Mills Original Colors

[Heavy D]

Can you find out by serial number what the original Mills colors were of your machine? I just purchased a 5 Cent Bonus High Top 1948-49 and it has been repainted, I would like to take it back to its original colors.
Thanks,
Dean
Ser# 558736

[watlingboy]

Heavy D,

The serial number will not tell you what colors the machine was painted. There was at least 2 or 3 different color schemes for the Bonus. Unfortunately most used a type of paint called Hammer Tone which is no longer available, thanks EPA. There is a product on the market, I think called Hammerite, which says it is a Hammertone but it is nowhere close to the original. The original looked it had small fish eyes all through it. The best was available from Illinois Bronze. Unless you can find some old surviving spray cans it is, I think impossible to reproduce the color accurately. Most of the color schemes used maroon, blue and teal as the main colors. Because of the late production of this machine, original color brochures as well as alot of surviving machines exist to see what exactly they looked like.

Watlingboy

[watlingboy]

I should have mentioned that a fair number of Bonus machines were also painted with wrinkle paint. That is still available but not in the maroon and blue colors that seem to be primarily used. I have heard of people painting the wrinkle paint with a different color after it is dry but I've never had much success with that because the paint seems to want to fill in the wrinkles.

Watlingboy

[Heavy D]

Thanks, My machine is the wine/maroon color all over with the reel window frame being painted gold. I have seen the green before around the reel window but not gold. It is a very mediocre paint job at best. I am waiting for my pictoral guide to arrive to see whats in there as far as examples. I went to Bob Levy's site and looked at the one he has for sale but that is the only reference I have found so far.
Dean