{Chrysler 300} On the Subject of Paint '64

Hi All,

I thought I would circle back and tell you what happened yesterday on the paint issue for the 300K.

Turns out that the color, Chrysler RR, is a Ditzler code 50638. According to PPG corporate color match department it is still a good number. In fact, it was used by Ford, Imperial and even a 1940 Studebaker. That is the good news.

The bad news is that it is not available in a waterborne paint. The shop is in the Bay Area Air Quality District.

The PPG distributor happened to be at the shop yesterday while I was there. He tried to pull up the color and could not. He explained that the computer system in the color mixing room, which is linked to PPG HQ and downloads the new data every might on paints, does NOT download data if the zip code of the shop is in an air district that requires only water borne paint. So even though HQ tells me that the code is still good, the folks at the tip of the spear cannot get the codes – formulas if they are not in the ‘right” place.

We found a color in water that looks like a match via trial and error. The only thing that the mixer is going to do is cut the formula metallic content by 50%. The new metallics are larger than the older ones and reflect more light. In the sun that makes all the colors more “yellow”. We had that issue on the green 1949 Desoto.

The car will be painted in the next few days. Wish me luck.

James