The lid of the spare wheel compartment, i.e. the boot floor: some say this was always black, but I have seen 804010 with unpainted aluminium, and also the 140 handbook shows an early car with the top of the lid (i.e. the boot floor) painted body colour, and the underside probably black. Can any 140 owners let me know what they think were the original paint (or unpainted) finishes on these surfaces? Regards, John Elmgreen.
John, White body, Boot floor aluminium over wood, painted gloss black on floor surface, dull black on spare side. The wood still had the black crayon number scrawl on it…as did all other wood pieces. Regards – Klaus Nielsen
Dear John Elmgreen, I have an XK 140 FHC, 1957…when I got to the boot, for redoing I found the wood liner of the spare wheel lid had completely “delaminated”. The metal covering it was painted black on the visible side. Though my car had been repainted in white, all evidence was that the car was originally black. Don’t know if this will help. – Barry Goldman
John, S 814791 DN with white body, has gloss black painted aluminum top & flat black painted wood underside with numbers scrawled in red pencil or crayon on it. – Ted Zenuk