VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1955-1957 55 Belair Paint

I recently purchased a 55 Belair convertable that indicates it should be painted Shoreline Beige and Gypsy Red. I would like to paint it in a Urathane basecoat.clearcoat, I'm sorry lacqure fans! My local paint store (ICI Paints) don't have codes and formulas going back to the 50's and waht me to pick a close color to match publication colors. Can anyone help with a formula or code from a paint you may have used in these colors? Thanks

I wouldn't be apologetic about useing a modern paint, many shops are prohibited from spraying lacquer due to the environmental impact. I don't think you will get too many points deducted at a VCCA meet if you match a combo of colors that were used on your car originally. Just don't go overboard on makeing it shine more than the original paint would have. That is IMHO.

Try this site for some paint chips and also some codes:
http://autocolorlibrary.com/cgi-bin/search/search.pl

Thanks Mr Mack this web site was a big help I found the PPG paint locally. Terry

HI Van,

PPG does have a cross for the original colors.

If you are still going with ICI - their master color catalog does have two very close matchs for the 55 colors you mentioned.

So close, I would refer to them as "variants" of the original.

Good luck with the project....

Thanks Oliver, yes I'm going to proceed with PPG paints when I'm ready to shoot the color. But if I may ask a question you may know the answer to? Is there a "judging manual" available for a 55 Chevy? I have restrored a number of Covettes to NCRS Top Flight condition, and a judging manual helped me quite a bit on the fine details of how the car came from the factory. Thanks

Hi Van,

Well, there is nothing in print that would even come close to the excellent work performed by the NCRS clan.

There are severl books written on the restoration of the trifives.

I would say the book written by Harold Louisianna is the best known, and most often quoted. Be aware - there are some technical issues with this book - but 90 % is useful.

If you run into a questionable area - this is the best place to post it!

Happy Holidays!