Apple Beige

Look at this amazing artifact of 20th century computing: official Apple Beige touch-up paint for the Apple II.

Ben Zotto found this bottle while on a quest to find out the original color of the Apple II.

This is the green-inflected cool beige of the original Apple II computer cases. Unlike later models, these first Apple cases were manufactured with a sprayed-on paint finish. Scrapes and other abuse could damage the surface. Hence the need for a touch-up paint, a handy item apparently available only to dealers for use on their repair benches.

It stands to reason this still-fresh paint may be the closest you can get today to that original color. I made a couple “swatches”, a layer on coated paper (which worked well) and two coats on a primered wood shim (worked less well). And I compared the swatches to a surviving Apple II and to other known color references.

He even found some nearly matching paints at the hardware store, so you could paint your bedroom Apple Beige if you wanted. (via kelli anderson)

• Apple
• Ben Zotto