1936 Dashboard Paint / Info Needed

[thomashirn]

Dear fellow Cadillac enthusiasts,
I own a 1936 Cadillac and I need to paint the dashboard. The original color I need was called "Harlequin Metallic". Is there anybody who could give me an address of a company who still supplies this color / ships it to Europe ? Also a color recipe, preferably of an international company, or a sample would be welcome.

Best Regards and thx for your help,

Thomas Hirn, CLC# 22260

[Stinson]

Hello Mr. Hirn,
Try Auto Color Library at
www.tcpglobal.com/autocolorlibrary/default.aspx
I have found the site very useful as suggested by other CLC members. Just select Cadillac or LaSalle and the year on the right- hand side of their web site page.
If you find your color the cost is about $36.00 for a color sprayout but worth it....I guess, as I have purchased four.
Good luck
Ty Stinson
CLC22330

[markl]

Ty & Thomas,
Unfortunately, I think you'll find the Auto Color Library folks worthless for coming up w/ dash colors.  That was the case when I asked them to match the 37 LaSalle colors which oddly were not listed on their color chips.  After I called and asked, they professed no knowledge of the chips, original formulas or anything else helpful.  They did offer that if I sent them the dash, they could match the color. 

But why bother?  Your local Auto paint seller can do the same thing, and probably better, because you can tweak the formula after seeing the product sprayed as a sample. 

In my case, I wasn't about to ship my dash to them, and besides, the paint was so faded than I though that a bad route to follow.  I did find a location under one of the trim plates on the garnish moulding that had not been exposed to the sun etc. and we matched that locally.  For the center section, fellow member Bill Sullivan was able to provide a formula that his local paint supplier had come up w/ because, his dash had been painted black at some point in the past, and the original paint was there underneath.

Hopefully, this keeps the thread alive, and someone w/ a 36 has gone through this exercise and can give you their best read on a modern paint formula.

Unfortunately, I think Auto Color Library is simply scanning 70 + year old paint chips and coming up with a match to that.  My experience is that you are better off finding an area that has not been exposed to sunlight and having the same process done locally.  In my case, my benefactor was a CLC member who had pursued this issue from the standpoint of his own car, and I am most satisfied w/ the results.

Mark Lowery, CLC #25216

[thomashirn]

Ty, Mark,
thanks for your input. That is exactly my problem. Paint suppliers are not familiar with dashboard colors and, unfortunately, my dashboard has been painted black as well so I was unable to find the original color. Even I don't get a recipe, a sample of this "Harlequin metallic" on a piece of sheet metal or cardboard would enable me to go to a local paint shop and get it done. I would reimburse the effort and shipping costs, of course.
Pictures unfortunately wont work as well because they are not color correct either, but would be also welcome as the last resort.

Regards,

Thomas Hirn
CLC# 22260

[william_b_noble]

somewhere in my pile of stuff, I have extra dashboard paint that I had made to exactly match the color on the back side of my dash on my 36 6019 - you can PM me and maybe we can work something out, it doesn't take much paint to do the dash.  And, I have a spare nice condition glove box door - I had a second dash, so I painted two doors and one large dash assembly, and of course I only need one door.  the actual color is a pretty dark "steel gray", it may be visible in one or more of the photos on my web site