History Traditional hot rod paint colors

Before I ever start a project, I try and get the big vision for what the end product will look like. I have seen many project go awry by using a color that was way out of the "traditional, period correct" era.

I have been struggling with the idea of my next project being a bright silver. My dad always had silver cars, that's just what he bought. He always said that he loved the early Chrysler colors and the silver was always the one he stuck with.

Some of the ones I feel are more traditional are:
Henry Ford Black
Moselle Maroon
Washington Blue
Cloud Mist Gray? Not sure about the name
Most are colors that were already on the production cars of the era.

Thoughts? Pics?

 

Resale red

 

I think the grey you're speaking of is Dove Grey. Jeep has a newer color called Anvil that is right in line with an older traditional color. I also like the early shades of green. My T sedan has a muted green on it...

 

Cloud Mist Gray was a very popular color.

From my point of view anything from the 1940 Ford color chart works. HRP

 

agree with HRP

 

Washington Blue and Black work for me. Like a pale yellow and red and....... and ....... and pretty much what HRP said too.

 

A few years ago, I got in touch with PPG and they have a library of a lot of the old 30's-40's colors converted to new bc/cc formulas. They won't send them to you, but they will send them to your paint vendor. I have a decent relationship with mine, so they gave me a copy of Mosselle Maroon. Now, if I could just remember where I put it...

 

I like bright primary single stage colors...

Corvette ("piss") yellow:

 

I am not crazy about the Porsche reds although they are popular,I do like the old dark reds,like lip stick but I prefer deeper muted colors for hot rods.HRP

 

I am torn, I love the dark maroons and I love the super bright silvers.

 

Like Just Gary, I prefer bright primary colors. I used a 1929 green formula on my '31 coupe-and I like bright green cars. I don't know if budget considerations are a factor for you, but different colors may cost vastly different prices. The red I was considering was twice what I paid for the green.

 

Hugger orange, Omaha orange, Superbell industrial orange, or better yet, straight orange toner over a white base, like Fat Jack's glow-in-the dark '46 coupe:

 

IMO in general,
1) Traditional cars look best when painted the popular new-car colors of the era. e.g. '50's themed hot rods look great when painted '50's colors.
2) Loud & obnoxious "in-your-face" hot rods look best in bright primary colors whereas sneaky, sinister hot rods look best in darker, subtle colors.
3) Customs look good in sophisticated luxury car colors, e.g. Cadillac & Lincoln hues.
4) Black is always correct.

 

Exactly !

 

What Danny said, I love the colors from this era, I don't know exactly the color on my avatar, the paint is the only thing I haven't changed since rebuilding this car 3-4 years ago, I like the color!!

 

I think you have to look at what was available in the era that you are shooting for. If it was available someone no doubt used it.

I like candy red over gold and midnight blue. But both were available and in use in the period of car that I like. I also like black real well but it is hardtop get a car black prepped and I am a lazy bastard.

Anyway if you are shooting for a specific period of car your paint choices are like you parts, limited to the period.

 

i find it hard to believe that ,traditionally, hot rods/customs would have been painted muted tones. gray? remembering when i was a teenager and knowing teens today the colors of choice would have some cool factor, or "flash". maybe not the best choice/taste, but they were building the cars.
do a test: have a teenager choose colors for your living room or wardrobe.........

 

The original customs were low cost cars made to resemble high dollar cars. The idea was that a blue collar worker couldn't afford a Graham or a Lincoln but they could afford a Ford or a Mercury. They were not low and slow because the high dollar cars were not slow. They ran souped up mills and the body was tweaked enough to make them resemble a car of higher stature than that of the lowly Ford. The muted colors were because the high end cars of the 30/40s were toned down in color.

by the later '50s and '60s it was all about flash. Hell by the very late '60s and heaven forbid the '70s paint jobs had become gawdy, a lot like a hot dog stand or a circus tent.

 

YOUR car, YOU pick the color, that's my opinion for this subject as color choice is the owners choice. From experience, I am sure that my opinion and $1/2/3 gets you cup of coffee anywhere. Have at it ! Free advice from my experience, had a HighBoy roadster (normal sbc roadster/tweed interior)painted a fad color (PPG radiance rasberry, flip/flop type color) (Not HAMB Traditional) I liked it alot, made my car stand out, I'm a Unique individual, (car made me smile) that being said when I had it for sale, heard several times, people liked the car, not so much the color, I did trade it for a 32 and felt I did OK w/ $$$'s involved, so again IMO ,resale Red or Black always sell, have had several Black cars, PIA to keep clean, But I keep buying them so it must be my favorite.

 

I think that color choice has as much to do with the car as it does the fella who is going to drive it. For instance candy tangerine wouldn't look too good on a '38 Rolls Royce but it is bitchin' on a '57 Ford.

You can never go too wrong with black. Some of the old timers used to say that there are only two colors to paint a hotrod, black or ugly.

 

I've done a bunch of Black ones, Some Red ones, some Vanilla ones, currently have a Folkstone Grey delivery and a Cement Green 32 pickup. My favorite color over the years has been Wheatland Yellow which dates back to 80 GMC's. I did about 5 cars in a row in that color in the 80's. Everyone accused me of buying it in 50 gallon drums. I'm starting on a 32 lakester that will be Wheatland Yellow, time to go back to my favorite.

 

If you're leaning towards silver , Mercedes ,Porsche and most of the high end European car companies have some nice fine metallic colors . Several issues back in Rodders Journal there was a silver 3- window that looked good in silver .

 

to my eye, silver looks like primer without another "real" color to accent it. red or blue interior, two tone etc.......just my opinion........

 

Silver......go light silver like Snoopy the original Canadian hot rod A that's featured here on a thread.
Dark silver or charcoal metallic.....That's for Camrys.

 

I picked out a paint color that doesn't have a name, just a number. It's the color used on 48 ford steering wheels.
But I vacillate between that color, fleet tan and ford dove gray...after almost 10 years of building this car I still can't make up my mind...maybe I'll just paint it variprime green.
My dash is the 48 ford steering wheel color.

 

Seems like when I get to paint I usually run out of money and end up painting the car with rustoleum semi gloss black.Given my druthers I like hot rods in red or black anyway.Not very imaginative but its what I have always done.

 

Here it is, I haven't confirmed yet but I think it might be Inca Silver...

 

I love the new silver on the Fords. It's a bc/cc, 2 stage that is called Ingot Silver, color code UX. It pops big time. It's on the 2015 and up Ford fleet.

The problem with silver is you only have a couple of colors you can accent with. Black or red interior etc.

I also love the Moselle Maroon with the ivory accents.....decisions decisions....

 

That's the ivory/tan color I love.