Painting a 1965 Milano Maroon Corvette

[Joseph R.]

Werner Meier is restoring my dad's 1965 Milano Maroon Corvette Coupe (original owner). He is using a high quality urethane. The test panel using the formula provided by the manufacturer of the current paint does not match a piece of the original panel very well. He is planning on a custom mix, but I though I would post first to see if anyone else has encountered this problem or has come up with a formula to match Milano Maroon. Please help if possible, thank you.

[Dick W.]

Re: Painting a 1965 Milano Maroon Corvette

Milano Maroon is one of the colors that is very hard to match. I have one in the shop right now. The customer brought me the can with the lacquer formula on the label. What I had mixed, using the formula, is quite a few shades off from what is on the car. That shows that what formula that someone comes up with will not always turn out the same the next time it is mixed.

Werner is on the right track by having a custom mix. Just be sure to get at least an extra quart for future repairs.

[Chuck S.]

Re: Painting a 1965 Milano Maroon Corvette

I have a friend here in town that restored a 67 recently and painted it Marlboro Maroon. He has always been a proponent of removing every panel (doors, headlight doors, etc) that can be removed and painting them individually. I kept telling him, "That ain't the way the factory did it!".

Well, when he painted that Marlboro Maroon in urethane, I had a lot of fun at his expense...the headlight doors were clearly just a slightly different shade from the rest of the front end, and I had to let him know. He was in denial, but I think he finally came around to admitting I was right...by that time, he had had enough and wasn't going to change them. And, THAT WAS ON THE SAME CAR using paint out of the SAME CAN.

I expect Werner has a lot more skill than my friend spraying metallics. Paint will be the only time I'll be glad mine is WHITE.

[Patrick H.]

Re: Painting a 1965 Milano Maroon Corvette

It's one of the reasons I personally would not use a single stage paint for a metallic. Far nicer to use a BC/CC if you want to use modern paints. Single stage is great for white, though.

I know that Werner will do BC/CC and if you talk nice to him will also dull the jambs and other areas with flattened to appear NCRS correct.

Patrick