Matching Original Paint?

[Guest shadetree77]

Painting my '52 is pretty far down the road but I've been looking at paint options recently just to satisfy curiosity. So how does one go about matching the original paint on a car? I've found plenty of images of the paint chips for my car online. These include paint codes from the Duco and Dulux companies. Are there paint companies out there that can use these codes to mix paint? Or companies that already have stock GM colors?

I also visited the TCP Global website. They have an interactive order form that pulls up original paint chip sheets for the car you type in. Then you type the info next to the paint color into their form and hit the order button. It claims that they can mix up ANY color on ANY of the sheets. Anybody ever use TCP for paint?

[NTX5467]

That website seems to have replaced the earlier DuPont vintage paint chips website which was where we first found those color chips and part numbers. If you can find a local full-service paint store more locally, you might get some of the same stuff.

Key point would be that most paint stores are now configured toward OEM basecoast/clearcoat formulations, rather than the earlier lacquers and enamels (i.e., "single stage") paints. I know these earlier mixtures would have to be "by the formula" rather than by a "hand match" or similar. Perhaps there is some long-time-same ownership automotive paint vendor which might have some of the old books stashed away somewhere? Plus somebody that knows how to interpret or "modernize" the formulas to acrylic lacquer?

Just some thoughts on this Happy New Year day!

NTX5467

[jscheib]

I am far from an expert, but I think you will need to clarify if you will do this yourself, or by a vendor? Matching can be done by a vendor or paint supplier with not too much of a problem.. I think you need to also factor in the prep work on the sheet metal, as it must be compatable with the finished work.

John

[Guest martylum]

Robert---I'm painting a 53 Buick 76X convertible and found original blue metallic paint under the heater box flanges on the firewall. PPG Paint did a pretty good color match in new metallic blue paint using the original paint code. I first tried DuPont but could not get nearly as close a match.

Martin Lum

1953 Buick 76X

[Guest palosfv3]

The best and most accurate way of matching color is to have your PBE supplier take a reading of the desired color with a colorspectrometer which is supported by a data base of all currently available colors that can be mixed with the current mixing system toners . You will need a good clean sample of the original color a minimum of 3 " in diameter for best results. There are some companies that have reformulated some older colors so they can be mixed from current toners but those may be a limited selection.

Colors from the early 50's we not as complex as todays colors and usually used less than a dozen toners to make up the color . You will also note on some of the old Dulux color formulas that they were mixed by volume . All materials are mixed by weight now .