Paint colors - reproducable in today's products

VintageDon

VintageDon

Member
I am going to have my '60 Biscayne painted in "Suntan Copper Poly" which was code 920. I'm building a replica of my first car, from 50 years ago. The car I'm using was originally white (Fawn Beige) so I don't have any old paint areas to look at for a color sample.

I have all the old code numbers from back in the day - Duco, Lucite, Rinshed-Mason, Ditzler etc. But I'm not finding anyone who can convert that information into a modern formula! Aarrggghhh!

How do I come up with an accurate, reproducable formula to mix, say, PPG or Sikkens, whichever??? Antone possibly already have a modern formula for Suntan Copper? paint color.jpg
 
VintageDon

VintageDon

Member
@BSL409 that would be fantastic, if you have that code available, yes!

Me and the paint guy located a PPG dealer in Cleveland who talked to their central office and was able to get a "field code" believed to be accurate. We're going to go get a spray sample of that tomorrow.

The problem is, when a lot of the 50s and 60s colors became obsolete - and then they also stopped using lead - nobody bothered to create crossover formulas that could reproduce those colors using the modern products. There was not enough demand. Further, when you do find a code it will be a formula for mixing lacquer - which does not work when you try to use it for mixing modern base coat / clear coat products. Finally, I pulled out my original 1960 Dealer's Album, and have a very large sample there which has been protected and folded inside of the book ever since it was new. We will scan that with the gun and compare all of the above and see what looks the "most correct."

Many thanks for all the help and offered answers here!

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BSL409

BSL409

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 6
VintageDon said:
@BSL409 that would be fantastic, if you have that code available, yes!

Me and the paint guy located a PPG dealer in Cleveland who talked to their central office and was able to get a "field code" believed to be accurate. We're going to go get a spray sample of that tomorrow.

The problem is, when a lot of the 50s and 60s colors became obsolete - and then they also stopped using lead - nobody bothered to create crossover formulas that could reproduce those colors using the modern products. There was not enough demand. Further, when you do find a code it will be a formula for mixing lacquer - which does not work when you try to use it for mixing modern base coat / clear coat products. Finally, I pulled out my original 1960 Dealer's Album, and have a very large sample there which has been protected and folded inside of the book ever since it was new. We will scan that with the gun and compare all of the above and see what looks the "most correct."

Many thanks for all the help and offered answers here!

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The one you can not read well is satin beige
The other is gothic gold 920 IMG_7496.jpegIMG_7498.jpeg
 
Ishiftem

Ishiftem

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
VintageDon said:
@BSL409 that would be fantastic, if you have that code available, yes!

Me and the paint guy located a PPG dealer in Cleveland who talked to their central office and was able to get a "field code" believed to be accurate. We're going to go get a spray sample of that tomorrow.

The problem is, when a lot of the 50s and 60s colors became obsolete - and then they also stopped using lead - nobody bothered to create crossover formulas that could reproduce those colors using the modern products. There was not enough demand. Further, when you do find a code it will be a formula for mixing lacquer - which does not work when you try to use it for mixing modern base coat / clear coat products. Finally, I pulled out my original 1960 Dealer's Album, and have a very large sample there which has been protected and folded inside of the book ever since it was new. We will scan that with the gun and compare all of the above and see what looks the "most correct."

Many thanks for all the help and offered answers here!

View attachment 130549
Click to expand...
True! The tints today can not match the original colors especially metallic. My car was done in lacquer (Palomer red) with a polyurethane clear. It was ppg lacquer. It doesn't totally match the very well preserved paint under the deck lid or door jambs but it's close enough to be reasonable. When I went to touch it up I had a hell of a time. I tried ppg, RM, and Dupont in base coat. Not even close to the repaint or original. Eventually had the gas door scanned and it came up with some color that was not a GM color but it was good enough to be blendable. I remember being at the MCaCN and there were probably 7 fathom blue cars. If they were parked by themselves all but one would of looked ok. Parked together? They all looked very different and only one or two looked right.
 
BSL409

BSL409

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 6
VintageDon said:
You're saying the second photo, the "21723 Prophet" is the one l want for the copper, right? And ignore the 1st photo.

I showed my painter and he got all excited and said: "See if he has the breakdown of tonors and weights of the formula" which I'm not even sure what that means...
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Yes Sir
 
M

montemike79

Well Known Member
Jim Sullivan said:
I'm not sure about your color, but our local paint store had no trouble finding a mix for 62 Ermine white in a PPG base coat and it matched about perfect.
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Same here, was also able to find Roman Red. Also scanned the original paint on the car and sampled that vs. the PPG Roman Red. Was very close and we ended up going with the new PPG paint code Roman Red.
 
1964SuperStocker

1964SuperStocker

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 3
I choose to travel 3 hours to a small paint specialist. Kick'n Color is a great place to match paint on the spot. I was able to get a perfect match for the 63 Impala interior paint. https://kickinkolor.com/ One of the old timers used to work on Vincent Fiala's race cars back in the day. Found out because the 63 I'm working on is going to be a tribute and I needed that red to get the glove box done so Vincent could sign my glove box. Anyway, very knowledgeable people.
 
VintageDon

VintageDon

Member
We're narrowing in on this color, I have several samples working... Here's a few of the cards we sprayed, and the Dealer's Album photo from above, and a photo of my original car I took back in 1971. (And of course all the usual warnings about judging colors on a computer or phone..). But virtually everybody who looks at these picks the one labeled #1 on the handle, the second from the left. This is the card which was generated by getting into the PPG Central Library of old colors and their so called field formulas - and a very patient and knowledgeable guy behind the counter! It also happens to match my memory the best. I believe #3 is from @BSL409 's formula, above (thank you again!). We're getting close.

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My old car, 51 years ago....

Rear001.jpg
 
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