El Chaba

Provençal yellow is an often overlooked but appropriate color for a French bike (in my opinion)….

mhespenheide 

To get back to the original point of the thread, classic/exemplar paint for a particular manufacturer:
Holdsworth: blue panels on an orange base

ollo_ollo

I like my yellow Masi

1984 Gran Criterium

Cissell

There’s an interesting periwinkle blue, I believe, Colnago frame color I vividly remember, back in Atlanta, in the late ‘70s, or very early ‘81.

I have held onto that beautiful, vibrant color ever since, and often come back to it in my mind whenever I see a Colnago. This thread certainly reminded me of that!

Anyway, I wonder if anyone was aware of that particular Colnago and that color scheme. I’m quite certain it was a factory paint, and I have yet to see it out in the wild again, after that singular sighting. Sure would like to see it again, and maybe even learn which model it was.

Piff 

I've always wanted a Pro or Team Miyata...

Lovely blue and gold.

jetboy 

My Alfa spider was black!!! I think it does depend on year...later 70s early 80s in black was ok (in the USA). I just saw a 73 in green go by when I was on my bicycle (wow I could smell that spica). Green is not the best, I'd take black over it.


To stay on topic:

Holdsworth= orange.

jdawginsc 

Austro Daimler Ultima-Superleicht. Gold and regular chrome.

ollo_ollo

Zeus, mine in silver and an older one in green, gifted to my son.

1980 Zeus Chrono (Zeus Criterium DR)

1970's Zeus Competition (SunTour Superbe Pro DR)

daverup 

Another vote for mid 70's Motobecane Red, like on my 75 GJ Mixte,



And for Blue, another vote for early 80's Miyata's with Gold trim,

USAZorro

Hands down:

joesch

I love chrome on classics and nice paint that helps shows the beautiful metals like cromovelato paint jobs.
I recently restored a c80 Pinarello Treviso that was originally a medium titanium color and looked like dirty gray with the paint wear and rust area. Here is the finished product and as you may notice, I dont do professional work (photos and paint) but its not too bad for an amateur doing it inexpensive.

iab

No. Grey and red, or grigio-rosso. The shades have changed over the years, but grey and red. Even advertised it.

ollo_ollo

Rob mentioned a burgundy Colnago:
Illustrative pic of my new new project, just arrived yesterday. Immediately removed that

ugly splash tape

SJX426 

So many great colors!
It is hard to photograph a color the way you see it in a given light.
It surprises me how I often don't even pay attention to the color of bike until it is either torn down to the frame or finally assembled.
One of the colors I was on the fence with for years was Celeste from Bianchi. I Couldn't decide if I liked it or not. I think what won me over is deciding to accept it as it is, unique. Yes there are some shades that don't really pop for me Consequently I didn't really pay attention event when the color was accepted. Part of that was so many have unicrown forks and the other is the lack of chrome in general. Also, the wide range of models available confused me with which was near or at the top of the line for a given year. There is no question about the legacy, which also plays a part, not to mention the price of higher end models with chrome.
For many of you this will be a repeat picture, again, of the one and only acquisition of a Bianchi. It is far from perfect and does have some "damage" but it is good enough for me and with a little care in color selection, the first impression works well. I have yet to find a decent background for a good pic but here is the bike.
PXL_20230127_132501638 on Flickr

And also in the running is one of my favorites to ride, another repeat pic, with a color that is hard to argue with, Ferrari red.
De Rosa in Riding configuraton on Flickr

Then there are blues
Iconic Colnago early '80s
1983 Colnago Superissimo on Flickr

And early '70s Bottechia
73Bott14on Flickr

And finally, the departed (wrecked) Le Champion with a really unique paint of the early '70s that goes so well with bright Al parts.
1972 Motobecane Le Champion 24", on Flickr
2008-06-07 15.40.51 on Flickr
2008-06-07 15.42.52 on Flickr
2008-06-15 00.30.48 on Flickr

Robvolz 

there’s a gentleman from the Sacramento region who has a playing cards Colnago in that beautiful blue color

He does post here often. Maybe he’ll pipe up

Robvolz 

I like looking at the old catalogs and pamphlets that were available in the era.

That’s why discovered early 70s Derosa and a metallic lavender.

In color for this bike



Graphics just pop

mhespenheide 

A Colnago needs to be "Saronni Red" with white panels.

georges1

anything black and purple with chrome stays

or without chrome stays

jb6783

Aubergine 

This is my absolute favorite paint scheme for Bianchi. The red decals just set the Celeste off to perfection.

for my part, I'd like to share an early 70s Paramount P13 that I acquired recently. It was in sad shape! The paint may have been original but it was so poorly maintained and touched up that I had it reworked. As I got it (and look closely at all the bodges . . . ):



and as refinished, using a non-Schwinn color. The white decals needed a bold background, so I chose this deep Gios blue.

Chombi1 

Gitane -Blue
Peugeot - Pearl White
Bottecchia - Red
Pinarello - Red or Blue
Raleigh -Yellow/Red/Black
Colnago - Red
Masi - Red
De Rosa - Red
Gios Torino - Blue
Guerciotti -Red
Ciocc - Metallic Dark Green
Bianchi - Cesleste
Medici - Red
Falcon - Gold

repechage

reel back to the Carlsbad facility and Milano and Masi did not do red. Orange Red was what the tear sheet for Carlsbad called it.
kind of a Salmon color.
it was revamped to a darker, more intense color in the mid 1980’s, a few other colors were revised also.

Campagnerdo 

Raleigh white and lagoon blue

merziac

Original in great condition.