[RicksGTO]

When I was getting my '72 ready for the painter, I contacted a PY member Dar with a lot of painting experience/knowledge and happened to save the message he sent to me below:

2059 Palladium: 481yellow = 8, 490black = 16, 411blue = 28, 431poly = 748, 496katalyst = 828, 499clear = 4068.

2327 Nordic: 441green = 4, 411blue = 8, 491black = 80, 431poly = 800, 495kat = 880, 499clear = 4120

2429 Revere: 441green = 24, 482yellow = 224, 491black = 424, 431poly = 1504,
495kat = 1584, 499vlear = 4064

Now I don't know how much you know about these paints, but these are the 1 gallon mix formulas for PPG DAR acrylic enamel. Back in the day (60's and early 70's) I believe Pontiac uses PPG Laquer. I used to mix paint about 22 years ago and at the time it seemed the this PPG series of paint was close to original, if not bang on.

Anyway how these paints were mixed up was by the actual weight of the product. We had a special scale for paint, it may have measued it in grams (I forget exactly). What you need to know to compare paints on paper is what the numbers represent. The first 3 digit number ahead of the color was just the number on the can. There was more the 1 shade of green, or yellow or even poly (silver metallic). You can see the Yellow for 2059 and the yellow for 2429 is actually different. Therefore you had the grab the correct can number. Then the second number is how much weight of prouct you pour into the mix you are making. So for example if we look at 2059 we would mix in 481yellow until the scale reads 8, then we would add 490black until the scale reads 16, and continue on until you have that particular gallon (with a weight of 4068). So if you read this example correctly you will notice that the amount of yellow & the amount of black you are putting in is exactly the same. The number is different only because you are adding to get to the designated weight.

Also you will notice that the majority of these silvers had very little color in them and mostly were made up of poly and clear, with just a few hints of other colors mixed in.

My personal opinion is that these colors are all pretty darn close to each other and only when placed side by side you really notice a difference. Also I never really go by color names, I go by color codes as they never change. Names on the other hand change from paint company to paint company and even GM division to GM division. For example Cardinal red was not unique to Pontiac. Buick had the exact same color and called it Fire Red. Same color, same mix, differnet name.