Colorado Orange!!!

[Sparkie93]

My 67 BJ8 is factory red, and all the literature I find suggests that it is Colorado Red. I repainted it (from black as my dad purchased it in 1976) in the early 80's and it looks orange! It looks just like Ed K's in his signature (Ed - is your signature photo indicative of your car in real life?). Well, yesterday I pulled the chrome door trim off the exterior exposing the original paint, and it is indeed red - not orangy-red. What gives? I've seen several Healeys that are a true red and can't imagine they were all repainted a darker true red after leaving the factory. Did the guy mixing the paint make a mistake? Are there more than one formulas for Colorado Red? Can anyone lead me to a site with actual paint chip samples?

Thanks,

Robert

 

[Dave Russell]

The picture in my sig is pretty close to the actual Colorado Red. It is indeed more orange than the earlier "correct" for my car, Reno Red.

It's very hard to get a true color reproduction on any internet picture. Too much depends on the camera, computer color program options, display settings, etc. Any site pictures, samples, would be subject to the same errors.

To me, Ed's car looks to be a bit more orange in the pic than it actually would be. I'm sure Ed will comment.

You can go here & find a long discussion on the subject:


https://www.team.net/mharc/archives/cgi-b...rmal&sort=score
D

 

[Johnny]

Hello Robert, yes indeedy there is paint chips etc. available.

Locate through a Healey club member the book, "Austin Healey Guide to Historic Colors" by Donald Pikovnik.

Inside you'll find color chips/samples for every Healey mfg. including Sprite's.

 

[Coastalman]

I'm sure Ed will give you the information on his car, but from personal viewing it is much more red than the picture in his signature.
Charlie

 

[Ed_K]

I know what you mean. My car looks orange in the signature and other digital photos ( online ) that I have run through the PICASA2 program. I always fix the color and shading by clicking on " are you feeling lucky " and it always makes em look good to me. Although the car looks orange online, I have printed out the full size picture from PICASA2 and the same photo that my signature was made from appears fire engine red, with no hint of orange.
I guess PICASA2 adjusts the color for what it thinks a printed version of the photo will look like ? I am guessing, I have no idea why it makes my car look orange sometimes. But it is definitely bright red. It is PPG with a clear coat. I am not at home right now so I can't give you the exact color.
Ed

 

[Sparkie93]

Thanks for the help guys. I searched the web yesterday and found an article stating that Colorado Red on the early cars was orangy-red and throughout the years got darker to a red-red. It mentioned that the amount of yellow and white controlled how orange or red the paint would be, with more yellow producing the oranger color and more white producing the red. I have no reason to doubt it and think the guy who mixed my painted used the earlier variant. Maybe it's a good thing I did such a lousy paint job on it. Now I have an excuse to re-do it correctly!

Ed - your car is beautiful, regardless of shade. If you find the exact color info please pass it along.

Regards,

Robert

 

[Ed_K]

Robert,
Thanks for the compliment.
The paint is
PPG Deltron 2000
OEM: AC10752 Chrysler
DBC72726 SC
California Red
.....
Ed
.... It looks red when viewed for real. It is close to the shade of red of Dave's car in his signature photo.