Colour finishes

A feature of the Ariel two strokes was that they were produced in a 2 tone colour scheme, which was very fashionable at the time. As noted in the introduction, the ‘base’ colour changed from Admiralty Grey to Ivory at the start of the 1962 model year. The parts listed below were painted in the secondary colour; all other parts were in the base colour apart from hidden items such as the petrol tank, which were painted in a grey primer. If the motorcycle does not have its original paint the original colour can frequently be found behind panels etc., where it may well have escaped being repainted, failing that it may well be found by rubbing through the later paint with ‘Wet or Dry’ paper in ever decreasing circles thus exposing some of the bike’s history. Alternatively obtain a Dating Certificate, see the notes at the beginning.

Secondary Colours

Leader                    Body shell, Headlamp cowl, tail section and instrument panel.
Arrow                    Dummy tank, engine cover, tool box lid, number plate and fork cover plates for 1959-61 (S models)
Sports Arrow        Dummy tank and rear number plate. The engine cover, tool box lid and fork cover plates were chromed
200 Arrow             Dummy tank, engine cover, tool box lid, rear chaincase.

N.B. The exception to the above notes is that the wheel hubs on Admiralty Grey models were painted in Admiralty Grey but on Ivory models they were black. The exception to the exception is the aluminium alloy hubs, which were not painted.

YearModelCodeBase ColourSecondary Colour
1958-61LeaderAAdmiralty GreyCherokee Red or Seal Grey or Oriental Blue
1961-65LeaderBIvoryCherokee Red or Seal Grey or Oriental Blue or Black
1965LeaderBIvoryRocket Red or Nutley Blue with Ivory handlebar cover, USAonly?
1960-61ArrowSAdmiralty GreyCherokee Red or Seal Grey or Oriental Blue
1961-63ArrowTIvoryCherokee Red or Seal Grey or Oriental Blue or Black
1964-65ArrowTIvoryCherokee Red or Black
1961Sports ArrowGAdmiralty GreyGold
1961-65Sports ArrowGIvoryGold
1964-65200cc ArrowHIvoryCherokee Red British Racing Green or Aircraft Blue

Colour Equivalents

These colour equivalents have mainly come from recommendations given to us by our customers. Some information has been supplied by ICI Autocolour via Ariel Atzori, president of the Ariel Club, for which we are grateful. The best or definite recommendations are in italics.

Admiralty Grey                           British Standard 381C range ‘Light Admiralty Grey’ ICI 0501, Rover‘Mist Grey’ is the same
Ivory                                            Toyota ‘White 073’; Rover ‘White 30-3738; Ford ‘Diamond White’ (Ketts code 691
Cherokee Red                             Ford ‘Dragoon Red’; Rootes ‘Signal Red’; Jensen ‘Carmine’ 30614
Seal Grey                                     Rootes ‘Corinth Blue’ or Standard ‘Gun Metal or current (2002) RAF colour
Oriental Blue                               Fiat ‘Green 376’Renault ‘Laguna Turquoise’
Rocket Red                                 B.S.A. colour, see Bri-Tie motorcycles
Nutley Blue                                 B.S.A. colour, see Bri-Tie motorcycles
Gold                                             ICI ref D738B (matched to a sample) VW ‘Hellas Gold’ code L98A
British Racing Green
Aircraft Blue                               VW ‘Sapphire Blue’

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