[AMX guy]

It's getting down to the wire and I need to order paint for my painter. I've been messing with spray outs of Solar gold and I'm not at all happy with what I'm getting. it's too brown and it has a green cast. I've tried several brands.

In restored TA's I see some that are a beautiful gold , probably not as original as it could be but really pretty nevertheless. TA specialties in FL has a good mix they use and I've tried to get some help there but they aren't willing to talk to me.

Does anyone have a base/clear brand of solar gold that looks nice or another gold that's similar but looks better ? I don't want to do a custom tint because I need 2 gallons and if I needed more it's a PITA to ever duplicate. any help or advice is welcome.

[Aus78Formula]

GM had trouble with the gold in the first place, issued several notices on variations of mixing it and to correct faults. And there was probably a lot of variation between the cars and panels done separately. I'd look up similar golds on cars of known paint codes and go from there instead.

[AMX guy]

I've been trying to do that for some time. problem is there are very few gold colors used in production vehicles and the few that there have been in recent decades are pretty wild .

This has by far been the hardest color to come up with I've had in my life.

[Aus78Formula]

Or find a few resprayed Y88 / Solar Gold Firebirds that look right and see if they say what they used, or send them a PM for ideas. Here's a random custom Y88, with gold tail instead of black.

https://ls1tech.com/forums/conversio...rans-am-3.html

[77 TRASHCAN]

I have no words of wisdom.
Gold colors are tough to match and duplicate.

Is it possible the spray outs were base, without clear on them?
Just asking....
Clear changes the look.

Seems like I’ve seen different colds of gold on those TA’s, or appeared to be.
Hope you can get this going the way you want!

[johnta1]

Plus a lot were water based paint.

[johnta1]

78 Dealer Bulletin:

[68ragtop]

I'll bet PPG Global is a nice match, but not cheap. 1 gallon of Global should be more than enough as its reduced 1:1 It covers extremely well. But you might want to get a price quote. your supplier should be able to mix up a small sample for a spray out test.

BC/CC ?

[AMX guy]

Interesting. glad GM had problems too that makes me feel not quite as dumb.

I did a spray out of Tiger Gold and Solar gold today. if they are not the same color the difference is very very small . Tiger gold is what I should be after but I thought Solar gold was a better color.

Maybe the Solar gold cars I'm seeing that don't have the brownish green tint are because the color was tweaked to clean it up and make it pop a little. or simply not true Solar gold.

So maybe I've headed off down another rabbit hole.

[68ragtop]

I have a 17 year old can of BC Solar that was a nice match at the time. I'll check to see what it was. I kept the can for reference, not because I thought it would last 20 years.

[68ragtop]

Not sure if this will help at all. I had re-sprayed the wheel flairs with DBU/CC on one of my 78's, but the more I think abut it, this was probably 20 years ago, so I don't know if this mixing formula will be of any use, but maybe?

I gave them one of the oem painted flairs to match the color
Matching my car might not match yours. but this car has original paint & the flairs looked & still look great as far as a color match.

[burd]

There were 2 diff Solar Golds, I went through this at the paint shop. I have both somewhere, they even did 2 spray outs for me. 78,79 I think it was.
Primer color matters too.

[68ragtop]

For what its worth, I have the wheels on this car above painted incorrectly. At the time, I had sand blasted them & painted them with solar gold single stage. Looks good, but is not correct. Should have a slightly darker appearance.
I didn't know any better at the time. Just thought I would mention it in case somebody calls me out on the wheel color

I know this has been talked about with the paint and as I recall it was supplied/painted by the wheel mfg for GM? Was it suppose to be solar gold on the wheels & they just missed the mark a bit? Pretty sure that wheel gold ended up brighter on the machined face 1979 8" wheels & might have been brighter on the 7" 1978's ? Don't want to derail AMX guys thread, but seeing its sorta related I thought I would see if anyone can refresh my memory on the wheel color.

[burd]

Here’s both

[Aus78Formula]

The gold rims were intentionally a different gold, Code 55. Or perhaps you were asking about the appearance of machined vs unmachined rims.

[68ragtop]

It always seemed to me that the 7" machined 1978 wheels had a slightly lighter color to them vs the 8" full painted gold. Thats part of what I was mentioning. But, I am not sure if there is a way to tell the 1978 7" wheels from 1979, so I cannot say for sure I ever compared their colors. 1978 8" of course is easy seeing its a 1 year only wheel.

I did not know there was a paint code for the 78 wheels. I sand blasted & repainted mine decades ago, & at that time there was not much info I could find so I just painted them solar gold single stage. I still have that paint can too.

My other 78 Y88 still has original paint on the wheels & it is noticeably darker, but that car has been repainted as well. I bought the 2nd car about 17 years ago, so it was after I re-painted the wheels on the car above. Now there are so many pics of these cars & wheels out there it seems like common knowledge, but at the time I painted, there wasn't much info out there.

I have a picture of my other Y88 that I got from a previous owner that was taken when it was only 3 years old & the wheels looked close to the cars color in the vintage picture but you can still see the wheels are a smidge darker, or maybe I should say a different shade of gold.

I guess thats what made me wonder if they where ever supposed to match, because they were close, just not quite there.

[68ragtop]

Originally Posted by burd

Here’s both

wow, those cards look really dark in that photo. almost brownish!

Guessing its the lighting in the photo?

[68ragtop]

Back to AMX's OP...... IF you can get past the sticker shock of PPG Global, have them mix up the smallest amount they have a formula for in solar gold & spray out a card. my guess is it will be a great match, then you can decide. ITs top notch paint & covers extremely well.

I painted my GTO in Global because everyones version of Verdoro green was vastly different. Paint shop mixed a small batch of global & it was spot on. I sprayed it against the backside of an original painted trunk lid to compare. While I just about tipped over at the cost, it does reduce 1:1 so you will have 2 sprayable gallons & its covers amazingly well. I painted my GTO, jambs & all & had nearly a quart left over. Convertible though, so that saved some paint. But a gallon of global should be more than enough.

[burd]

Originally Posted by 68ragtop

wow, those cards look really dark in that photo. almost brownish!

Guessing its the lighting in the photo?

Yes, it’s not in The sun.

[Aus78Formula]

What are the cards, 50/55 or 78/79?

The gold seemed to age badly on some more than others. The 78 seemed really gloomy but the addition of machined faces can also change the effect. Even restoring spares can appear brighter ones masking removed or spokes machined.

I have a few saved pics of NOS boxed gold snowflakes and even then they appear different variations of colour. I have 78 in the gloomy gold with next to no metallic, another that appears brighter and more metallic. I'll have to check the dates on the boxes, see if that affected anything as replacement parts after the factory run.

Somewhat related, has anyone compared the OER Snowflake gold to YearOne gold? Hard to compare to GM unless NOS and paint formulas don't translate.