[61vette]

I everyone, I'm restoring my 1965 GTO convertible interior and I'm having a heck of a time trying to match the upper dash burgundy flat color on my red interior. My dash was repainted a red gloss color back in the 70's. I've looked all over and can't find a match to my original burgundy color. I attached some pictures of my original dash and you can see the original flat burgundy color after I removed my dash. I also attached a picture of a red interior of a concourse car I took at the GTOAA Nationals to show the flat burgundy. Does anyone have a paint number or a paint brand I could use? I would prefer if it was available in a spray can, but really doesn't matter if I can get the correct color and flat sheen. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[PurelyGTO68]

Your local auto paint store should be able to mix up a spray can of dark red for you. Du Pont 9201-LM. This attachment also has the other brand color numbers. The zero gloss is going to be the issue. They may have a flattening agent they can add but that gets tricky. It may be easier to let them mix it and then spray out a test and cover it with flat clear. Still may end up with a satin look. If so, then try a white Scotch Brite pad to flatten it down lightly.

Maybe someone that is more experienced with flat paint can offer some additional ideas or tips.

Hope this helps.


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[GT182]

61... just a suggestion. What about doing it in flat black.... pad too? My 1st 66 GTO was all turquoise on the interior. The only thing that broke up all of that Turquois was the wood grain on the dash. If I hadn't wrecked the car I probably would have gone to black as it doesn't put the glare from the sun into your face all the time. The dash and pad in the 66 GTO I have now is black and I like it a lot better.

But if your car is stock with the red then you'd probably prefer keeping it red. As I said, it was only a suggestion.

[Peter Serio]

The real problem with those old paint #s is one I have run into several times.

The basic ingredients for what those # stand for are not available in modern paint to mix colors that are an exact match to the old paint books.

All paint products for the auto aftermarket are vastly different than the old days.

The old formulas were likely based on a Lacquer type paint and that is no longer in use. I have a '63 Lemans and my dash is 2 tone, light blue metallic on the front and dark navy blue on top. I had the bodyshop that painted my car try and paint the interior (all glass was out of the car). The front of the dash looked fine but the zero gloss navy blue top portion looked terrible. Not the right color at all, too much metallic and nowhere near flat enough.

I ended up going with some paint I had saved in the 12 oz Duplicolor brand. It's older paint; the date on the spray can was 1994. T197 medium blue.

I scuffed down the bodyshop's attempt and put down a new coat of the T197. Allow to dry for at least one month or more. Reason being I used a lacquer flat topcoat #1960 sold by Model Master (available on-line or at any good hobbystore). That paint comes in a 3 oz. spray can. It also has a lot of thinner in it so you have to spray it on an 85+ degree day outside in the sun so the thinner doesn't lift or wrinkle the color coat below it. If you can get the flat paint to dry quickly the end result is excellent. Nice and flat with no reflection at all.

To me it now looks as close to factory as I'm ever going to get it to look.

[jtea64]

61Vette - I have a 64 red conv w A/C at a restoration shop now. Last week I gave the old originals color formulas to the shop boss and talked specifically about the 0 gloss on the dash. He replied with the same info the PurelyGTO68 said.
"To get zero gloss" with modern paints they cover the color coat with a flat clear.

[tempest1964]

Have you checked TCP Global? They are supposed to have the original color codes. Here is a link:http://images.tcpglobal.com/chips/19...230.1499703158

[61vette]

Thank you all for your helpful information, i really appreciate it. Purly68GTO I'll go to my local paint job and see if they can mix up Du Pont 9201-LM paint. I'm restoring my car to original
condition, so I need to come as close to the factory color as possible. I was hopeful that there was someone out there that restored their red interior and had a paint process they used.

[PurelyGTO68]

When I restored our 55 Bel Air and 61 bubble top, I had my local paint shop mix the colors from their formula books. In both cases they matched the paint perfectly, which I was able to check since I had paints pieces that I could use to check the color. For the 55, I just sprayed the dash along with the rest of the car (bc/cc) and then when I was wet sanding the clear, I hit the dash with a white scotch rite pad and then machine polished with a dual purpose grit. Worked okay.....

On the '61 I sprayed the base coat and then sprayed flat clear instead of the diamond clear I used on the rest of the interior and it worked much better.

For my 68....the interior is black so getting flat black is easy enough so I don't have to do anything special for this car. When I stripped the car down for media blasting.....I could clearly see how the factory masked the windshield frame and sprayed the dash and cowl and firewall all in one shot. Since the interior of my car is black, it was probably an easy one for them to do.

[pfilean]

Have had to spray "flattened" colors a few times. Last time (based on old cans I still have) I used PPG DX685 Flattening Agent mixed in PPG DCC color. Worked out good for the last use I had, which was the under side of a sun visor for a 53 Chev pickup. I was not trying to get a concourse quality color match so I was probable not very critical but I wanted a very low gloss. You may need a very cooperative paint store but will want to try to adjust the mix several times to get what you need. I think that as the flattener is light in color (I think it is probably talc in a vehicle) you will likely need to start with a color mix darker than you want as a finished color. May take several tries spraying on test panels to get it right. Which is not cheap with the price of paint these days. Mix in the flattener yourself (the old PPG data sheet Form P-162 suggested various mixes depending on desired results) as it settles out quickly and is a bitch to get mixed well even in it's own can. But keep a close record of what works if you ever get there. Post it here as someone else will eventually want to know what works.