Is this B5 blue?

-
1994redram

1994redram

FABO Gold Member
FABO Gold Member
Joined
May 9, 2012
Messages
1,358
Reaction score
824
Location
Oklahoma
My car is ready to be picked up from the paint shop. The guy has done some surface rust repair and made the engine bay look sweet. The factory color is B7 blue with B7 interior. A friend of has a '69 charger R/T in B5. It's a beautiful color so I decided to go B5 on my dart and keep the B7 interior.

My problem is that he sent some progress pics and sent me a few completed pics. I'm pretty sure it's not B5 blue. I've paid him $250 for materials and $600 for labor. And I was really expecting it to be B5 bright blue. The pictures show a bunch of variances in the color. It even looks gray/silver in a few pics.

What do you guys think? Should I be out any more money to have him repaint it in the correct color? He had initially quoted me $500 labor and 2 weeks to do it. It's been a month and he went up $100 on labor. I have no issue with that. But I don't think I can live with the color as the rest of the car just won't be what I wanted.

IMG_0504.jpg


IMG_0513.jpg


IMG_0507.jpg


IMG_0511.jpg
 
Doesn't look like B5...I want my Dart B5, If I saw that I wouldn't be happy...
But, it looks a bit like B7.....not quite B7 though. Hummm Mind you, the light and camera does play tricks so hard to really tell. .....
 
Some angles look close to b5 ...others look more turqouise....
Go look at it. You cant tell color from pics.... Especially if he has florescent lighting.
Dont freak out quite yet! Lol
 
Here is what I think. You said you paid $250 for materials. That tells me that you likely paid for one quart of paint, one quart of clear and some reducer and activator. That may not be B5. Hard to tell from the pictures. Here is my concern. If you were planning on having this much done now, and doing the rest of the painting later, I am afraid you might be in for an unhappy surprise. Even if the SAME paint supply company mixes the rest of your paint, it may not be an exact match for the engine compartment paint. I have seen it happen a lot of times. Pop the hood and the engine compartment is noticeably different. The best thing to do is get all of your paint at the same time. I used two whole gallons doing my 69 Fastback. I painted the insides and backsides of everything, plus I wanted at least a quart left over, so I used more than just for a regular paint job. I got both gallons at the same time, shook them WELL, poured both gallons into a 5 gallon bucket, stirred them together then poured the paint back into the one gallon paint cans. That way you have 2 gallons (or 1.5 gallons, or whatever) of equally matched paint. I think it is the best way to do it, but that is just my opinion.
 
Hindsight is 20/20. I've had a few people tell me that I should have bought all of the paint at once. This is my first go with actually restoring a car. I had a split bumper camaro shell the I mechanically brought back to life and driveable. But sold it to buy this dart before I ever got to body and paint.

Also the '69 charger is for sale! Not exactly sure on the price. But it's a non numbers matching 440 HP block with I think a '70 dated 6 pack set up on it. 727 auto, originally a 440 4 bbl, real R/T, factory B5 with blue buckets and a console. Pretty nice car.
 
Last edited:
Yep. Looks like b7. A very pretty color i might say. My Swinger is now B5 but it is over used in my opinion. My buddies Charger is B7. It is very striking.
20170722_103152.jpg
20151110_100314.jpg
 
Yes that is B7, my 69 is that color which is it's original color.

front 1.jpg
 
it might be the lighting...go and have a look before you do anything else.
B7 is very close to B5..just a little darker and you may very well like it.A
couple of those pics look like B3.
 
I kind of agree with Toolman.... B5 is getting pretty common. I had a 73 340 4sp Sport that I bought and redid because it was B5 and a 4sp. I seldom ever saw a Blue Dart.... Now it seems like every other one is B5.
Now I would probably sway towards B7 because its more unique.
 
Had pretty much the same problem with the paint. My master cylinder was leaking and pretty much lifted the paint off the fire wall. Before I change out the master cylinder, decided to make a trip to the local paint store and get a quick rattle can for touch up areas. Code B5 year 1970, Dart, the young man behind the counter says our paint guy isn't here yet but I can mix it for you. The color was no near the shade, and it just didn't have the glow. Back to the store with rattle can, the older paint guy was there and explained to him the color was just not it. He pulled out his stash of paint chip books, he was a retired body guy, this is the color you need. Mixed up another rattle can, went back to the shop...prefect, prefect match. Whether he went with his paint book or the store computers I don't know, but he did choose to go with an earlier year paint code....1969 instead of 1970. Not for sure if the model years made a difference but it worked in this case. Paint code 4982 IE metallic/iridescent. I have seen paint codes 4982 L....4982 A...4982 D. Maybe the letters behind the paint codes has something to do with paint mixture?

IMG_3130.JPG


IMG_3130.JPG
 
Last edited:
Looks like B7 to me in your pictures.
Here is a picture of the the B7 Dart that I'm working on. The paint seen in the picture is the factory paint. I had just washed it after being in storage for 40 years

100_3332.JPG
 
Also, even though the code is "B5", what year was it? Every year's B5 is not the same exact color.
And to tell you the truth, I like whatever color it has been painted. Just slightly different.
 
It should have been '70 B5. I'll be heading to get the car in a few hours. I'm hoping for the best but it just doesn't seem like the color I wanted. Maybe I'll fall in love with it.

As a side note. The car is painted a very dark color of blue. It was done years ago, probably in the 80's as the car had sat since 1996 when I bought it. I fixed a few rust issues before they got too out of control since I was daily driving it. And went to buy some B7 in a paint can just so the repairs wouldn't stand out so bad. The '70 B7 that they pulled up in the book was DARK just like the car is. However my trunk, jambs, and engine bay are pretty light. The '69 B7 in the book is what matched my jambs and is actually a nice color.

IMAG1633.jpg
 
69_340_GTS said:
Also, even though the code is "B5", what year was it? Every year's B5 is not the same exact color.
And to tell you the truth, I like whatever color it has been painted. Just slightly different.
Click to expand...
My car and Mopar Joe's 70 Bee are both B5 but different manufacturers. Big difference. Same code.
20160924_121724.jpg
 
your car in question looks like maybe B3, which is a lighter shade of blue, with what seems to have silver in it toe. . B7 is a slighter darker shade of blue than B5. . yes every manu.'s B5 will look slightly different. even the mixer guy at the same store might mix it slightly different too.
back in the earlier days of resto in these cars. many were originally F8 green,.... color was changed to either red or blue, B5 and 7 the common choices...
if painting a car, ALWAYS have an extra couple gts or gal mixed at the time. never hurts!!
 
Keep this in mind also......

B5 is only part of it.

EB5 was first used for the 1969 model year.

GB5 was first used for the 1971 model year.

They are NOT the same color.
 
Alaskan_TA said:
Keep this in mind also......

B5 is only part of it.

EB5 was first used for the 1969 model year.

GB5 was first used for the 1971 model year.

They are NOT the same color.
Click to expand...

very true! another thing to remember, bb/cc and enamel/urethane will have totally different looks, as to the amount of cc and the sanding between.
 
I've found difference in shading between a single manufacture's paints.
Same "color", different paint "line".
No one but me would notice it because I painted the car and know where to look.
So as other's might have said.
Pictures lie.
Formulations count.
Brand counts.
Application counts.
Year counts.


Near enough is good enough for me.
Perfect is the enemy of good.
 
Well, I'm heading home with it. He pulled up several pics on his phone and we all came to the general conclusion that it isn't B5. The paint shop wrote "EB5" on the can. But it's a sweet color and I can live with it. So I paid the man and loaded it up. I'll post pics later.

That shop was INCREDIBLE. He is one of, if not the nation's top mustang and Shelby guru. A lot of nice cars in there.
 
1994redram said:
Well, I'm heading home with it. He pulled up several pics on his phone and we all came to the general conclusion that it isn't B5. The paint shop wrote "EB5" on the can. But it's a sweet color and I can live with it. So I paid the man and loaded it up. I'll post pics later.

That shop was INCREDIBLE. He is one of, if not the nation's top mustang and Shelby guru. A lot of nice cars in there.
Click to expand...
I think you made the right decision. B7 is such a cool color. This looks like a bit of a custom tint but in the B7 family. I'm just wow'd about this one.

FB_IMG_1501406540127.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top