Thanks. This is about the kind of info I thought I'd get. Very good!

I've done a few cars of my own before, usually to get a replacement body panel to match the rest of the car. Even a good body shop doesn't do a good job of matching panels when they butt up against a large area of original paint (such as repainted doors.)

I've already take the car to the best local body shop for an estimate for future complete body and paint...we're just negotiating price and when it will get done. Maybe next summer, since I want the chrome all redone while the car is being painted.

Anyway, he used his paint chips and still ended up being unable to determine which of the two above colors was right. It really won't matter when he paints it, since it will be all the same paint at that time.

I'm just trying to fix it up a little better to carry me through the rest of the year...

BTW, I collected another trophy Saturday, 1st Place again!

I would suggest going with the PPG Urethane basecoat/clearcoat system, since this is metalic. Its either the DBC or DCU, I forget which of those acronyms refers to the base or the clear... But you'll use them together. I used this to paint that "steel blue metalic" on my 71 142E, and its held up nicely in the year plus that its been back on the road, and the car is never stored inside. Plus, it was really easy to spray thier metalic, almost impossible to tiger stripe. Just stay away from the PPG "Stratoclear". The stuff does not lay smooth no matter what you do. I suggest getting you local autobody supplier to use the scanner to match the paint. I usually have good luck with this. You can wetsand just the area that needs to be touched up, spray the color on that section and fog it around the edges to blend. Then wetsand the whole area up to the appropriate body seam, or thin windshield post, and put clear over the whole area. This will blend it all in nicely. I reccomend using 3-M 400 wet/dry paper for this. It gives good enough grip, without leave huge sanding scratches. In case you're wondering, I restore cars for a living. :) Acutally, you will probably want to wetsand the whole area that will get the clearcoat, before spraying the touch up color. Email me at nick(at)odysseyhouseonline(dot)com if you have any other questions.

If you want to match your paint you need to go to your local auto paint store and they should have a machine which will read the paint thats on your car and should be able to match it. keep in mind that your paint may be faded and may be difficult to match. If they are able to come up with a good match be sure that you ge a few extra copies of the paint mixing code so that you'll have it for the future