Customs Matching Paint color

Hi

I am looking for some help on finding someone to match the paint on my 57 Ford Wagon.
It's a two tone paint job, metal-flake light Lime green on top and a dark green with gold metal-flake on the bottom half. I have found a problem with the bondo cracking where the door handles once were. I love the current paint job and I am hoping to save it.
I live in the bay area in Northern California around San Jose, but I live in Livermore.
The last owner said he had the paint codes, but never gave them to me.

Tony

 

Many stores that sell auto paint have an analyzer "gun" they can use to match just about any color. You might not find that in a small market but most of the NAPA stores in larger markets have. They should be able to read your car color at the store and mix it.
We have some paint gurus on here who can be a lot of help if you have questions about what kind of materials are compatible with your present paint. Spot repair can be very hard to match, even if new and old paint are identical. You also have to be concerned about what you spray over the old stuff. Some new paints can lift old paint or have a number of other issues with finish quality when applied over old material. You may have to settle for painting the whole door instead of just the spots.
Did the PO just pull the door handles and fill the holes with bondo? If so, scraping off the bondo and welding up the holes will have to be done to fix

 

Good luck, even using a paint spectrophotometer matching metallic colors is iffy, Metal flake is going to be darn near impossible.

Going to be a lot of trial and error, and that can get expensive, the best you can hope for is in the neighborhood. HRP

 

After getting paint analyzed on a car I owned and having a spray out done based on their analyzer, it was so far off I could have just taken a shot in the dark try and gotten closer. I'd never trust those things to be a perfect match. They may get you close, but it will still require a trained painter to tint the paint to be spot on.

 

I still have a set of Colormap books from Sikkens from back when I painted all the time. They have actual painted squares with holes in the middle that I use to match stuff. Since it is organized by color, you can find the right shades fairly quickly to hone in on one as close as possible that leads you to a code. That has given me much better luck than trying to have a paint store analyze it.

 

check around for shops that build Hot Rods, and do paint jobs - a highly skilled painter may be able to help you - will not be easy or cheap- but, better than starting over

 

Maybe if you put the door handles back on you could find some of those stainless "scratch protectors" that went under the door handle, both together might cover up the problem area.

 

Just saw you said the previous owner had the paint codes. I would be hounding him if you know how to get in touch with him. I have tracked down body shops, etc. in the past to get paint codes on custom stuff. Getting that info will be way better than trying to start close and tinting multiple times. Matching custom paint can be a real pain, but getting the codes makes it easy peasy.

 

I took a powder coated panel to a paint shop where they perfectly matched it here in Riverside.

 

I’ve had great experiences with getting colors scanned.
Even metallics and pearls.
Not all analyzers are the same nor the guy using it.
Color chip books and decks are being phased out in favor of scan tools.
But if your trying to get a perfect panel painting match, good luck. If the metallic is single stage it’s even harder. Some older flake sizes or colors may be unavailable for some paint manufacturers.
A few things affect color or shade outside the formula. Air pressure, distance even humidity. I’ve seen paint mismatches out of the same can.
Good luck