Morris-Commercial PU 8-cwt in greyish blue colour?

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Ah yes, the BLUE PU(ke)!

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

he's now working on this PU he found somewhere in France. Either the WD census number on the door or the chassis no. denoted it was of 1938-ish vintage, *snip*. A data plate stated this PU got a Class I rebuild in August 1945. When the current owner and his mechanic stripped it down for restoration, they found the chassis to be painted in a greyish blue colour, even under brackets bolted to the chassis etc., so they had it colour-matched and repainted it.

All we now for sure is that this PU was fully rebuilt in 1945 and the chassis, axles and gearbox were then repainted a greyish-blue colour. As rebuilds go, the cab and rear body which were refitted to this chassis were not the original ones as the WD census number painted on the door does not match the chassis number. In 2004 when Rory and I inspected it, the cab and body were not yet rebuilt and still had traces of pre-/early war colour schemes - no blue whatsoever.

I must admit the truck looks stunning in these colours, and I can well understand the owner´s decision to refinish it as such. As this is a pre-war truck, it could have been painted blue-grey if PU´s were ever in RAF service (which I doubt). Also, most likely they were not painted blue-grey inside-out, but only the outer surfaces.

Jeeps in RAF blue-grey looks great but are nonsense, as after the war started reaching the shores of Britain in the summer of 1940 during the Battle of Britain, the RAF started to use regular Army paint schemes - see R.A.F. Ground Equipment Blue - paint specification and follow the links to related threads.

Hanno