1935 Auburn Colors?

[Ovalrace25]

Anyone care to share color secrets? Looking at maroon or deep red shades on a convertible project. Will I get beat up with a stick if there is ANY metallic in it at all?  

[edinmass]

1935 Auburn colors are well established, and going outside the box will make the car very difficult to sell. And every time you take it out people will tell you it’s incorrect and you committed a sin. The ACD is a fantastic world upon itself............ purity in the ACD world is a virtue...........

[alsancle]

I can tell you that metallic will be a mistake.

Edited January 21, 2022 by alsancle (see edit history)

[trimacar]

I agree, might be a mistake, but metallics were available by the early 1930s, though they were very subtle in nature.  I would say modern metallics in general on a 1930s car aren’t quite correct, and two tone color schemes after 1935 or so don’t work either.   Don’t get me started on base and clear coat, like powder coat, looks nice but difficult to repair.

[John_Mereness]

What year is your car ?

 

If to 1935:  There is a factory brochure for 1935 paint colors - ACD Museum can make you a copy - they may have other years too (certain colors were available for certain body styles). For 1936, you either may have only 1935 Auburn colors or perhaps 1936 Cord colors (they were build along side each other and not many Auburn's built in 1936).  And often dealer bulletins discuss colors and ....

 

Auburn = NOT a company that there were a great number of "you can get whatever you wanted" (some of the brochures make the offer, but car was not priced that way to be an effective option)- they were broke and they ran a pretty effective "modern" assembly line nevertheless (efficiency means standardization). L-29 Cords came in standard combos too (well documented), as did 810/812 Cord come in standard colors.

 

Some of the first metallic's were offered on Auburn's - I believe Salon models of 1932 or 1933 (BUT IF YOU DO METALLIC THEN BEST TO STICK WITH A STANDARD FACTORY COLOR).  

Neptune Blue for 1935 is a "fine pearl/opalescence" - it is a green-ish turquoise and it caught my eye in the light one day (yes, that subtle) after 10 years of not noticing and thinking it was a solid color (and pretty cool color probably when new, but not of today's taste).

 

YOU CAN VENTURE OUT OF THE STANDARD, BUT MOST PEOPLE CHOOSE SOMETHING TOO DRAMATIC (their red is too red, their blue is too bright, and ....) AND IT DOES NOT STAND THE TEST OF TIME = NOT A FIRE ENGINE. 

 

And then there are aftermarket paint charts too:  

http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?manuf=Auburn&year=1929&con=my&rows=50

http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?manuf=Auburn&year=1930&con=my&rows=50   (looks pretty vague - there must be a story)

http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?manuf=Auburn&year=1931&con=my&rows=50

http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?manuf=Auburn&year=1932&con=my&rows=50

http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?manuf=Auburn&year=1933&con=my&rows=50

http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?manuf=Auburn&year=1934&con=my&rows=50

http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?manuf=Auburn&year=1935&con=my&rows=50

http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?manuf=Auburn&year=1936&con=my&rows=50

 

 

Edited January 26, 2022 by John_Mereness (see edit history)

[John_Mereness]

I am a fan of the paint color choices for a 1972 Mercedes 280SL (excepting no white, rarely a green, no tan/brown/orange combos, no fire engine red, and no to few other colors = never a best choice). 

 

https://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/colour_swatch_mercedes_1970

 

 

[Curti]

The factory would paint the car about any color the buyer wanted, except white for $31.

I won best Auburn at the ACD reunion with a phaeton I restored painted 1997 Ford truck colors

[John_Mereness]

I will still stick to "they made the option available" for custom colors, though at roughly a $1,400.00-ish car to begin with a $31.00 option was pretty pricy so it discourages or ..... 

 

Interestingly, the car I referenced as Neptune Blue was deteriorated in spots and obviously was first black, the next color on top of Neptune Blue was "very" factory applied - so, the car was stopped on the line before it went out the door or ....

 

Curt mentions White:  They did have the White Carvan cars in 1935, though there appear to be more cars in photos than just those handful of cars - so there may have been a way to get white.  

Edited January 26, 2022 by John_Mereness (see edit history)

[Curti]

They had white paint, however it was very susceptable to UV. 

[8E45E]

On 1/21/2022 at 4:44 PM, trimacar said:

I agree, might be a mistake, but metallics were available by the early 1930s, though they were very subtle in nature.  I would say modern metallics in general on a 1930s car aren’t quite correct, and two tone color schemes after 1935 or so don’t work either.   Don’t get me started on base and clear coat, like powder coat, looks nice but difficult to repair.

We discussed the composition of the original opalescent colors here"

 

Craig

[mitchwhodge]

On 1/27/2022 at 4:03 PM, Curti said:

They had white paint, however it was very susceptable to UV. 

Curti , do you rebuild the Startix 6volt model D? Could you contact me if you do this? mitchwhodge@yahoo.com

[Curti]

Send me an email : cschulze@centurytel.net 

 

[Ovalrace25]

On 1/21/2022 at 11:32 AM, edinmass said:

1935 Auburn colors are well established, and going outside the box will make the car very difficult to sell. And every time you take it out people will tell you it’s incorrect and you committed a sin. The ACD is a fantastic world upon itself............ purity in the ACD world is a virtue...........

Yes, Ed, I am trying to stick with correct colors. The 2-tone colors on it now are terrible and I dont want to miss the mark. I really want the car to properly represent what was done when it was new. I see a few maroon cars and they are not the same colors. All are a bit different due to the person mixing color may have guessed at it. Yes, I am also guessing, but with some suggestions from the forum, maybe I can eliminate a few wrongs. True, using a "modern" formula that is close to what was original does work better than a custom mix. Later repairs can be made IF the paint code and/or formula and process stays with the car. 

[Shawn Miller]

Contrary to popular belief they did offer a metallic paint on 35-6 cars, it was produced using crushed fish scales from what I have been told.

I dont think you run of as much of a risk with non catalogue colors on an Auburn as you would with an 810-812 Cord, and Maroon is quite acceptable, as I believe it was a catalogue color  

[Curti]

It is my opinion that fish scales were not used but powdered aluminum as they do today.  Previously I have posted the original Acme Proxlin color chips and the costs of factory accessories including the cost of custom paint. 

 

[John_Mereness]

On 6/21/2022 at 2:37 PM, Shawn Miller said:

Contrary to popular belief they did offer a metallic paint on 35-6 cars, it was produced using crushed fish scales from what I have been told.

I dont think you run of as much of a risk with non catalogue colors on an Auburn as you would with an 810-812 Cord, and Maroon is quite acceptable, as I believe it was a catalogue color  

  I am going to possibly disagree - I had a phaeton that was Neptune Blue (in what turned out to be a pearl finish) and I thought it a horrid color until one day it was glistening in the sunlight - I polished it a touch and the metalic was a gold flake and almost so faint it was not noticeable in the paint (basically, I passed that car for days and days over 10 years and never noticed the "metalic").  

[Curti]

Was it factory original paint to the car?