I'm currently rebuilding a '73 Road Runner with blue interior. I have all of the dash parts cleaned and ready for paint, problem is that I can't find anyone who has the paint that I want. I have the paint chips from PPG, Martin Senour and Dupont from 1973 and the color original to the dash and steering column is supposed to be a dark blue. After seeing a few cars with this factory dark blue color, I have come to the conclusion that I don't like it (I think it's too dark and looks tacky with the much lighter dash pad and other interior colors). Interestingly enough, the Dupont interior paint chip sheet also shows a Dark Blue Met. chip that the other manufacturers don't list. While this isn't probably the correct original color, it is slightly different and looks a lot better in my opinion. After checking with all 3 paint dealers in town, nobody can seem to cross match this color code. The fact that it is a satin paint also seems to be complicating things for everyone who has tried to research it. I do not have any samples of this paint large enough for a photo match, so I'm pretty much out of luck. Has anyone used this color before or have any idea how I might go about getting a sample to use for matching?



Dark Blue Met.
9834LH

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions!

Not sure if this helps at all, but I've used this before on a 1971 GTX dash before with excellent results. DIA 14096 Brite Blue Poly. The only trick for me was to reduce it and spray some test samples and let them dry while noting my air pressure and the distance away that I sprayed. It was the only way to get the perfect factory sheen. If you do exactly as the spec sheet says, it comes out pretty dry and gritty looking. Careful, even, wet coats with low air pressure worked well for me. It does have texture in the paint.

Color

Whoops... Sorry about that Bluebird, just re-read your post and saw that you're looking for the Dark Blue shade. I'm a sloppy night shift worker. lol

No problem, I actually need the bright blue color for some of the other metal interior trim pieces, but I have other codes that I think should work for that. Thanks for the tips on spraying the textured paint, I've never used it before so it's definitely going to be a learning experience.

I painted (dyed) the entire interior , including the metal dash frame of my 73 Dart Sport B3 brite blue using Dupont Master Vinyl Tint . I seem to recall it was around a $100 for the the quart needed . Came out awesome.

Had some trouble getting my dash paint for a 68 GTX - aztec maroon they called it, and being laquer, was being phased out at the local paint store. They had to check to see if they had the toners for the mix, and I was lucky enough that the only one they didn't have enough of was the flattener. They substituted with some enamel flattener, and it worked well, but said it was the last mix they could do for me with this particular color, as some of the needed toners were just about gone. Price was over $100 for a half pint! I asked if anyone had converted the older formulas to an enamel (read; cheaper and plentiful) base, but was told there was just not enough volume to justify the effort. Best advice I can give would be to find an older paint jobber that still has a good inventory of laquer toners, and go from there.

your best bet would be to contact mike mancini at instrument specialties. they have the original lacquers available and should be able to mix those codes you need. Tell them John from Maine sent you.

Got some paint ordered from Instrument Specialties. Thanks for the suggestions!