In message <
[email protected]>
"Larry" <
[email protected]> wrote:
>Tekaloid !!!!
>
>Just can't get it nowadays, there used to be at least two places in
>Coventry where you could, but the last of them only supplies Mason's
>now and they couldn't figure out what was a proper Land Rover code, not
>that I would have been that bothered given the state of the paint work,
>but there you go.
>
>Painted my scooters with Tekaloid but that was back in the days when
>some buses still had the engine at the front.
>
>Ah linseed oil and builders putty, Ou sont les neiges d'antan?
>
The paint manufacturer Thornley and Knight was founded in 1797 and
sometime thereafter (probably mid 1800's) formulated Tekaloid coach
enamel which has been used for over a hundred years as a carriage and
vehicle paint.
During the 1970's Thornley and Knight were taken over by Croda paints
who kept manufacturing Tekaloid paint in more or less the same formulae
and volume.
During the late 80's or early 90's Croda paints were taken over by
Ameron coatings, around this time the old linseed oil formulae was
changed to a more durable alkyd resin base (IIRC).
The bad news;
Ameron (an American company) had no interest in the small coach painting
market or paint manufacturer in the UK.
Ameron are big, they are more into marine and offshore structures, oil,
gas etc. So Ameron in their infinite wisdom decided to specify a minimum
order of 20 litres when ordering Tekaloid, then 40 and the last count
was 60 litres per order of Tekaloid.
This ordering method unfortunately had a huge impact on Tekaloid sales
and stockists, some of which are only small family run businesses who at
one time could order Tekaloid directly from the manufacturer in very
small quantities but this was not profitable enough for Ameron.
Ameron introduced their ordering method during the decline in coach
enamels and this eventually caused an even bigger slump in orders,
obviously because some (probably all) paint stockists could not afford
to carry 1200 ukp worth of paint in one go so started looking elsewhere
for coach enamels or coach paints. This is why Masons and other paint
manufactures have been more successful.
the good news;
However unbeknown to everyone Tekaloid although not stocked at paint
stockist anymore almost disappeared overnight which left only two
companies (to my knowledge) still manufacturing Tekaloid, the Avenue
group and Breakwells paints, these two companies who are big enough have
setup paint mixing in the original Tekaloid formulae.
So thats why Tekaloid is not widely available but nevertheless still
obtainable. Tekaloid can now be mixed to specification by the two outlets
mentioned above means that almost any straight colour can be mixed in
Tekaloid, which broadens the colour range dramatically as opposed to the
original Tekaloid colour rage having less than a hundred colous to
choose from, now has thousands.
Steve.
--
http://www.stephen.hull.btinternet.co.uk
Coach painting tips and techniques + Land Rover colour codes
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