Old Pits, 1949 to 1955

[jaxter65]

I'm making an elaborate diorama of the pit lane that existed between 1949 and 1956 and have built the ACO welcome house, four blocks of four pits each, two hospitality suite blocks and the scoring block but now I'm I'm stuck.  What was the general color (or colour) of these buildings. All I have are black and white pictures except for one 1952 shot of the Fiat pits that seem to indicate that the general color was a faded pea green.  After all this work I refuse to paint these buildings a faded pea green!  The B&W photos from 1950 (Cunningham Photo Album) seem to indicate that there is considerable contrast between the base color (somewhat darkish) and the trim.  If the trim was white then the base color could be blue (French blue?) or rose or almost anything, BUT NOT A FADED PEA GREEN!  Help.

[termietermite]

There is a model of - from memory - the pits at around this era, in the foyer of the ACO museum here.  Next time I'm down there I'll have a look.

[garyfrogeye]

I don't know if this helps
Allard  1952

[garyfrogeye]

It's also completely possible (and probable) that the pits and buildngs would have been repainted more than once during those six years and if they were anything like my decorators, would have used whatever was cheap and plentiful at the time.

[garyfrogeye]

I also just did a quick youtube search for Le Mans 1955 and that has come up with some colour (ish) footage.I haven't had a chance to watch it yet but I'd imagine that if nothing else, it would give you some very fine detailing.

[jaxter65]

Thanks for the photo.  Looks like "sand" or "taupe" to me which are colors that I thought of.  I saw a poster in one of my books that showed a yellow color.  As for that diorama at LeMans. I have a photo of it and have some major problems with it.  First, it has five pits in each pit block.  There were four.  The 1956 pit design had five pits per block.  Second, it shows the hospitality suites with an office and a single open room on the south end.  Every suite block was symmetric with an open room on either side of each office.  Finally, the scoring office is jutting forward toward the track.  The scoring office was set back in a similar fashion to the suites.  As for the rest of it I am in awe of its creator.  The figures alone are to die for.  There must be 200, and all dressed (painted) correctly for the period.  The time spent on the scoring tower and all of the other details is incredible.  The cars have hoods and doors that open and figures that actually look like they are working on the cars.  You can almost see the Jaguars overheating.

Eventually I plan to photograph all my little cars in front of these buildings and build a web site for those photos so I figured that I should try to make it look correct for those that have actually been there.

[termietermite]

I'm sure you know the famous b&w shot of the start of the 1970 race.  We now have the first 12 cars in the pic' and are planning to recreate it.  Like most of these things though, it is just one thing on a long list of ideas we've had since we've been here..

I'm full of admiration for anybody who embarks on these things and -even more - for those who finish them!  The model in the museum does, as you say, have fantastic atmosphere, even if some of the detail is less than perfect.  I'll get out a few books and see if I can find any more stuff from that era anyway.