My body and paint guy wanted me to ask this question. We do not have an excelent example of the correct Twilight Blue color. He is wondering if one paint supplier has a better match to the factory color than others. He has not even looked into the color yet to see what is available but wanted to know what the Oldsmobile experts recommended.

Also, I have a couple nice examples of color from the under body. My body guy has a car that is hot rod black. My under parts look to be the same gloss as his hotrod black. Does anyone know how close hotrod black is to the correct underbody and firewall? Any other recommendation for the black?

 

As far as the underbody, I use Spies Hecker FP 1004 Rallye Matte Black. As Far as a paint color match, DuPont (now called Cromax), PPG & RM were what was used. If you have an area of clean original paint, your paint supplier should be able to take a camera shot of it. With some tinting, should be able to get a close match. Just keep in mind, today's base coat clear coat paints will not give you the same appearance as single stage enamel or lacquer. Hope this helps Eric!

 

I will attach a few pictures of my friends former 70 SX painted in 1989 with the first base clear coat that was basically the original lacquer with a clear over it. It was from Dupont and it was called Hi-Tech, long discontinued. It was a beautiful blue, very vivid. Twenty five years later, the body shop where my 442 is presently being restored, finished a 70 GTO in today's base clear, RM paint, in Twilight Blue. My friend who owned the 70 SX, was with me the other day to view my 442 and the GTO was there. We knew it was Twilight Blue, but he immediately said it was muted compared to his color.
RM has two paint lines, the cheaper version is the LIMCO line and the better, more accurate color line is called ONYX. I have gone through this frustrating process of trying to pick a paint manufacturer which accurately matches the original color, Saturn Gold, for my 71 442. I have paint samples from five companies, and they are all slightly different from each other. The problem really shows up when direct light is not on the color. The LIMCO line color for my Saturn Gold was so far off once sprayed, it looked green when not directly in the light. My painter indicated today's paints are full of pearls to make the colors and light has a big affect. In my case, the ONYX line of paint stayed the goldest in varying light conditions. Of course, it costs twice as much. So good luck, with your quest.
To your second question, my painter also uses Hotrod black on all his restorations. It is tough, and has a beautiful sheen. I will probably use it on the frame and floors. To be honest, it is richer than say the original firewall paint, that is accurately represented by Eastwood's "Underhood Black". I have attached a picture from the GTO to give you an idea. You could also have the Hot Rod black done and spray Underhhood black over it on the firewall if you thought it was too black or had too much of a sheen. Hope this helps. I'll be going through the same decisions on my 71 442 presently on the rotisserie.

 

This is the twilight blue, code 28 used on my car.

 

Could you post a couple good pictures of your car and maybe a close up. I know Pictures don't show paint color perfect but it would give me an Idea. Where did you get the paint code from?

 

The problem many have in paint match, is trying to duplicate the very fine metallic used in the paints of yesteryear. In the above formula, you can see that one of the ingredients is a medium coarse aluminum. Many times I'll take a formula like that, which is very close, and make a 1/4 pint, substituting a finer metallic. The finer metallic will lighten the color a little bit, so a dash of a fast blue or violet, should bring it back. Do a spray out card, and be sure to clear it. Tracking by weight anything you add will allow you to duplicate for a larger quantity. Any paint you mess up can be used for your first coat of color. It's time consuming, but worth it in the end if you really want that vintage look.

 

That is a DuPont Cromabase formula. The paint line is now called Cromax...

 

I'm pretty happy with my twilight blue but I see them same thing, depends on lighting. Most of the time it looks a bit lighter and more metallic than the original, sometimes it has a turquoise tint to it. I'll look up what was used and post it for you.