of gold. The previous owner had decided to take part of one side off and replace it for whatever reason and unfortunately they didn't match. This may be due to years of polish or years in the direct sunlight?

Quote from racedriver on 9th February 2010, 6:55 pm

If these are required to be reproduced then I'll happily recreate them, however I understood someone in group had already got a source for these.

Regarding the question of colour of the vinyl, then yes an original set would be required or at least an original set on a car and a colour swatch sample placed alongside it would get it as close as is possible. Vinyls tend to lighten off with UV degradation so if there isn't an absolute match then the darker option is more than likely the way to go.

3M would certainly have been the vinyl supplier in those days, however as to them actually making the stripes I would have though it would have been a local supplier to the MG factory who would have actually made them with 3M only supplying the materials.

Unlike today's production methods they wouldn't have been cut out using a Computer aided cutting knife and would have been created using cutting dies, in otherwords huge cutting blades similar to razor blades which would have lightly stamped out the shape and then someone would have peeled the waste away, leaving the stripes behind to then be transferred onto the vehicle in the same manner that is used today.

Andrew

Quote from Colin on 9th February 2010, 7:16 pm

Hi....Ken has obtained GT sets and is looking into the Roadster sets for me. I will then set up a GB and hold 1 set of each for future requirements

Quote from Rob-USLE on 9th February 2010, 9:43 pm

In case anybody wants to know the origin and designer of the LE striping I quote hereunder a part of the book on the US LE's as compiled by Mr Ken Smith (on here) "Limited Edition", the last of the Abingdon Classics (2008 - 251 copies only).

quote page 8
A comment from Bob Burden, National Merchandising Manager. Jaguar/Rover/Triump Inc. 1979, Leonia, New Jersey.
The side stripes were designed by Marce Mayhew, long time creative advertising advertising director at Reach McClinton, and were sourced from 3M.
Andy Woods, the national parts manager, remembers shipping the stripes to MG along with other items sourced in the U.S. that were unique to the LE.
unquote

This appears that the silver striping on the 1979/1980 produced black LE's were made in the US and shipped to the MG Abindon factory.

Of course it is not an indication were the silver & gold colores striping are produced which were used on the 1,000 UK LE's.

Quote from racedriver on 10th February 2010, 6:08 am

I stand corrected!.

I thought someone had suggested producing them on here already, so I'll also withdraw my offer to produce the stripes.

Andrew

Quote from KenArmstrong on 11th February 2010, 9:04 am

Hi - I got the stripes made local to me. The guy who does them instantly identified the material as being 3M (perhaps because it has 3M on the back - who knows!) and was able to show me the same stuff on a roll and I have to say it was exactly the same as the original grey stripes I had provided him with. He then showed me a roll of the gold 3M material that the roadster stripes would have been made from. I have no original roadster stripes to compare but have no particular reason to doubt that it will be an exact match.
I too wonder how much the original stripes would be affected by time and sun exposure when they have been on a car for 30 years.

Quote from KenArmstrong on 12th February 2010, 11:19 am

Had a chat to the manufacturer here - gold material will not be 3M but is equally high quality. Colour should be a match but without original set of stripes to compare (as with the silver GT stripes) they can't guarantee. Because of this they have agreed to give me a sample of the material for anybody who wishes to compare to original set. They have said that only fair comparison is with an original unused set as when fitted to a car there will be significant degredation of the original material with time including colour changes, loss of shiny finish and cracking/pealing. No real surprise there then. They have said that the modern materials are much better than the original in terms of lifespan and that the present 3M product will have been changed significantly from that fitted in the 80's.
Hope this info is of help.

Quote from Colin on 12th February 2010, 12:46 pm

Thanks Ken.....If anyone has a new set of original roadster stripes could you please let Ken know and then he can send you some samples for matching...I will also keep my eye on eBay but being careful not to pick up a set of nasty immitations, atleast we have all the profiles sorted.

If a jobs worth doing it is worth doing properly