Color matching vs “correct” paint code based approach Options

[Tdskip]

So while I was taking the doorhandle off the Arizona car it struck me just how pretty the Laguna blue paint was from the factory, and also that it is more muted than modern paint formulations.

That has me wondering if I’ll get a more original looking paint if I bring the door and get that paint matched from the inside factory paint versus going off a paint code. Will clot matching the inner door result in a more original pastel/muted/not overly shiny paint?

I talked to a paint guy and he said the moderns cleats are all so shiny it is hard to keep the finished job from being so modern looking.

Thoughts? Ideas?

[larryM]

original paint was enamel & it often exhibited hint of "orange peel"

at the beginning of the day - the key to a color match is now in getting the base-coat "right"; then attack the clearcoat with whatever means suits to try to match the oem enamel "look"

- that means hours of experimentation by the painter cuz we don't know what the end result will be 'til we go thru ALL the steps to final polish ( @ $100/hr or so shop-rates ) - so it's not surprising that we hear of $25K paint jobs on custom & restored old cars at Hot August Nights etc

nice thing about enamel is/was you could color-sand, buff & polish it many times to bring back the color & it was thick enuf to tolerate that (3-coats in repaint was not unusual practice) (1-coat would sometimes do for a car going to the used lot)

"wet look" came in as the gotta-have-it craze via japan in the '90's - a.k.a "the offshore look" when i went thru PPG paint school back in 2002 - painting cars then was all about faster production times & thru-put in the bodyshop; so paint was formulated to get there

nobody then much cared about reproducing the look of old orange-peel enamel cuz virtually nobady wanted it

p.s. - you can maybe still find some old formulations in UK - i see adverts/links for lacquer & enamel on Brit sites - dunno if you could actually import it tho

due to environmental laws now, we'd be hard put to find a "matching" paint -

last available afik was PPG Deltron acrylic enamel which the hot-rod set valued greatly all the way to it's demise - the basic idea then was "pile it on" and then "color sand it to baby smooth" (Deltron brand survives as acrylic urethane clearcoat)

later we used the same "pile it on" idea with clearcoat of which there are/were both high solids & "regular (thin)" formulations - you will quickly understand that if you spray the 2 versions (different technique required)

of course - we can never color sand any metallic & get any sort of match cuz it flattens the particles that are "standing up"