Need help with paint color

[David Baker]

I have a 1966 corvette 427 convertible that is going to be painted this next week The code is 574 and it is ralley red. How do I make sure the color they mixed is correct it appears to be orangy red and I am nervous about painting it if it is the wrong color The car is to be painted with PPG paint in a base coat clear coat two stage
Thanks Dave

[mike cobine]

Re: Need help with paint color

I may be wrong about this, but I think your Rally Red is a bit more red than the orangy red of the '63 and '64 Riverside Red. I know the '68 Rally Red is more red and the '67 Rally Red. I think the '65 and '66 Rally Red are also.

Or are you comparing with what is on the car now? Unless you are viewing paint from under the deck lid, the sun could have faded your original paint.

That would be the best bet, have them color match to what is under the deck lid.

[Chuck G.]

Re: Need help with paint color

Over the winter, I had my 63 painted. One of my friends, who is a professional painter at the local Chevy dealer did it. Painted it at his home.

He called PPG...got the formula for Riverside Red paint. Mixed it himself using the PPG system at the Chevy dealership. Sprayed the rear valence. Called me to look at it. WAY too orange. I compared it with the original Riverside Red under the decklid, etc.

Long story short, called PPG again. This time, was given a DIFFERENT formula for the Riverside Red. Mixed a quart...sprayed the valence...DEAD ON.

The moral to the story??? PPG can screw up. Double check. Chuck

[Barry K.]

Re: Need help with paint color

I agree with Chuck. If the color isn't right contact PPG to remix it. It took 7 weeks and over half-dozen sample mixes before PPG got the '65 Milano Maroon color correct for my current paint job.
The problem is that the original formulas which were for lacquer don't translate well when converting to mixing it in BC/CC paints. Also, I don't know about the Ralley Red, but if it has metallic in the paint like my Milano Maroon does you need to look at the metallic very carefully also. The older paints had very, very fine grain metallic and just a small amount. Most of the new metallics are larger grained and usually have a higher amount of metallic mixed in. A few of the sample mixes we had to reject were not only because of incorrect color shade but also the metallic level was wrong.
They WILL redo the mixing on your paint if you make them.

Good luck!

Barry

[Duke W.]

Re: Need help with paint color

I think you've got an issue with getting BC/CC to match the original acrylic lacquer. The best match would be to use a modern lacquer formulation for the Ralley Red paint code. A single stage enamel is next best. BC/CC will likely be the worst match in terms of both color and patina.

Duke