Marmon Wasp orange?

[Guy]

The "where are the winners" post mentioned that the Wasp was orange. What's the story on that?

[Joe Baiza]

Originally posted by Guy:
<STRONG>The "where are the winners" post mentioned that the Wasp was orange. What's the story on that?</STRONG>

Interesting you mention that, I've seen color picture postcards of the Wasp on display at the World's Fair in, iirc, Chicago and the car appears red. Looking back at old film, perhaps it's just the age of the film, but the car appears an awfully dark shade of gray (in the black and white film) to be such a bright yellow.

[Tom_B]

Guy,

Some say the Wasp was orange, based in large part on the darkness in shade when it appears in old photographs.

I have a hard time believing it for several reasons.

Old film showing US Army Air Corps aircraft, sporting colors we know were standardized, don't look the proper shade for those colors. It's old film, so it's nearly impossible to rely on it's color values with any confidence.

The second reason is that the Wasp earned the nickname "The Yellowjacket" before it came to Indy. It's unlikely that color would show up in the nickname if the car wasn't some shade of yellow.

Lastly, yellow was a color Marmon used on their production cars in 1910 (when the Wasp was built) and 1911. Orange was not. It's doubtful Marmon would have purposefully purchased orange paint when they had ample stocks of yellow on hand, allowing them to use Harroun's and Dawson's Marmons to promote sales of the Marmon 32 production car (hence Harroun's car #).

But it's one of those insoluable questions we all like to rehash.

Tom B.

[nx13688]

Here's a 1930 Kodak ad that explains why light colors can look dark in B&W photos - it's the difference between regular and panchromatic film: 1930 Kodak panchromatic film ad

[MichaelP]

Very interesting info. Sadly many the papers of the day failed to mention the color. Clymers yearbook covering 1909-46 makes no mention of the color(.

There is still one other discrepency. The car in the museum has a black number with red outline. Given the info in the Kodak ad, red should come out almost black, but photos of the wasp show the number with a light (if not white) outline.

[Guy]

Thanks for the information, Tom. The Wasp will always be yellow to me. I love these "Indys Mysteries" things like this. You guys in the nostalgia forum are a treasure chest. History is what makes Indy so great and I've learned a lot just reading everybody's posts. Thanks.

[11rowsof3]

Interesting, I just posted on the Open Wheel Modeling forum to... but here in the Marmon Model 32... that Marmon chose the #32 on the Wasp to promote...




We know for sure that the Marmon had WHITE Firestone Tires.

[Belanger99]

It is my understanding that Harroun saw a restoration of the Wasp before he died and said the yellow color was correct as he remembered it.

[KevMcNJ]

JMHO of course but why would they paint it orange then call it a Wasp?

It is my understanding that Harroun saw a restoration of the Wasp before he died and said the yellow color was correct as he remembered it.

If it was Orange in 1911 why would they decide to restore it but paint it an entirely differnet color? Dont forget there were still many many people around who would have rememeberd what it was supposed to look like

[impact]

It is my understanding that Harroun saw a restoration of the Wasp before he died and said the yellow color was correct as he remembered it.

Yes, Ray Harroun was very much alive when he drove the Wasp during pre-race ceremonies in 1961.

[gforcewill]

I would say she is that beautiful shade I call Piper Cub Yellow, or Canary Yellow. She is not Orange, that much I know.

[Firstturnpro]

Here is a color video picture from our 1937 color home movie film.

http://www.trackforum.com/forums/alb...achmentid=1281

It was yellow in 1937. (The car does not have the same brightness to it as it appears today, but the film is 75 years old and has lost some of its color)

BTW, this is part of our latest DVD that will be released in May (Hopefully) which covers the years 1925-1941. I will post more info later about this DVD.

Brad Edwards

First Turn Productions LLC.

[11rowsof3]

JMHO of course but why would they paint it orange then call it a Wasp?



If it was Orange in 1911 why would they decide to restore it but paint it an entirely differnet color? Dont forget there were still many many people around who would have rememeberd what it was supposed to look like

I am with you guys, I still believe it was yellow, "but" what if the man himself said he remembered it being more orange? This is from a post on the OWM forum...

I believe that if you read page two of the "Paper Wasp" plans from Rod & Custom where they would have been able to talk with Ray Harroun back in 1965 and they state that in his memory the car was panted a "dark orange" and that the wasp name was due to the shape of the tail.

[MichaelP]

If you see pics of the Wasp prior to restoration it appeared to be a pale yellow color. Supposedly Ray Harroun said something to the effect that the 'car was more orange'. I take it to mean that the shade of yellow was more orange-ish, not that the car was orange. The current color is more 'orange-ish' than the pale yellow it had been. But it was called the Wasp because of it's stinger-like tail, not it's color.

[rrrr]

And gforcewill posts the biggest photo in the history of TrackForum...I'm surprised there's enough bandwidth available to display it on my monitor. :P