Paint Colors for Vehicles

With the Vehicles designers created a brand new type of American car, referred to in the press and by enthusiasts as the pony car. Loosely resembling European and Japanese GT coupes, but with American style and power, the Vehicles was wildly popular, selling well over a million units in its first three seasons. Within just a few years, the Vehicles was joined in the marketplace by the Vehicles Barracuda, Vehicles Camaro, Vehicles Firebird, Vehicles Cougar and AMC Javelin.

Under The Hood:

• Paint Colors for a 1966 Ford Mustang
• Paint Colors For a 1985 Mercedes Benz 300SD
• Paint Colors for the 1984 Oldsmobile Delta 88

 Paint Colors for a 1966 Ford Mustang

Ride a Painted Pony

The 1966 Ford Mustang sales brochure shows 21 available colors for the Mustang. The red colors were Candy Apple Red, Vintage Burgundy and Signal Flare Red. The blue colors were Arcadian Blue, Columbine Blue, Nightmist Blue, Sapphire Blue and Silver Blue. The Mustang offered green shades named Ivy Green, Sauterne Gold, Tahoe Turqoise and Timberline Green. The available yellows were Springtime Yellow and Aspen Gold. Black was called Raven Black and white was called Wimbledon White. The gold shades were Anniversary Gold and Antique Bronze for gold. One shade of silver was offered, named Silver Frost. The only earth shade in 1966 was Sahara Beige. The only orange color was called Emberglo.

The paint code cross-reference index at PaintRef.com lists the product ID codes of several paint manufacturers for these colors. There are no product codes shown in the index for Anniversary Gold, but any competent body shop should be able to mix a close match from a sample. The only product code shown in the PaintRef index for Timberline Green is from DuPont.

 Paint Colors For a 1985 Mercedes Benz 300SD

Standard Paints

Black 040 and Classic White 737 were as timeless as a tuxedo on an old, boxy Mercedes; Light Ivory 623 was a prosthetic-limb color that was somehow more beige than Manilla Beige 681. But neither was as intensely inoffensive as 684 Pastel Beige or 444 Sand Beige. Paint code 751 was a mixed shade known as both Ascot Blue and Ascot Grey. Moss Green 803 was a lighter and less saturated shade of Forest Green 822, and bright Signal -- aka "Fire Engine" -- red would scream "Arrest Me" if this weren't a Mercedes. Dark Blue Clearcoat 904 was as deep as a U-Boat, but oddly not as oceanic at 900 Deep Blue. Mocca 459 was overwhelmingly brown, but not as much so as a few of the upscale metallic colors.

Metallic Colors

Black Pearl 199 was the darkest metallic, and Anthracite Grey 172 was a bit lighter. Astro Silver 735 was a slightly lighter blue-tinted silver, and Smoke Silver 702 was close to the Mercedes Silver used today. Thistle Green 881 was a pale pastel, and Cypress Green 876 was a bit more pronounced. Petrol Blue 877 was close to a powder blue, and Diamond Blue 355 was a little more grey. Desert Red 540 was a husky shade of rose, and Cabernet Red 587 was a taste-appropriate alternative to 473 Champagne.

 Paint Colors for the 1984 Oldsmobile Delta 88

Paint Colors

Oldsmobile offered the 88 in 18 different paint colors in the 1984 model year. Code 11 White and Black 19 looked good on these massive cruisers, while Silver 12 and Medium Sand Gray Firemist 87 filled the gap between. Blue and green hues were very popular this model year, with Olds offering a few shades of each. From the lightest to the darkest, blue shades were, Light Royal Blue 22, Medium Slate Firemist 85 and Medium Dark Royal Blue 27; greens were Light Gray Fern 42, and code 48 Dark Gray Fern. Spectra Red 75 was a bold choice, far more so than Frost Beige 59, Light Briar Brown 67 and code 60 Light Sand Gray. Autumn Maple Firemist 74 was effectively a metallic version of the very brown code 37 Light Maple.