Hi everyone,

So I'm afraid this is a really noobie question. I just finished painting the first panel on my vintage auto and it looks utterly amazing (in no small part due to the accumulated knowledge of this forum). I used Tamco paints and they color matched the original OEM color from 1960.

Despite how amazing it looks, it doesn't match my existing vehicle. I am sure Tamco matched the factory color properly. But the OEM color is a little bit too gray compared to what is currently on the car and my wife abhors it, so I guess I need a new basecoat mixed up.

I'm wondering how I would go about getting my current color matched so that Tamco can provide a base coat? I'm not sure who would do this given that I'll be doing all of the painting myself.

Put up some photos so we can get an idea of the degree of the mismatch and where it is.

There may be other solutions.

Find a paint brand that has color chips for the alternates on your paint code.
then you can compare to your color, some colors have several shades.
Even a perfect match one won't match perfectly if painted up to an adjacent panel,
just more clear coats can affect it.
You have to blend into the surrounding existing paint to get what looks a "perfect match",
blending it out gradually to "nothingness" over the existing color will make it look like
it matches.

Photo is attached. What's interesting is that the color is a very close match in the sun. However in the shade, the color has a blue-gray undertone. This can be seen on the top of the panel along the top. Though it is somewhat subtle in the photo, it's much more pronounced in person and makes the part look gunmetal gray.

You could try color sanding and buffing the existing paint,
sometimes that helps.

JCCLARK wrote:Find a paint brand that has color chips for the alternates on your paint code.
then you can compare to your color, some colors have several shades.
Even a perfect match one won't match perfectly if painted up to an adjacent panel,
just more clear coats can affect it.
You have to blend into the surrounding existing paint to get what looks a "perfect match",
blending it out gradually to "nothingness" over the existing color will make it look like
it matches.

The good news is that I'm redoing the entire car so it doesn't need to perfectly match, as long as it's close enough. The problem here is that in the shade, the car looks gray and not at all like the original color.

JCCLARK wrote:You could try color sanding and buffing the existing paint,
sometimes that helps.

I'll give this a shot.

I've also read that Duplicolor Wimbledon White is supposed to be a near exact match for the OEM color. If so, then maybe Tamco can match that.

Well, it looks like it's a bad match by Tamco. I was told that Duplicolor Wimbledon White is commonly used as an exact match for my OEM color. I tried it out and it's spot on. In the photos below, the small diamond shaped object has Duplicolor (no clearcoat) sprayed on.

So I guess my option now is to call up Tamco and let them know about the problem.

Okay, I am not a professional by any means but looking at the first picture, I am assume the panel you painted is resting on top of that rack? If so, then your fender doesn't match the existing back panel of the car either.

The rear of the car I would assume is the original color and it definitely has a darker tone to it. However if the majority of the car matches the fender, then I would say that it is the original color and work to match that.

'68 Coronet R/T wrote:Okay, I am not a professional by any means but looking at the first picture, I am assume the panel you painted is resting on top of that rack? If so, then your fender doesn't match the existing back panel of the car either.

I'm not sure why you say that - the panels are exact matches and I can confirm that they were painted together (20+ years ago). It may be that Old English White tends to reflect the environment and the fender/rear panel lie at different angles (?).

The panel on the rack is indeed the one I painted.