Paint color- how do you choose one

[UGLY OLDS]

My color choice is always determined by the quality of my body work...  The "smoother" the work , the darker the color...  My Kid's Dodge came out so smooth that the "Taxi Yellow" paint actually hid most of it...It's so bright you can't look at it in direct sunshine :!:  :!:  Look's GREAT at 20 feet...20 Mph....    ( Boy, am I gonna be in trouble now....)

[HotRodLadyCrusr]

Like a couple of others have said, color choice was THEE hardest decision on my whole build.  It took a couple of years to determine.  I had one color all picked out, or so I thought, then before even painting Big Olds, the color (copper) was used extensively all over the country.  I debated and debated, I had my painter do a "spray out" panel to see but I just didn't want a color that was on alot of others cars.

I took many trips to the paint store on my lunch, and one day late in the body work game, I stood at the bookshelf at my painters and poored over color charts till I spotted the color.  I tell ya what, as soon as I spotted the color I knew instantly THAT was the one.  I hollared and Mike and Rudy came running.  Within minutes Mike was hand mixing the color and doign a spray out.  We took it out to the sun and also looked at it under different artifical lighting.  I really knew it was the one BUT I took both the copper and LadyCruiser Lavender colors home with me and slept on it for about a week.  Mike wanted me to make sure I was convinced this was the color.  

From that point on he just sent me photos in black and white and I didn't see the actual color on the car till about 3 weeks later when I went back down to pick him up.  I was speachless, and thrilled cuz I knew I made the right decision and I'm convinced more so as time goes by.  My color will never be dated cuz it was never "trendy" and thats what I was looking for.   Your milage may very.

Good luck to you, I don't envy your tough decision.  

BTW, what type of "projects" are you referring to?

[kb426]

I'm in the same dilemma with the 32. I need to have some decision made so I can paint the frame when it's finished. I'm not in a hurry to paint the rest of it but depending on what you pick for the frame, you're locked in.

[Rrumbler]

I'm in the same "what to do" predicament, with my truck.  I see many really nice schemes, but then, they have been done already, and I have this deep seated need to be different - so I stew about it.  One good thing to come of the current trend to primered or flat finished. is there aren't so many choices, and good old grey, black, or red primer has a lot of flexibility; yeah, I know, primer can now be tinted any color, but  ----- :?  :?

The one time I really got down to choosing a color, I did not like the results; that blue looked real good on all of those Fords at that time, but on my '57 Chevy, it was not so hot.  Since then, I have always followed the original scheme on my cars.

[rumrumm]

I don't know if this is a talent or a skill than one can develop, but I think some people have an innate abililty to picture a car in their mind so vividly that they can see what it will look like. They can go through a page of paint chips and see the car in any color. I can do it to some extent, at least with solid colors, but not with two-tones. I always like to have a tangible picture to make sure my mind's eye isn't playing some sort of trick on me.

[alchevy]

Color? I thought pro distressed was the 'in' thing.

It works for George Poteet.
AL

[sirstude]

The biggest problem I have with the colors, aside from my wife didn't like my first choice, was there seems to not be any color charts that are listed by color.  Used to be able to find an industrial color sample chart that had all the reds in line, then all the blues, you get the idea.  Now you have to look through 50 books until you find the shade you want.

Doug

[rumrumm]

Sherwin Williams has a swatch book for their custom colors, and all of the various hues are in order so you can easily compare them. That is how I picked the yellow for my coupe.

[alchevy]

"When ya get the right color on the right car, ya know it"

Someone has mentioned this statement. I took this picture at Louisville in '05 of a street rod that was at the event. You can almost "walk" into this paint, it's so thick.
AL

[alchevy]

Here is the reason for all of the smoke in the background of the other picture.
AL