Remaking Armstrong "Colonial Classic" Flooring

Nicholas Studer

PCS Elected Director 2022-2025
Discontinued now for over 10 years in its Vinyl variant, and sought after by many ambulance aficionados and "retrovation" decor types - Colonial Classic flooring sadly has become near-unobtainium.

I took the liberty of making an inquiry with Armstrong Flooring as to whether they would be willing to produce a run for a "group buy" by Society members or bring the style back for general sale. No joy - the product manager for resilient flooring responded today and says it's not of interest to them. Apparently, Armstrong doesn't seem to believe there's much value in tapping into the "retro" market. Oh well, it was worth trying.

While disappointing and I believe to be shortsighted (really, how many shades of colored fake tile/granite do you need to follow "international trends" in flooring) - it is what it is. One option I have considered for my 1970 C/B-Oldsmobile is custom printed vinyl flooring like http://graphicimageflooring.com/ or https://www.atrafloor.com/ . The issue there is while the overall design could be potentially replicated, the texture and inlaid pattern would not. Perhaps better than nothing - or perhaps not.

If anyone comes across a treasure trove of Colonial Classic - please consider me. :)
 
I assure you that there is still "old stock" remnants out there. Check with small town furniture/flooring businesses that have been in business for decades.

Also watch for vintage flooring remnants at Habitat For Humanity Re-Store thrift stores. Businesses often times donate this type of stuff to them when they clean out their warehouse space.
 
the original patters other then the brick (vary few CB done in that) are around in Hospital grade material. vary few places will order it as they have to get a full roll. or so I have been told. this pattern is the same as my 72 CB . it was in Paul's 69. I man that laid the flooring in Virgle's car came down with a section of it in the green color. he found a roll at the VA when he was doing a job up there right after we did the 58 here is a sample of the colors available from MM
in 66 Sara has this page as I recall
 

Attachments

  • IMG_7097.jpg
    IMG_7097.jpg
    97.9 KB · Views: 297
  • 1966 MM dealer book.jpg
    1966 MM dealer book.jpg
    72.5 KB · Views: 284
Thank you gentlemen. I do have a roll of Armstrong commercial flooring I intend to use on the Cotington. The current "DecorArt Corlon," formerly "Connection Corlon" is available from FloorCity if you buy 100 sq ft. https://www.armstrongflooring.com/commercial/en-us/products/het/decorart-corlon.html It is CLOSE, but not quite the same as the above pictured flooring.

That doesn't mean that I wouldn't go back with Colonial Classic if given the chance. I have tried all the local flooring companies, and even a few when out of town. However, I must admit my repeat visits to the local surplus building materials sites have been few.

Regardless, this was primarily a report on my attempt to get the flooring remade that everyone seems to be looking for. It was about a month's process, with an assortment of e-mails and calls. Too bad it didn't work out - I had some good hope initially.
 
Thanks for your efforts on this Nick!

I know of a flooring/garage door dealer(from my past life) in Missouri that I have been meaning to contact on this. They had scads of old stock stuff still in stock, as of 5 years ago anyway. Will try them tomorrow(if I have time and remember to call).
 
I found a remnant of Colonial Classic at a local flooring dealer, and I was still short on the material to do the complete floor. With pieces of material that was given to me by Jim Staruk and Steve Lichtman, I was able to get enough to do my floor, albeit, it was pieced together. The installer did such a perfect job, that it is just about impossible to tell where it was seamed.
When this discussion first came up in 2009, I contacted Armstrong, and was given a list of how many full rolls were still available in each of their regional warehouses. I gave the list to a local Armstrong dealer to order a roll of the material for me from the closest warehouse, and he forgot to do it, and lost the list. I tried to get the list again, but couldn't.
 
I found a remnant of Colonial Classic at a local flooring dealer, and I was still short on the material to do the complete floor. With pieces of material that was given to me by Jim Staruk and Steve Lichtman, I was able to get enough to do my floor, albeit, it was pieced together. The installer did such a perfect job, that it is just about impossible to tell where it was seamed.
When this discussion first came up in 2009, I contacted Armstrong, and was given a list of how many full rolls were still available in each of their regional warehouses. I gave the list to a local Armstrong dealer to order a roll of the material for me from the closest warehouse, and he forgot to do it, and lost the list. I tried to get the list again, but couldn't.


You do lose more $#!+ Paul! Is it just bad luck, or ???
 
I called the factor too

Probably 15 or more years ago I called the home office of Armstrong. As well all know, it's discontinued. I explained there would be a demand for it.
When I travel and see a small size flooring business I go in and check if they have any. The samples shown above include one that was in my 74 Criterion and it looks like that is still available. Good luck to everyone!
 
Back
Top