A was for Austin, but now B is for Bedford

 yep

Paul 

PDU

You probably have talked about this but the pastel blue shouts 1950's and seems very appropriate.

Can you just run over the basis of the colour scheme - corporate or PDU special?

Lang

Mrsmackpaul: You lost me, "Yep" to what? Maybe the letters I was trying out for size and spacing?

Lang:  Red and cream, INTAVA colours (although they could also have been red and silver or even red and yellow). Was the pastel blue you are referring to come from the grey on the cab above the red OR from the colour I originally painted the rear bumper?

Anyone with knowledge of INTAVA in Australia? They were here apparently. 

The top of the cab looks a pastle grey/blue on my computer. I was just wondering where the colour came from. I must admit I have not heard of INTAVA and do not know their corporate colours.

Likewise I had never heard of INTAVA before seeing an image of an INTAVA tanker in Indonesia, 1951. That hit a note as my Bedford is 1951 also and I thought why not use that rather than a mythical petrol company (or have SLOMOSHUN on the turret instead, which was my original idea).

Most images I have found are black and white prints so knowing the colours for sure is difficult. A model builder has used silver and red which doesn't appeal to me much; a colourised picture shows it as yellow and red (as on SHELL tankers); and another image has a tanker refueling a shiny polished aluminium skinned DC4 (?) which is sufficiently different to suggest a lighter colour than silver. 

As the Vacuum Oil Company has been linked to various brand names including INTAVA, PLUME, and MOBILGAS (correct me if I'm wrong Brains Trust) which use(d) red and white (or cream, as per British Railways tankers) it made the decision for me.

Thanks for your interest.  

You know all this but INTAVA were BIG. Here for those of us who do not know are some photos of INTAVA. It seems it was the aircraft refueling brand for Mobil Esso.

My guess for colours would be silver on red.

The following photos are from Australia, USA, Ireland, Finland, Canada, Indonesia and more.
         

         

     

         

Well done Lang, and you even found two I've missed along the way notably the Pan American ones. Did you not find the red and yellow one?

You will notice the very early ones are silver but the later ones appear to be white as per the signs you've included.  Thanks again.