Looking for advice on a paint formula for 1968 QQ1 blue. The Dart is ready for paint but the body shop hasn't been able to find the right color. Everything they've tried is too light and looks like B5.(I have not seen it in person...just going by what I'm told at this point) A sprayout was done in 2014ish and the paint matched an untouched section of the A-pillar that had been covered by weatherstripping. That paint line has been discontinued. The bodyshop has done sprayouts of PPG, Nason, Dupont, Shopline and Exalta. Nothing has been correct.

I was just sent these pictures. They sprayed the hood yesterday in order to see a larger area to compare. The sprayout sitting on the hood is the one from 2014ish that is no longer made. I know it's hard to tell from a picture on the computer but any help would be appreciated!

That is a drag. QQ1 bright blue is drfinitely different than B5.

I attached a pic of my gts' inner fender apron in original QQ1 blue.

If I had a sprayout of B5, it would be interesting to see how it compares to the colors they've sprayed. It would be nice to get it exact but I'm sure there was a lot of variation back in the day. Maybe the colors they've already sprayed are within the acceptable range?

yes the colors were always different in each batch to an extent..my FC7 challenger was much more silvery...i tried to match it..its close but not quite as purple as orig...more like it at 1 yr old...oh well

it still looks nice..maybe contact graveyard cars...i,m sure they could prob tell you since they do do many cars good luck

Q1 is much "richer" than B5, markedly darker. I'll attach a few photos of my Q1 cars.
Nose & tail shots are the Hemi car painted in the 80s, side shot is 383 car painted in 2019.
In the OP photos, the one on the right - the panel, not the sprayout - looks good on my monitor.
What paint system is the shop using ? When we did my current Q1 RR, Spies-Hecker had a good match.
Q1 is toward the green side as opposed to red.
If the shop uses Axalta/Standox/Nason paint lines, Spies is part of that group too.

I think I need to compare a B5 sprayout to what they have now. It might be OK. Thanks for the pics. I need to see it in person...not in a picture to make the call. It's hard because it really changes color in different lighting.

I'll let them know about the Spies-Hecker. That's what my Challenger was sprayed in and it was a perfect match to the original JA5 under the trunk lid.

Talking with the counter people at the PPG store here it appears some of the old colors have been left behind in the single stage urethane and/or enamel world. When you try to get certain colors in base/clear they don't exist, or what they do have is off enough that it's unacceptable. One year only, or less popular colors seem to be the most problematic to get.

Personally I would rather have a single stage color that is accurate over a base/clear color that misses the mark if that is what it came down to.

Yeah, single-stage is limited nowadays, and the old toners (including pre-VOC basecoats) often don't exist any more either.
I can't think of any car in decades where I didn't have to tweak the formula to get the color right, including a finer metallic.
Heck, back in the early '90s we had to start with a Mitsubishi color and tweak it into a match for Q5 turquoise.
FWIW, some paint manufacturers have a better color library than others.
Q1 is iridescent, meaning it changes hue on curves & details like the 68-69 B "eyebrows" on the fenders & quarters.
Several if not all Mopar metallics of that era were iridescent.

I told the bodyshop it would be nice to compare the color next to a sprayout of EB5. They just sent me this picture of the hood next to a 70 Challenger they have in the shop. There is a big difference between the two although I don't know if the Challenger's paint is an accurate representation of EB5. I think we might be OK with the color. I want to stop by sometime this week and see it in person to make the final call.

That looks about right to me, the hood (Dart ?) looks good.
Depending on paint brand, you can effect changes with sealer color.
I'd use a medium grey or even tint it with a little blue.
B5 (EB5) always had a lot of variances.

Got mine from NAPA and it was perfect!!

Agreed. It seems that if you want to go BC/CC for a classic color, you will end up having to do custom tints and multiple sprayouts if you want it spot on. And what is spot on? After 40 years any survivor won't be original so what did the color actually look like? Or you can go single stage as Neil mentioned. Or do a single stage sprayout and tint BC/CC to match. Or, if you are doing a complete, paint it with whatever is closest and call it good. The way I look at it the cut and buff craze gives you a finish that isn't OEM by any stretch of the imagination so a slight color mismatch.....

Slight color mismatch is the key here IMO. I'm OK with that. I just didn't want it to be way off. I was worried it was going to look close to B5. Now that I see them side by side, that won't be an issue.

If the book formula isn't working, maybe the color of the card will be enough.

If the spray out card is as good of condition as it appears, and as accurate as it seems on the computer screen
(I own a QQ1 '68 charger that the exterior was repainted long ago.....your spray out card looks identical to the inside
of my trunk lid)......Just an idea but it might be good to check with local
suppliers to see if they have whatever the latest camera/spectrometer system is, and give that a
try with a pint or so to see if you like it.

I had good results with the PPG prophet system several years back/aroudn '06... which looks to have been replaced with RapidMatch.

https://www.paintmanagerxi.com/XI/rapidmatch

FWIW a good place to start for Q1 is another Mitsubishi color, "Kona Blue", code B73, used on 1995 Eclipse & Galant.
Funny that Mitsubishi used some colors that were close to Chrysler's (see my previous comment on Q5).
In the PPG lines, it'll have a reddish cast that needs to be eliminated; the Spies formula (# 53808) is more accurate.
We added a little green toner, then dialed that back a little for the final color.

They are doing some more sprayouts as we speak. They had a little paint left over from years ago.(the paint that matched an original paint section of the A-pillar) They did a fresh sprayout of that and sent it to the paint supplier who used a spectrometer to get the modern equivalent. I'll post some pictures when I can.

very interesting stuff, I went through very similar thing trying to match the GG1 green on my 66. Paint suppliers have discontinued toners and it makes it very difficult to match older paint. Please keep us posted I have a 68 QQ1 super bee I would like to have a good modern formula for.
Matt

Mine is bright, so...

The paint spectrophotometer didn't work either. They weren't able to get a close enough match with the paint lines they tried.

Last week they tried another paint line.(They had to drive over into Illinois to find someone who carried it) I don't have the paint info yet but they finally were able to get a color they were happy with. Once I have more info on the brand and formula I'll post it. Here is a new spray out next to the spray out from years ago that matched original paint on the A-pillar. You can see a previous spray out in the background that is way too light as well.

Just shot today.