Matching classic Mopar colors

T

TAguy16

Is there one paint that's better than the other for having accurate matches for classic Mopar Musclecar colors? I've never had much luck getting colors computer matched, plus some vehicles like the one I'm working on don't have any usable paint to get matched anyway. When faced with this situation in the past I used to get some Centari acrylic enamel to use as my reference point since this is probably closest to what these cars were originally painted with, but I got a sample of the color on the Plymouth I'm doing now in Centari and I have a real question whether it's right (or got mixed right) since it looks too gold to be the right color based on the pictures I've seen of the color and my original Dupont paint chip (yes, I know these chips might change with age). I'm concerned that these colors are getting so old and the demand for single stage paint to do 100 point restoration quality single stage paints jobs is so low that paint companies aren't putting a lot of effort into keeping these colors - especially the less popular ones - accurate when they change the components of their paint due to one reason or the other.

I've been contemplating TCP Global "Restoration Library" paint: since this is how they market the paint maybe they make some sort of effort to keep the colors right. I'm mainly concerned about color accuracy than anything else so I don't need a super fancy paint: let's face it, these cars weren't painted with the greatest paint to begin with. Mopar ar getting so value these days and it's getting hard to find them that are restored right including being repainted with the appropriate paint.
 
dupont, now axalta is pretty much the std when it comes to old colors. they pretty much have all the old colors and they are very accurate to original. basf will have all the old colors as well in the diamont line but as far as being accurate......its close but not as close to "correct" as dupont. what many people do is have a 1/2-1 pint or so mixed in the color you want from the dupont jobber, do a spray out then have it matched in whatever paint line you like.
 
That's what I did with the Centari - had half a pint made up - and it didn't look right to me or come close to matching the Dupont paint chip I have. I suppose there's the possibility that they mixed it wrong. It's a green color that has a little red in it to mute it down, but it looks to me like they put too much red in (which probably isn't hard to do when you're mixing such small amounts) and it turned the color gold.
 
In my experience the bargain baseline paints aren't worth the money. Color matching, spray out, and final look just aren't the same.
When painting a classic car that has some value to it, buy some decent paint and save yourself the headaches.
 
yes centari wont work. all duponts color are correct in the chromabase line or whatever axalta is calling it now.
 
First off the chips are representations only. They can never be considered 100% accurate. If it's an old chip that holds true even more. Pictures are even less accurate as there are too many variables which will affect the color in the photo. Only real way to compare the color is to do a sprayout, clear it (if it's a base) and compare it to something original or known to be accurate. "Old" PPG DBC which had lead in it, those colors were very accurate. "New" PPG DBC which is lead free are not. The formulas are close but if you use PPG you'll need to have your own mixing bank and some experience tweaking formulas, which is not very realistic if you are getting your stuff mixed for you. Glasurit is very accurate for old Porsches and BMW's and some classic Domestic stuff. If Jim says that Axalta (Dupont) is accurate in the Chromabase line then I'd go with that.
Another thing you might try is calling around to some of the better restoration shops that specialize in Mopar and ask them if they will share a paint code with you. Some will give you info, some won't as they guard a lot of their info. Try Roger Gibson Restorations, (http://www.rogergibsonautorestoration.com/) he's been one of the best for a long time and he was pretty helpful to me once.
 
Okay, thanks. I always hate it when I get one of these vehicles in and there's nothing left on it to match the color to. Sometimes the color is worn, faded or rusted off, but in the case of this Mopar a previous owner had painted - or more likely primed it - flat black from top to bottom for some reason. The only body color left was on the inside of the car after the interior was taken out, and that paint wasn't good enough to be used to match with.
 
Just a follow-up on this in case anyone has this same issue. I went to the Dupont (now called Axalta) jobber and the only product they can mix my 1973 Chrysler color in is Nason. They can't even mix it in Centari any more. This is interesting since Chrysler brought back this color in 1983; so it was used a decade later and still it's only available in one paint line. I checked with PPG and it can be mixed in Omni, which I really didn't want to do so I just had the color mixed in Nason "Fulthane" since the sample I had mixed looked close to the remnants of the color on the inside of the car, although I still question whether it isn't a tad too yellow. I'm doing an overall paint job so I doubt anyone will know any better anyway.

I started painting the car parts and boy is this Fulthane stuff hard to lay down without it running! I'm using fast reducer and new hardener, too. With this product you either have lots of orange peel to fix spraying light coats (and letting them flash well) or you risk having runs trying to hammer down smooth coats like I'm used to be able to do.
 
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