1971 Lincoln Mark III Paint color troubles Code 6 Also on Mustang, Thunderbird, and Ford

[dalef62]

I am trying to do some touch up on a 1971 Lincoln Mark III with Bright blue Poly paint code 6 and keep getting the wrong color from my auto parts/paint supplier.  It comes out tons darker than the original color.  I have used Valspar paint system for years and would like to use it on this car but I might have to change to some other brand.  Has anyone else ever had a problem with Paint code 6 for Fords from about 1967-1971?  I have been looking online for over a week and see two different colors of vehicles when they say Bright Blue Poly or Acapulco Blue.  One dark blue and one that looks light the right color.  Is there something I am missing in an alternate color mix or ?????? 

I know what everyone is going to say and I might have to do it, and that is to get a part of the car color scanned and go from there.  But one of the easiest parts to remove is the gas door, but it was repainted years ago and is slightly lighter than the original color.  The car is masked off and was ready to paint so if I have to take the whole car and get it scanned I will have to undo and redo all the masking.  Also, not too many paint store in the area that have the scan tool.

Who would have thought a car that is just 50 years old would have so much trouble getting the paint color right.  LOL  

Any help would be appreciated. 

Edited May 20, 2021 by dalef62 (see edit history)

[bryankazmer]

this appears to be a metallic color - spectrophotomers ("scanners") have trouble with the flake scattering light.  A skilled color-matcher can do this visually with a test spray to verify

[rocketraider]

That shade of metallic blue is notoriously hard to match on any carline. 

 

GM had a similar shade of blue in the 70s and the 73-77 Oldsmobile Service Guilds and Technical Bulletins are full of "solutions" to correctly match touched-up areas and collision repairs. Apparently as little as 3psi difference in air pressure at the gun would throw that color off shade.

[8E45E]

Make sure it is the Bright Blue Metallic for the 1971 model year, and not from any other year that Ford also used that rather generic term for their metallic blue shade.   Even though the color name was identical, each individual year differed slightly; enough to be visible to the eye.

 

Craig

[dalef62]

16 minutes ago, 8E45E said:

Make sure it is the Bright Blue Metallic for the 1971 model year, and not from any other year that Ford also used that rather generic term for their metallic blue shade.   Even though the color name was identical, each individual year differed slightly; enough to be visible to the eye.

 

Craig

The paint codes for all the years are the same, which means the formulas are the same.

[NailheadBob]

The PPG code is 13357, for paint code 6 Bright Blue Poly, this information is from American Automobile Paint Code interchange manual, I hope this helps.

 

 

Bob

[dalef62]

I have all the paint codes for everything from Valspar, R/M, DuPont, PPG etc., but when we mixed those codes with the Valspar formula it was the dark purple blue you see on the lower front quarter.

 

OK, I think I got everything worked out.  I went to API paint store and they have PPG paints, I told them what I have, I even drove the Lincoln down just in case, and he got out the paint chip book!  So much easier with a actual paint chip, compared it to the car and was spot on.  He said he would mix up 4oz. and see how close it was and it was good.  So instead of running out of paint I got 1/2 gallon and all the necessary additives and now I should be able to mask it off again and paint it the right color.  We both feel that the Valspar paint formula was wrong.  They were very nice to deal with and he said if I had any problems let him know and he will figure it out. 

So, we shall see next week after Memorial Day.