Recent talk about discontinued toners doesn't sound like good news for our community as a whole.....

Working on my Street/Strip '69 GTX that you may (or may not) have seen before.

A little about me:
I'm about learning and doing.
My first paint job was this car back in the early '90s, I did it in black lacquer which has all mostly failed by now as the car spent lots of time outdoors.
I am replacing alot of metal and so forth.

To be honest, the car will probably never be a true restoration as long as I own it... things have been enhanced quite a bit, but I'm the process of trying to
plan and figure out what is what, and am considering maybe returning it to the original color.

The inside of the trunk lid shows the original paint which is A4 silver (attached)

Trying to figure out if the current off the shelf PPG formula still considered pretty close (as it was, not too long ago), or
if would I be better off trying a Spectrometer instead.

I may end up changing the color to something that is a little less painful to research but would like to try to give the original
A4 a chance with a sprayout, if I can acquire a small enough quantity to make it reasonable.

Thanks

1968 was the last year that paint code "A" - an extra-cost hand-buffed "silver metallic" was available

1969's "A4" (EA4) was simply "silver metallic" at Plymouth & Dodge and "platinum metallic" at Chrysler & Imperial a STANDARD color choice w/o the extra cost

My 69 Dart was painted A4 silver 5 years ago.
Last year a buddy of mine( retired auto body guy) painted under the hood A4 when i had the old motor out.
PPG is the by far best way to go regards this color.
When its right, it has a very light green tint to it in certain light.


https://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/threads/nice-picture-some-photographer-took.500454/

The word "buffed" has now been removed from the original post to take care of that problem.

Thanks Don.

If it was good as recent as last year, maybe it won't be a problem to get my hands on a small amount of basecoat that will hopefully look pretty close.

There are enough silvers out there nowadays that it shouldn't be too hard to get a close match that can be tinted if necessary.
Great color, not often seen.

My 66 has A1, BUFFED, says so on IBM card. Might not be relevant to 68-9 but they did do it

Agreed...

Main drawback is I'm doing this 100% myself and do not have the multiple shop hookups for custom tinting.
Whatever I get will likely be "like it or try something else".

As expensive as name brand basecoat is these days, I'd really hate to add on anything custom on top of it.

Very tempted to try other brands as well and need to strategize how I want to go about this deal.

No big deal, I've got plenty enough problems already without dwelling on that kind of thing.

OK, best thing in that case is to look through the local paint jobber's paint sample books.
Bring an example of the color you want.
I like to compare/check in outdoor daylight as well as indoor light.

I recall the "buffed silver" deal, my guess is Chrysler felt obligated to get a better reflection.
Most light metallic enamels in that era didn't have the reflection of darker or non-metallic colors, especially silver.
Knocking down the texture a bit helps with that, of course. Plus, marketing !

I took a painted part to the PPG paint guy to match, he said didn’t need it then mixed up a sample. Perfect match.

That helps. How long ago?

I still might get a Spectrometer reading just to see what happens, but admit I don't much feel like dragging that boat anchor heavy trunk lid into the store.

Last spring

Not long, then...great
Should hopefully still be able to get it! thank you

The guy is good, he mixed up the perfect purple and green for my future cars paint 73 Barracuda and 69 Barracuda, 64 is black and Duster is white so no biggy on them, A1 goes on the 66, single stage like factory. Others are CC

Just go to the PPG dealer and get a pint of the correct code and bring it home and do a couple of spray outs. Done! It ain't rocket science.

Eventually I will do exactly that.

Lots of work to do ahead of it though.

Until that time comes, I'm going to ask questions. Enjoy.

If anyone cares, (however very unlikely that may be), here's the sprayout from earlier this week.

I've taken the time to move it around in different light, and love the color. I'm going for it. Glad I gave the original color a chance.

Great color, and not common.
Always liked A4 - to me, it's kind of "upmarket" and subtle - but haven't owned or painted a car that color yet.

That’s Winchester Grey right? I always thought a black vinyl top pared well with that!

It can be confusing but 1971+ Winchester Gray
Was PPG formula 2314, but coded A4.

1969/1970 Silver Poly was PPG formula 2016, and also coded A4.

They have a noticeably different appearance because the mixes are different.

The ‘69/‘70 2016-code mix is the one I was chasing and seem to have nailed down.

Lots of black accents goes great with either.

Mine originally had black top, black lower body (69 gtx), black hood stripes.
A lot of that is going away for personal taste reasons as this is definitely not a
Strict restoration, but it will have enough black left to give some contrast.

https://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/threads/race-day-in-michigan-us131.521791/
Scroll down to post 13….


If it’s right(A4) it’s got a discernible green “ tinge” to it.
Love the color, gets lots of compliments

It definitely is slightly green.

The color inherently flops quite a bit depending on the lighting and how much sun it's getting, and I'd have to say that's probably my favorite thing about it.

The sprayout is on the old cut off door skin and pretty large (about 1' x 2') so I could really get a feel for it.
I moved it to various places outdoors while I worked on the car with the service door open.
As outdoor conditions would change, I'd take a peek to the side to check it out as clouds rolled by/sun would get brighter and so on.
The more I looked at it, the more I loved it. Couple times I had to step out for a closer look.

I will also say this is the second sprayout I've attempted.
The first was through Tamco and, although it was a beautiful color it did not flop to green, it was a little too gold/beige and totally missed the mark.
This second was through PPG and as expected + as everyone says it was right on the money, no need to change anything about it.

Was expecting problems and ended up a little surprised how user friendly it was to spray.
Two medium wet coats of base and it looked great. Could have stopped there.
I had a little left in the cup so I did an orientation coat just to see how it would behave, but TBH it did not seem to need it.

Of course staying consistent with the technique throughout the whole car (especially in awkward places like inside the trunk and so on) is the actual struggle there, and the challenge is to adapt and overcome.

Hey Zip…..

One thing I noticed too( after being stubborn/ unsure etc, about it…..I got talked into getting my car ceramic coated recently by the guy who runs the detail shop we use.
All I can say is, wow, it really made the color pop. Paint looks knee deep.
Couldn’t believe the difference. Have some pictures of it after being done on Facebook.
I know you aren’t at the point to even think about this, but when you do…..do it!

I'm surprised no one mentioned that silver was a color that you shouldn't buy back in the day. The reason was it would breakdown faster than any other paint color. Paint of all kinds have improved massively since back then and since you have the the factory color just get the same color in a modern paint formula. You can use the link for reference for different paint manufactures.
link

SAME AS PLUM CRAZY..MY CAR WAS RED PRIMER WHEN I BOUGHT IT WITH SMALL PATCHES OF PURPLE

So, is it agreed and accepted that A4 for 1969 is same formula as AA1 for 1968?

A few years ago, I was able to get 2 gallons of RM AA1 for my 68 charger. I did a test sprayout on a new valence corner from AMD It def has a slight greenish tint in certain light. Looks just like the orig color that is remaining in certain areas of my Charger.

That was about 7 years ago and I heard they have gotten rid of certain toners.

1968 AA1 should be PPG 8588.

Over the years, I developed the opinion the AA1 leans towards green a little less than 1969/1970 A4.
The leaning is still there. Just different.

Disclaimer: Just an opinion and I'm no expert....Someone with a PPG mixing bank could confirm or deny any potential difference in the formulas....I am just trying to turn out good quality work/fairly closely match what I have and wouldn't debate that any more than I'd debate the word "buffed" in the description of one of them LOL.

In 1969 A4 was silver. Later, (71 I think) the A4 code was the Winchester/Gunmetal color.

Not sure when it changed exactly but they are NOT the same color....

And yes the 69 version def has some green in certain light. And IMO it looks great with the black trim, stripe, but I am biased...

Zip make sure you let us all see how it turns out!

Wow! Love the super bee 🐝👍👍

Hope to be in that ballpark when the time comes.
Here’s a pic of my sprayout outdoors, framed next to your car.

Is that an original A4 GTS? Paint code 99?

No. It was born B5

Oh, ok. There is a group of 3 of us North America wide who have original A4 GTSs. One 340, one 383 and my M-code, all paint code 99 special order and all V88 stripe delete.

Don's car sure looks great.

Couple better pictures of my A4 heap.
If I knew how to post pictures better, I would..lol


https://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/threads/nice-picture-some-photographer-took.500454/

Well, I got my quantity of basecoat from the PPG store and been working with a couple different brands of clear.

Long story short I ended up getting a new clear gun, have picked out a clearcoat/will buy that next and have the directional info I need for the next steps.

Been practicing on scrap and making good progress, so far so good. Love this color.

Have more prep to do to the car before it's ready, but not really a ton (compared to everything else that has been done over the past two years).

Hopefully the reflection of power tools left on the floor give a good idea of what I'm trying to achieve.

More later....

I have heard a lot of people bragging on Akzonobel Lesonal paint. My 68 Roadrunner is QQ1, which looks like, but is different than B5 Blue. I stole this pic from Darren (Burdar) to be able to remember the name. The guy at our paint store here that sells that brand says they can make all of the old colors, so maybe do a spray out of that before you decide. do the engine compartment in single stage urethane. Even good clear will yellow from the underhood heat after a while. For clear, I like the Universal clear from Southern Polyurethane Inc. I am by no means a professional painter, but I know enough to do my own cars. Couldn't afford it if I didn't....lol. I have learned a lot from watching "Gunman" and "Paint Society" You Tube videos and then going to the garage and seeing what works well for me. Good luck with it. I know you will do a great job.
https://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/

you get the best results from practice and being comfortable when you are doing it. Just prep it as best you can, dont cut any corners. The most important thing i was taught is pay attention to overlap and keep it triggered off the panel. Other than that just do it.... practice as much as you can, no better teacher than experience.

Needed a sneak preview to give myself some motivation + to help plan 3-4 steps ahead.

Learned how to nib basecoat on this part and will do some work on the clearcoat as well
To remove dust As soon as I get the right tools and materials ordered.

Epoxy, surfacer, and clear are from spi. Earlier I also experimented with a less expensive
Acme clear that will get used for less critical stuff. (I clear coated my engine with the Acme).

I know it’s common practice to do single stage In trunks and engine bays, but I don’t have any intention
Of doing that. If the color were a solid/non metallic the answer would be different.
Single stage is made from clearcoat with color added to it, and it seems to be much more of a labor saving
Strategy than protecting against yellowing.
I’m also seeing more trunks and engine bays done in matte clear, probably an attempt to make them
Look more original, and I won’t be doing that either lol.

The color is really cool. the camera doesn’t quite do it justice as it can’t exactly pick up the green to gold flop.
Inside the shop it appears more green the further away you are.

That's amazing, Rich!

Thanks buddy. It’s good enough for who it’s for 😅

Doing good quality work always puts a smile on my face.

I seem to have heard that before...

Some great satisfaction in doing it on your own. I need to get back to doing the body on mine.

That is a nice color outside in the sun. There is/was a silver GTX around here with a red interior and torque thrust 5 spokes that appears at shows every now and then.

Awesome work!!! Certainlly looks terrific.

Thanks!

I’ve gotta love that crazy flop to green.

Yeah…I wasn’t really sure if I would dig the orig silver after 30 yrs of having mine ‘88 Ford silver (haha), but a few years ago, I picked up 2 gals of Poly silver AA1 ( which I believe is same as (A4 for 1969), and after doing some sprayouts on a few extra body parts, I do love it and the greenish hint.

Full circle on this deal.

There is alot I could say, maybe I'll say it later.....but believe me:
Spraying A4 silver in high humidity is no joke.

Other than that, the old GTX can do the talking for now.

-

X 2

If I did it it would look more like Tony the Tiger or at least a Zebra Nice work

Looking good

Thanks

It seems to have exceeded my target of "really good" by a little bit.

Beautiful job on the GTX.

What clear did you use from SPI? After lots of research I ordered their Euro clear for my project. Waiting for it to arrive this week.

Thanks all!

I used the Universal Clear, but not until a tried a quart on scrap, practiced with it/did a crazy amount of sanding, decided that was 'the one'......and then eventually used it inside the trunk to see it on something
I was really going to use. Immediately loved it, after that experience with it I ordered larger quantity for the rest of the project.

Euro has that reputation of being more user friendly to spray since reducer is required, and curing noticeably harder.

I thought about euro but loved the idea of a 1:1 product, no reducer to add or experiment with is like one less thing to go wrong, and wanted it easy to buff out even a few years from now....but really I don't think you could go wrong with either.

Link to super short video

Correction is going pretty well.
There is definitely plenty of dirt and insects to work on, which is one reason why I put so much material on it.

It's actually not even totally flat yet in this video, but definitely good enough for now. I'll let that age/change over time
as they usually all do somewhat, and then work it later using those multiple coats as a maintenance aid.

Sure is Purdy... Nice job Rich.

Thx Jeff. I'm Still picking away at it but making pretty good headway.