paint coverage?

[G.Lucas #25354]

I'm about ready to paint the 55 fleetwood. Going with a metallic blue (Toyota speedway blue). Paint shop tells me I need 2 gal. of paint, because the color is translucent. The roof will be painted white. The rest of the car will be painted blue including inside door jams and trunk. The door jams and trunk have been painted already, but he wants the color to match all through out. This is what I want also. Does this sound right? Is there a difference in paint brands for coverage? He suggested cheap paint and expensive clear coat for the cut and polish. How much paint is needed and what is the price range of auto paint?   What are your thoughts on this? Thanks in advance, GL.

[harvey b]

Hi there,I run a bodyshop,have painted many classic cars,what brand of paint is he wanting to use,myself i would not skimp on the "cheap paint",something like this you want a good job on it,also the better quality of paint the better it will cover,if the color is hard to cover i use a Valueshade sealer,this gives a uniform  col.or for the color to cover,Dupont has a valueshade system that works really well for this type of coverage,2 gallons seems like a lot of paint,1 gallon of the better paint with a sealer should be lots,propably not a lot in the difference pricewise either.HTH Harvey b

Harvey Bowness
Frenchfort PEI

[Stinson]

It seems that you get what you pay for. I had to pay $602.00 for one gallon of Pro Finish DuPont single stage paint for my restoration. But it looks like porcelain - just beautiful.
Ty Stinson
CLC22330

[Dan LeBlanc]

When I did my 62 Coupe, I bought a gallon of Spies Hecker paint (Dupont's top line).  It's mix ratio is 1:1 which gave me 2 gallons of sprayable material.  Because of the metallic content of the paint, the formula actually had more metallic than pigment in it.  I used almost all of it - 6 coats of basecoat just to hide the primer.  Obviously I didn't use a tinted sealer such as the Valushade.

If I would've went the Dupont route and used the Valushade underneath, would've got it covered probably in two to three coats.  The Valushade is much cheaper than the basecoat, so lesson learned.  When painting translucents, make sure you have a tinted base.

Back in the day when my father painted cars, he used to add a little bit of black in the first coat just to cover and get an even shade, then work up from there.  But, that was from about 1956-1987, so things have changed greatly since then.