Topic: Paint color? Special Order?

[Traditional_Break24]

Recently purchased this 69 convertible on marketplace. It does not have a color code, a little research has me thinking it?s midnight orchid, but research also tells me there are only about 4 cars with this color. Car needs a lot of work, just starting out. I got a marti report but just states custom color. Any ideas? If it is midnight orchid how rare is it and what does it mean for rebuild?

[jwc66k]

First, welcome to the forum. Take the door off and then take it to an auto paint store and see what kind of a match you can get. Don't be disappointed. I went to a "reputable" auto paint store to get a match on my 66 Mustang GT Fastback. The door tag said the paint was Ford Silver Blue. The paint store said is was a 80's Oldsmobile blue.
A second option is to do a previous owner search and ask. There are companies that do that using the VIN and previous license information. That can get expensive.
Jim

[Traditional_Break24]

Thanks! Glad to be here! I?ll see if any places around do color matching. Tried to search ads from where it was sold but no dice. What was the deal with Oldsmobile paint? I?m a long ways away from paint but this mystery has been nagging at me.

[rhjanes]

Yes be prepared for some strange newer car color.  But the paint store person might be able to research it back and find out which manufacturer was using it and when.
My experience with this?  a 1953 Hudson.  I was helping a church friend and he wanted the color changed to what his 1953 Hudson he'd owned "Back in the day" was.  It was a 1950's 2-tone.  He called it something like "Envelope White over Lip Gloss Red".   I found a 1953 Hudson paint chart and took that to a great automotive paint supply house.  He told me to come back the next day.  He matched it!  I forget what the "Envelope White" was but the 1953 Hudson "Lip Gloss Red" had last been used on something like a 1982 TVR car in Britain and they could match it.  I had them mix a quart of each and sprayed it on his 1953 Hudson just as a test.  I'd sprayed the roof the white and doors and the pillars in the red.  Quick and dirty.  I called him over and he actually teared up with joy of the memories of his 1953 Hudson "Back in the day". 

[specialed]

Sure looks like midnight orchid mettalic as its a RARE one year only color offered on the 69 t-bird . 2 69 mach 1s were special ordered purple and my 69 shelby gt500 drag pack vert and the color code M32J  3204  is on my buildsheet in the bottom remarks section . There was a magazine story and photos taken as ford tulsa meet back a few years ago with these 3 purple cars featured in it.  My shelby was special ordered to match a  purple 69 t-bird the guy ordered for his wife after he inherited a large sum of $.

[Coralsnake]

Hopefully not going to piss anyone off here, but there is strange information in this thread.

The fact you have no paint color means you have a special paint color. Special paints were offered during the 1960s and there was a special paint book prospective buyers and dealers could use to order the color of their choice.  There was an additional fee.

I am not sure where you found the number of "four cars"?? The truth is Ford recorded the fact your car was a special paint color, but they did not record the specific code or shade in their records. There were literally thousands of special paint cars and there are no records to say how many were any specific shade.

Paint manufacturers made colors available to all car companies. Theoretically Ford and GM could have the same paint color with a totally different name. Ford even changed the names on a yearly basis in some cases. One example is Poppy Red, it would become a special paint color (denoted WT5185)  and later Calypso Coral. Sometimes dealers even gave special paint colors their own names. The Mercury line also had unique names for the same colors. Cougars and Mustangs were painted with the same paint and the names were very different.

Matching your paint is a good idea. The problem with that is you are going to get the closest modern version of the paint formula in the computer. Its is unlikely 1960s colors are even recognized today.  Over the last 60 years paint formulas have changed for various reasons. This is why matching the paint has become a challenge.

I doubt you can not get the color name from any service or Ford. If you are really lucky you might find the original owner or the original dealer and determine if it was some type of special order or promotion.  If you're lucky enough to find a build sheet it should have some codes on it.

I would also add a weird color does not mean the car is more valuable in my opinion, its just different

http://www.thecoralsnake.com/SPECIALS.html

[J_Speegle]

Recently purchased this 69 convertible on marketplace. It does not have a color code, a little research has me thinking it?s midnight orchid, but research also tells me there are only about 4 cars with this color. Car needs a lot of work, just starting out.

That statement can't be true since Ford didn't keep records of the colors for each special order paint. In some situations where there was a group of cars ordered under the same DSO and one of those cars has had the original color determined then and only then can the color be confirmed. Maybe someone was referring to someone had documented or found 4 cars they believed were originally that color.  That IMO would likely be more possible

For example you can see a list of special order paint colors by number that made up the 1969 Color of the Rainbow promotion in an article in the Library on 69 Paint Colors

I got a marti report but just states custom color. Any ideas?

Yes if you use the search feature you can read a fair amount about specific order exterior paint cars. There is also at least one, short as it might be, of an earlier discussion on a car they felt or determined was possibly a Midnight Orchid 69.  Only way to determine what your cars original color was is to find the original DSO paperwork included in the original paperwork - in the glove box, a notation at the bottom of one of your cars build sheets or by comparing a good sample of your original paint to someones Fleet color book

In some years and plant the number identifying the color can be found also on the buck tag but noticed that you didn't include that detail and its not in your signature

Also with originally ordering a special order exterior paint it can change what exterior rear view mirrors that car may have been built with depending on the package purchased


There are over 100 threads related to special order exterior paint on the site.

The thread I mentioned above https://www.concoursmustang.com/forum/index.php?topic=6187.0

As a side note - I have owned about six special order paint early Mustangs over the years one being a 69 R code Mach I

[Bob Gaines]

A friend Ed Meyer owns a Midnight Orchid 69 GT500 special ordered paint car. He is specialed on this forum. You might be able to get confirmation from him by sending him a sample. Computer monitors can be deceiving with varying tints.

[Traditional_Break24]

Hopefully not going to piss anyone off here, but there is strange information in this thread.

The fact you have no paint color means you have a special paint color. Special paints were offered during the 1960s and there was a special paint book prospective buyers and dealers could use to order the color of their choice.  There was an additional fee.

I am not sure where you found the number of "four cars"?? The truth is Ford recorded the fact your car was a special paint color, but they did not record the specific code or shade in their records. There were literally thousands of special paint cars and there are no records to say how many were any specific shade.

Paint manufacturers made colors available to all car companies. Theoretically Ford and GM could have the same paint color with a totally different name. Ford even changed the names on a yearly basis in some cases. One example is Poppy Red, it would become a special paint color (denoted WT5185)  and later Calypso Coral. Sometimes dealers even gave special paint colors their own names. The Mercury line also had unique names for the same colors. Cougars and Mustangs were painted with the same paint and the names were very different.

Matching your paint is a good idea. The problem with that is you are going to get the closest modern version of the paint formula in the computer. Its is unlikely 1960s colors are even recognized today.  Over the last 60 years paint formulas have changed for various reasons. This is why matching the paint has become a challenge.

I doubt you can not get the color name from any service or Ford. If you are really lucky you might find the original owner or the original dealer and determine if it was some type of special order or promotion.  If you're lucky enough to find a build sheet it should have some codes on it.

I would also add a weird color does not mean the car is more valuable in my opinion, its just different

http://www.thecoralsnake.com/SPECIALS.html

I?m just going off articles I?ve read about 69 midnight orchid mustangs. I?m not trying to say this is anything super special genuinely just curious, if it a rare color, cool, makes it fun to brag about. Not trying to flip it anyways just want to have a nice cruiser in the 3 warm months Michigan offers.

[J_Speegle]

If you have the DSO off the door tag or warranty card you might consider posting it that way if it was not a single order but part of a group you might form others in the group and in turn maybe some more documentation

Just a thought