Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

It is hard to tell from the color cards, but is Packard Blue darker than Centennial Blue?

It is for a 1938 Car.

Yes.

For 1937 the Dupont formulas were:
Name, paint #, ounces

Packard Blue 246-31469
Prussian Blue 246-052 30 3/4
White 246-0091 1 7/16

Centennial Blue 246-31887
Melori Blue 246-051 13 1/2
White 246-0091 11 3/4
Prussian Blue 246-052 3 5/8
Black 246-020 3 3/8

(unfortunately, my formatting is getting lost.)

Bob,

Thanks for the research. I will go get some mixed up and see how it matches up.

Bill

I am glad to help when I can....

Bob

Quote:

Did you end up doing Centennial Blue or Packard Blue? Do you have a modern formula for Centennial Blue?

Sadly, you'll find that those above paint "toners" are no longer available (NLA), so the above formula won't be applicable anymore.

I've recently gone down the rabbit hole with trying to match paint.

Issues you will face:

All the original toners are no longer available (NLA) or don't apply to today's paint systems, so don't cross over.

Paint Chip sheets. They were only accurate-ish when new. They differ slightly among paint manufacturers, and the chips themselves degrade over time due to factors such as age, sunlight, and humidity. Also, none of them was done on acid-free paper. The bottom line is that the colors on those sheets change over time. I have found they turn darker, especially the Blues and Greens.

I have about 11 paint chip sheets for 1937. Five different manufacturers, and three sheets from the same manufacturer. All 11 sheets for the same chip/color look different. Most of the darker greens and blues now appear nearly black.

So be cautious when dealing with companies that say they can reproduce a color from their chip sheet library, as who knows how "true" their archive chip sheet color is today.

Also, the old response of "call the paint company and get the new formula", doesn't work anymore either. Modern paint systems and chemistry are just too different. Metallic components are 100% different and dramatically affect the final color.

If you know someone who has a car that is repainted in the color you want, ask them if they have the modern code or formula they used. Alternatively, beg, borrow, or steal a painted part so that it can be color-matched, and find a good paint supply shop that is willing to help you get a very good match to that painted part. A good match inside the shop, could be a horrible match in direct sunlight.

Short of a time machine, there is no way of getting a 100% match to whatever color rolled off the assembly line. Even then, depending on the batch of paint, the weather, and if it was Earl or Bill spraying the paint that day, the shade could be slightly different.

All we can hope for is something that is subjectively close and that we are happy with.

I’m sure all the above is true, however, my experience 15 years ago was contacting the PPG industrial finishes research dept and giving them the name and formula from my Ditzler paint chip for 1940 Black Hawk Gray. PPG bought Ditzler. They mixed the color using Envirobase, a water soluble paint to go over bonding metal primer and covered by clear urethane. The metallic for this color was finer and reduced in keeping with the original. The caveat is, the paint shop has to order the finish from an authorized PPG distributor with the formula proprietary.

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For those cars where the exterior and interior colors match, if you are worried about paint fade, you can cross reference it to an unfaded interior fabric. The rears of the door cards, or the fronts under the door handles, are often useful.

Likewise the paint overspray on the inside of the door wouldn't get any sunlight.

The paint kept in the dark on the cars should change very little with age.I have seen photos of barn find cars c. 1910 with the paint still colorful; paint a couple decades onward should be very steadfast on metal.