'65 and '66 Milano Maroon paint color

[BarryK]

hi all

as most of you know, my '65 coupe, Baby, is in for a new paint job.

I have a question regarding the Milano Maroon color we are going with. The Milano Maroon is the original color of the car and we are staying with that color but i've actually only come across 2 or 3 other Milano Maroon cars that i've been able to look at in person and each one was different not only from what my paint looked like but also from each other. Mine had an older (i'm guessing approx 12-15 years old) lacquer paint on it and had a very small amount of metallic in it. Of the others I saw one had much more metallic in the paint, and one had no metallic at all.
i'm trusting my painter to make it look as accurate as possible against the original paint color allowing for slight differences because we are going with BC/CC instead of the lacquer again and i'm trying to find out if the original Milano Maroon actually did have metallic in it or not.

BTW, I should finally see the first color getting sprayed on the car within the next 2 weeks FINALLY!!!!!
My wife and I are going on a cruise in the beginning of Feb and my guy says that by the time we return on Feb 12th he should be done laying down the color and the clear coat and only have final sanding and polishing left (plus reassembly of course!)

any help is greatly appreciated

Thanks!

Barry

 

[paintdaddy]

This is an on going problem.The paint stores dont want to deal with older colors and the paint companies dont want to have to keep older paint formulas on their database,so when the paint code is looked up on their computer it gives an alternate,which is the closest match in a modern color.It may be from a nissan ,mercedes or whatever.Also it has to do with the paint systems changing over the years.In the 60s when your car would have been repaired ,the main paint systems were lacquer and synthetic enamel which both are close to non existant anymore.So they either dont have the paint system with the correct formula or they have a newer paint system without a paint formula.Does this make since.There is a place that on the web who claims they can make any color without an alternate.I think what they do is mix it in lacquer and then mix to match in whatever paint system you like. www.autocolorlibrary.com

 

[67HEAVEN]

Man, how's that for a quick and informative answer?

 

[BarryK]

thanks Paintdaddy, that very helpful.

There is a place local to me that sells PPG and still sells the lacquer also. I had look up the Milano Maroon and mix me a pint of it back over the summer but we compared it to my car didn't seem to have any metallic in it and the shade was close but not perfect. As you mentioned, it was very possibly an alternate formula although the book he got the formula out of actually lited it as the proper mix for a '65 Corvette Milano Maroon. Of course, it's very possible that the paint that my car had on it wasn't 100% accurate either from the last time it had been painted by a previous owner.

geez, without going back in time to 1965 and seeing a new Vette in the showrom or
getting lucky and finding a great condition survivor car how is anyone suppose to know what the real and true accurate shade of color is suppose to be?

Even if this lonk you included claims they can make any color without an alternate, how can you tell for sure? :crazy

 

[BarryK]

Man, how's that for a quick and informative answer?

that's why i love this place!

 

[paintdaddy]

how is anyone suppose to know what the real and true accurate shade of color is suppose to be?

Even if this lonk you included claims they can make any color without an alternate, how can you tell for sure? :crazy

Good point ,and its only getting worse.Todays colors have variances which means during production the cars colors varied from one month to the next.I have seen as many as 7 variances on a modern color.I used to like the days when you went to the paint store and got the paint ,painted and it matched Today you have to be part chemist with a good eye for color matching.Thats why almost every body shop has their own mixing system .

 

[BarryK]

oh well, i guess my best bet is just let my guy paint the car knowing he is going to do the best job possible on it and whatever the final shade and metallic level is will be.
Besides, for whatever reason, there seems to be very few Milano Maroon cars in my area so not too much of a chance of me parking right next to another one to be A-B compared against and possibly critisized as being slightly off. (well, i know I'M slightly off but i was referring to the paint color....)

Barry

 

[61 Silver]

Barry,



Here is a URL that John Z posted on another site. I am having the paint mixed using the PPG code and I will be shooting a test panel next week for the 65 (if it ever stops snowing so that I can transport it to the paint shop).



Good luck

http://www.corvettecolor.com/

 

[1996CELT4]

Barry

I have a Milano Maroon 66 with the orignial application of paint. It is a basically a survivor. I am not sure that helps you much, but I feel your pain as mine will need paint.

I would recommend taking out your headlight bucket and looking in the back to match the paint. This is about the best place to look as it was probably not painted over in a previous painting and would not be faded by the sun.

 

[BarryK]

Barry

I have a Milano Maroon 66 with the orignial application of paint. It is a basically a survivor. I am not sure that helps you much, but I feel your pain as mine will need paint.

I would recommend taking out your headlight bucket and looking in the back to match the paint. This is about the best place to look as it was probably not painted over in a previous painting and would not be faded by the sun.

can you look at yours and tell me if there is any metallic in it or none at all?

a good idea on the headlight buckets but if that were to work it is too late for me on that idea. the buckets have been out for weeks and are done being completely stripped

 

[Gary Wilkerson]

Barry,

I went down to the shop and looked at the 66 again. I don't think I see any metallic in it.
My 64 is maroon and it has alot of metallic so I've got something sitting side by side to compare.
Hope it helps

Gary

 

[BarryK]

Barry,

I went down to the shop and looked at the 66 again. I don't think I see any metallic in it.
My 64 is maroon and it has alot of metallic so I've got something sitting side by side to compare.
Hope it helps

Gary

'

Gary
thanks, that is a big help!


Barry

 

[1996CELT4]

Barry,


My 66 is Metalic, it is what I would call a "fine flake" metalic as the chip sizes are very small.

I have a vintage color chart from the 60s with the 66 colors, it appears to be the same level of metalic as any other metalic color offered that year.

Hope this helps.

 

[BarryK]

Barry,



Here is a URL that John Z posted on another site. I am having the paint mixed using the PPG code and I will be shooting a test panel next week for the 65 (if it ever stops snowing so that I can transport it to the paint shop).



Good luck

http://www.corvettecolor.com/

thanks Ray, I'll look at the link and see what I can find out

Barry

 

[BarryK]

Barry,


My 66 is Metalic, it is what I would call a "fine flake" metalic as the chip sizes are very small.

I have a vintage color chart from the 60s with the 66 colors, it appears to be the same level of metalic as any other metalic color offered that year.

Hope this helps.

oh wonderful, this is now the same problem I had before. 2 Milano Maroon cars and one has metallic and one doesn't.
geez, I'm at the same place I was before I started this thread!

 

[1996CELT4]

Barry,

The 66 Milano Maroon that we have is a survivor car with 38K miles on it. It has the original factory paint which does have the very fine metallic. We also have original Chevy Paint Chips which show the same metallic. This car was built around December 17th, 1965. I do not know if these colors changed later. However, I can assure you that this is the paint they used at the date above.

Good Luck with your decision....

 

[61 Silver]

Barry

If you check the link I sent you it will list Milano Maroon as a metalic. My 65 is Glen Green and it is also a metalic. Like 1996CELT4 posted it is a very fine metalic and it does not jump out at you.

Ray

 

[BarryK]

Ray and 1996CELT4

that was excatly the info I was looking for!
thank you, thank you, thank you!


Barry

 

[JohnZ]

I posted in the other "Ready For Paint" thread, but here it is again. The original Milano Maroon lacquer WAS metallic, but it had a very low level of metallic, with VERY fine flakes; you really had to look at it closely and in the right light to see the metallic. Many Milano Maroon repaints these days have too much metallic in them, and the flakes are way too big.

 

[BarryK]

I posted in the other "Ready For Paint" thread, but here it is again. The original Milano Maroon lacquer WAS metallic, but it had a very low level of metallic, with VERY fine flakes; you really had to look at it closely and in the right light to see the metallic. Many Milano Maroon repaints these days have too much metallic in them, and the flakes are way too big.

John
Thank you!
do you know if metallics available on the market today come as fine as I would need them to be to try to get it as accurate as possible?