B5 Blue Too Dark? (FC7 also)

[quapman]

My 73 Challenger is coded for GB5 Blue on the tag, yet it sure looks dark enough to me to be B7. There are no signs of a repaint. Anybody else find this? Does paint turn darker after 36 years? All the restored cars I see at shows are lighter....sometimes even lighter than the B5 chips I have.

I see about 27 different variations on FC7 Purple, too.

What's the deal?

[Chryco Psycho]

Well first off there are 2 B5 blue paint colors , EB5 started in 69
GB5 started in 71 & is much darker so there is a cooor difference between years , what code is yours ?
 the second problem is all of the mixes I have seen for the FC7 are out to lunch & not just a little , my friend mixed a custom Purple for his car after trying FC7 from 12 different manufacturers, every FC7 mix was a different color from the others & none were close , the paint my friend custom mixed was matched to the paint in hidden areas of my car & was virtually perfect match to my car just a slight bit dark !! He has a great memory I guess Anyway my car is being painted with his mix as it is so close to the original color , the other issue with purple is that the paint was bad , it barely stuck to the cars & faded badly so most purple cars are rusty & the paint match was from faded paint .

[71ChallengerSE]

Its funny you should say that the FC7 paint was bad because my dad had a friend who bought an A66 FC7 Challenger brand new and when he took it to the pressure washer to clean it the paint flew off in big sheets off of the roof right down to the primer. Also I noticed the difference in the B5's as my 71 was originally B5 but I have found areas that look like B5 and others that look like B7, plus alot of FC7 on my car because of a repaint.

[Purple73Cuda]

Why is it so tough to mix FC7 ( or any factory color)? Shouldn't there be a "recipe" that can be mixed to come up with the same color that the factory intended? Our 73 'Cuda has been painted FC7. I don't know if it is anywhere close to the color the factory used in '70-'71. It maybe dark or light. I don't have anything to compare it to. Would an almost 40 year old paint chip chart be accurate?

[quapman]

I always wondered why my car (and other 71 & later cars) were coded "G"B5. It should have dawned on me that the color got changed in 71.

Yet another Super-Genius move on Chrysler's part in the 70's, eh? Why not just call it a NEW name/number?

What do y'all think about painting the 73 the "old" B5? I'm not a big fan of dark blues and am thinking black stripes will look better on a lighter shade.

Is there a portable color scanning device for taking a sample from a hidden place on a car, like under the package tray? This area rarely sees the light of day and should remain unmolested after 40 years. (for the purple debate)

[NoMope Greg]

Is there a portable color scanning device for taking a sample from a hidden place on a car, like under the package tray? This area rarely sees the light of day and should remain unmolested after 40 years. (for the purple debate)

There are such devices.  I recall reading about them in one of the mags over 10 years ago.  They're the portable equivalent of the scanners used for color-matching at Home Depot. 

[Chryco Psycho]

the best paint ojn my car was behind the brake plate on the firewall , the purple was much darker than I have seen on virtually any repaint

[Purple73Cuda]

Does anyone know if the auto paint store would loan out the scanner for the car owner to bring home to scan the color off the car? It would be tough to bring a disassembled car to the paint store to get it scanned. I would guess the inside firewall or package tray area would give the best color sample to scan.

[Chryco Psycho]

no idea , the pacakge tray area was usually not sprayed well if at all but the firewall was

[Bluemonster71RT]

What do y'all think about painting the 73 the "old" B5? I'm not a big fan of dark blues and am thinking black stripes will look better on a lighter shade.

My 71 (avatar) is b5 bright blue metallic. I plan on painting it with the same b5 because this blue and black love each other

[quapman]

My 71 (avatar) is b5 bright blue metallic. I plan on painting it with the same b5 because this blue and black love each other

So, can we assume it's EB5 (69 & 70) and not GB5 (71 and later)?

[Bluemonster71RT]

So, can we assume it's EB5 (69 & 70) and not GB5 (71 and later)?

No need to assume. My 71 was bought in Nov of 70 with the eb5 on the tag

[matt63]

For paint matching I take a sample to the local autobody paint supply store.  I don't know what the minimum size would be (perhaps a square inch?).  They have a paint matching machine which I think needs a trained individual to use.  The guy who matched my paint finally figured out that there was some pearl in the sample before he could get it matched.  I'm sure it would not be loaned out and it is not a hand held unit.  I have had to wait over a week to get the matching done as there seemed to be a big backlog.

[Chryco Psycho]

just like the engine code the First letter is the first year the color was used so EB5 started in 69 , GB5 started in 71 , FC7 Started in 70

[UKcuda]

This is some interesting paint info.

I got my B5 mixed from a recipe but now I'm wondering if it's early or late - it's quite bright so I guess early.

It doesn't matter too much over here as hardly anyone knows even what the car is !

Can you believe even in my '72 mustang I get asked at fuel stations "what sort of car is that?"

I've never been asked "what colour is that?"