What Paint Would YOU Do?

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well... you've got me stumped on the mystery color of the noted 69 m-code barracuda. with the magic of more "power point presentation" software, here's a comparison of the two colors you've discussed beside the noted car. the problem with all this is that as anyone who has had a lot of experience with "car paint" knows, the final "shade and appearance" of THE SAME COLOR can vary dramatically based upon a number of variables including: level of air pressure at the spray gun; concentration of metallic based paint particles as a result of the individual painter's paint technique; "correct" mix of the paint; color of the underlying primer; and finally - the kind and chemical composition of the actual paint - i.e. "water based paint", "one step old style acrylic paints"; multi-step and component paints with hardners and separate clear coat top coats; temperature of the paint booth at time of spraying.

so i don't know really whether the 69 Cuda is bahama yellow or bronze fire iridescent. do you know for sure what colors are on the cars you included?

don't you love "paint debates"?

here's that comparison picture...

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Jim, those old chips are never spot-on. I have some from '68-'70 and they all seem to darken with age. Plus, the lighting (or lack thereof) makes a huge difference. All I can say is I did a Google image search for "1969 Bronze Fire Plymouth", and these pictures popped up amongst dozens of others. I clicked on the links Google provided and the cars I posted here were described by the sellers as being "Fire Bronze" or "Bronze Fire".
 
So would an acrylic enamel be recommended or another type of paint. I would prefer to spray in my shop but am willing to tow it to a buddies booth. TOP global pops up acrylic enamel through their color finder, but probably could mix anything I ask for......for a price.

Thanks Diymirage, 69 340 and Jim for your input...it is much appreciated.
 
So would an acrylic enamel be recommended or another type of paint. I would prefer to spray in my shop but am willing to tow it to a buddies booth. TOP global pops up acrylic enamel through their color finder, but probably could mix anything I ask for......for a price.

Thanks Diymirage, 69 340 and Jim for your input...it is much appreciated.

hi...

it's hard to recommend to you which type of paint would be best for your project. here's a few guidelines i could offer:

1. "old school" acrylic enamels were the OEM paint for all chrysler products through about the late 1980's. GM used acrylic lacquer on their products through the late 1980's. the old paints are "one step" meaning you just shake up the paint, thin down with thinner, pour in the gun and spray. there are three temperatures of thinner depending on the temp of your spray booth. enamel can be sprayed over lacquer primer - but NO lacquer paint of any kind can be sprayed over enamel. you have to be "good with a gun" to avoid "runs" in the paint from too much application or a "sand finish" from not enough paint applied or too fast drying thinner. also the "old" paints will not look as shinny as anything used today. acrylic enamel does have some "clear coat" formulation in it but again, the old technology will not look as "custom" as the new paints. HOWEVER, if you are going "original restoration look" you may want to consider the old paint.

2. old one step paints are easier to use for the "back yard" car builder because you can spray them in a garage with just the floor hosed down with water and a floor fan on for air circulation. lacquer is the fastest drying paint so mistakes can be fixed within a couple of hours. acrylic enamel paint needs at least 24 hours to dry and harden before sanding and "starting over" to fix a mistake. but again, either of these paints can be used by a "beginning" painter. just make sure you wear a good respirator mask or your nose will stick together and you will be coughing up paint for a couple of days. wear long pants and a long sleeve shirt and a hat.

3. the "newer" paints beginning about 20 years ago were "hybrids" of the old one step paints. these "second generation" paints used additional additives like hardners or extra "poly gloss" added when you were mixing the paint. they used the older style "VOC" thinners in their preparation. when applied correctly, they produced a much deeper, shinny gloss finish much more "custom" looking than the old "one step" paints. these paints can also be sprayed "in your house garage" with the same wet floor prep and fans. however, you will need an experienced painter to help you "mix" these paints.

4. almost every state now in the U.S. requires "water based" auto paint to be used at body shops. i've only sprayed a few items with water based paint and never an entire car. they are VERY different from the "old" paints. generally, they are a 2 step process - a solid base coat of "color" and then a final "clear coat" applied to create the finished shinny and glossy finish. HOWEVER - it is EXTREMELY difficult to paint an entire car with the new paints if you do not have a professional paint booth. the water based paints MUST have CONSTANT air flow around the entire car for the paint to dry and harden. further, they are much more sensitive to cold temperatures - so the "warm temperature control" of a paint booth is required. if you are going to use the current water paints, you will HAVE to take your car to a shop with a paint booth and find someone who knows how to mix and spray these paints.

like i said, it's hard to suggest a paint to you. if you are restoring a muscle car from the 1964-1971 "muscle car era" and want a really "old school" looking muscle car that will actually "look" like the cars did then, use the old paints. if you want a "beautiful" or "show car" paint job which has a "deep gloss" look - use the new paints. all paints are very expensive these days so the kind of paint you use will probably not affect the price a lot.
 
So would an acrylic enamel be recommended or another type of paint. I would prefer to spray in my shop but am willing to tow it to a buddies booth. TOP global pops up acrylic enamel through their color finder, but probably could mix anything I ask for......for a price.

Thanks Diymirage, 69 340 and Jim for your input...it is much appreciated.
I use TCP Glogal color library. there you can choose between acrylic enamel or acrylic urethane ( I never looked for laquer).... I use their acrylic urethane because I figure it has more UV resistance, and I get the same appearance as acrylic enamel. I am NO pro so someone light very well tell me i am mistaken. if you want more gloss and MODERN look go to BC/CC no doubt.
I think TCP Global has good products that work well for me and prices are reasonable.
like mentioned here before, laying down a metallic ( poly) takes more skill, thought, and helps to have done it some before.
 
I agree with you clemintine, about the second gen rear looking bulbous. I think stripes have a lot to do with changing that effect. Some women clothing is designed to make larger women look skinnier by incorporating vertical stripes or the opposite to make a skinny woman look fuller.
It called the Helmholtz illusion.

How to apply this to the barracuda is beyond me. A lot of that bulbous looks comes from the frame rake too. Some people like it. I don't. Get that rear down and maybe do vertical slash marks in the rear quarter area of a body side stripe and maybe even a lighter color than the car.

It would be cool if someone could Photoshop a before and after of something like that.
 
Thanks for acknowledging that. I felt for a sec I may have been the only one to think that. I think the gold paint in the above post... with the black bottom lends itself in the right direction of making it look better, but I agree.....more stripes or something. That's why I thought that even though the super stocker paint or the "paneling" is gaudy...it breaks up the body lines....
 
ironically, a few months after i got my 68 Turbine Bronze, 340 4 sp Formula S fastback Barracuda in 1970, i took a hair dryer and removed the OEM factory black horizontal rally stripes from the fenders, doors and rear quarters. mopar at that time had gone to a "wrap around the *** end" type stripe on the Darts, Chargers and Super Bees and i liked that stripe. so i bought a "rally strip" kit (from NAPA, you could get them everywhere then) consisting of two small stripes and a large center strip and wrapped it around the trunk and both quarters of my Barracuda. i broke the strip in the middle of the quarter on both sides and "stenciled" in flat black "340". it actually looked pretty good and resembled the stripes of the Chargers, Super Bees and Darts. wrapping that stripe "around" the *** end of a 67-79 Barracuda breaks up the body lines somewhat - especially on the fastbacks. here are some pics of those strip styles.

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So you think your car's looks are a bit butt-heavy? Then there's your car's name..."Big Booty Judy"!

My suggestion on any stripes would be to stick with 'Plymouth' stripe design for your Barracuda. I just don't think 'Dodge' stripes look good on Plymouths, and vice versa. JMO.
 
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some day I will finish my 67 fastback, it is all jammed with the factory turquoise after being medium blue since I painted it in 83.
 
Yeah, and use that wonderful "cool basement smell" air freshener to really get the effect.
 
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