For restorers and car owners who are
diehard originalists, finding a set of paint chips for
the year and model of car that is being restored is
equivalent to finding a gold mine. These sets not only
show the exact colors that were being offered for a
particular year, but they also include mixing information,
color combinations that were available, code numbers
and other identifying information.
While researching this article I found a fabulous resource
for those of you who are restoring a car on the DuPont
web site. Click here
to go to DuPont's Historical Color Chip Library. Now
you're probably wondering why I'm giving you this information
when our company, McLellan's Automotive History, has
the actual paint chips for sale. That is the exact reason
I'm doing so. To quote the DuPont website, "Have
you ever had difficulty hunting down the original color
information for a restoration job or a clean, older
model in need of repair? Like most painters, we would
bet you have. Out-of-print color chips are extremely
difficult to obtain, and getting harder to find every
day." I couldn't have said it better myself!
And they go on to say that "These scanned color
chips [which they show on the website] are only a representation
of the actual color. Colors may vary due to differences
in monitors as well as chip production methods over
the years." For this reason it is always better
to have an original paint chip chart if you're lucky
enough to find one for your car.
With those chips the company can use their color matching
tools (i.e. ChromaVision, AcquireX, X-Pert, VINdicator
and DuPont Top Mix) to match and mix the exact color
you need for authenticity.
But how about fading and/or discoloration? As long as
the paint chip charts were not exposed to direct sunlight
the colors should be true. And the chips we have were
in books and haven't seen the light of day in years.
If we have the one you need you can be confident that
it is the color that was used on your car in the 1930s,
40s or 50s.
Here is a list of the years and makes that we have at
the present time for DuPont and Ditzler Automotive Finishes:
