how to find original color code on 56 olds 88 4 door sedan

[olds88]

I am new to this so please forgive me for asking questions that everyone else probably already knows. I just bought this car and it needs body work and paint. it has a white top and lower body in what looks like light blue but faded. the door jambs show almost an aqua green and inside the trunk even darker aqua. I want to put it back to original colors. does anyone know where I can find the color codes on the car and then where do I look to see what the original colors were? Would body shops be able to get the right color with this info? I have people tell me to just change the color to something like fireball red or whatever but isn't there more value in keeping it original?

[Ron of Chicago]

No forgiveness is needed Olds88, you'll never know unless you ask and there's never anything wrong with asking.

On the cowl near the left hand hood hinge will be a plate riveted on. On that plate will be information to your car. There will be a line that should say PAINT No. with a number after it. On yours it will probably have two sets of two digit numbers. The first set will be for the the lower body color. The next set of numbers will be for the upper body color. You can then go to the autocolorlibrary.com or Dupont and look at these colors. 1955 had 5 blues and three greens as part of their paint colors. The white should be Polar White.

The color of a car is all up to the individual. My peference is to keep it the original color on a car like yours. The other thing you have to remember is that if you change the color on the car you will have to get in all the little places that need paint like the door jambs, under the deck lid and sometimes it's tough to do unless you are doing a frame off restoration.

In any case, the best of luck with the project and never stop asking questions.

Ron

[olds88]

Hey thanks so much for the info, I can't believe how helpful this site was. I looked at the plate where you said and found my paint no to be 70 - 60 which when I went to the sites you mentioned it said it was alcan white for the top and turquoise for the lower, and the dupont said the same except it said turquoise "metallic" for the bottom. Hate to ask more questions but does anyone know why one says metallic and the other says poly. and also they list paints available in enamel or lacquer, which was the original used? and why use one over the other? again thanks Ron for your response!

[Ron of Chicago]

Back in the day, PPG/Ditzler didn't use the word metallic and called it poly whereas DuPont did.

I'm pretty sure that in 1956 they painted these cars in Lacquer. Today you'd be very hard pressed to find Lacquer. They have pretty much outlawed it. Enamel is a very easy paint to apply and is much faster drying. When I worked in my father-in-laws body shop back in the late 60's early 70's we mostly used enamel but did some high metallic in Lacquer. We had to be very careful because you end up color sanding and buffing the paint and can burn through to the primer or metal easily. Today with base coat clear coat you can apply enough clear to factor in the buffing.

The two stage paints that they have now are very good to work with and you can get a much better shine on the car with a little work. The codes that they give you with the paint chips can be taken by a paint shop and made in enamel or two stage.

I would imagine that you are going to have someone paint your car for you. Do plenty of searching around for a shop, don't be afraid to ask them questions, be sure of what you are going to get for your money and be sure to compare apples to apples.

Best of luck with the car. I always loved the 55 and 56. Great cars.

Ron