Colonial Yellor exterior color

[michael maloney]

Can anyone give me the paint code for the Colonial Yellow color, which I believe was used by Cadillac sometime in the late 1970s?  I want to paint a car in this color, and need the paint code in order to have a batch prepared.  Many thanks!

[Randall A. McGrew CLC # 17693]

Go to : http://tcpglobal.com/autocolorlibrary/cgi-bin/search/searchpic.pl?1978-cadillac-pg01.jpg

Colonial Yellow    3085  DDL 54

HTH

Randy

[Pat Caruso CLC # 17825]

I am NOT an expert on the subject, but....

One of my fellow region members owned a 1979 Coupe in Colonial Yellow.  He mentioned that the 1977 Colonial Yellow is different than the 1978 Colonial Yellow which is different than the 1979 Colonial Yellow.

Apparently, in 1977 the color was vibrant, and was then softened each year afterwards.  I dont know how this is reflected in the paint codes, but it is something to keep in mind...

Good luck - its a great color.

Pat #17825

[Randall A. McGrew CLC # 17693]

Pat, in looking through the chip indexes for the entire 70s, I could only find one yellow called Colonial Yellow.  In 1979 there were several yellows but they were called things like yellow, bright yellow etc..  And they were a varying shade of yellow.  

Take a look and go through the index.  I may have missed one.  

HTH

Randy

[FRED ZWICKER #23106]

Very interesting comments on the difference of the same color name by Cadillac (Colonial Yellow).  I have another question along the same lines:

I own a 1939 LaSalle Convertible (Oxblood Maroon Metallic). In comparing with other cars, first noticed a cover article in the July-August issue of "Antique Automobile" (AACA publication). There is a beautiful 1938 Cadillac convertible pictured on the cover and in the article and the color is Oxblood Maroon. The color of my car compares very closely with this color. I called the body shop that painted the above car and they confirmed it was "Oxblood Maroon" and gave me the Martin Senour Formula Number. In our conversation, they mentioned that some colors will vary, as the original paint was lacquer and most of the newer paints are base-coat clear-coat, which was what they used.  They also mentioned that the colors can vary somewhat from one paint manufacturer to another.

At Hershey this year, there was a nice original (older restoration) 1939 Cadillac convertible coupe and the color was exactly the same as my LaSalle.  I asked the owner about the color and he said he purchased Oxblood Maroon about 20 years ago from Bill Hirsch and that it was supposed to be the correct color. I called Bill Hirsch and formulas are no longer available. At this point, felt secure that my car was painted the correct color.  (According to previous owners, my car was repainted one time prior to 1983 and the paint is still in almost perfect shape, other than a few hairline cracks). You can see my car on the Picture Gallery of the CLC by clicking on LaSalle.  There are 3 pictures of my car (2 exterior and 1 of the dashboard).

Last summer, I took a very good look at an older restoration of a 1940 Cadillac Series 75 Convertible Coupe with sidemounts and it was also supposed to be Oxblood Maroon.  However, the color on that car was considerably darker than any of the cars mentioned above.  Since I plan to repaint the car in the coming months, am wondering which color is correct? My car, the 1938 Cadillac and the 1939 Cadillac are all a beautiful metallic maroon, but this color is redder and lighter than the 1940 Cadillac.  On Ebay, I saw a 1940 LaSalle (also Oxblood Maroon) and it appeared to be darker, similar to the 1940 Cadillac.

Is it possible that Cadillac changed the formulas of this color during a period from 1938 - 1940?  Thanks for any input on this.

Fred

[Tom Hall 7485]

Im looking at showroom color cards for 1969, 1978 and 1979.  All of them have a Colonial Yellow.  The 1978-9 color has a little more brown in it than the 69 color.  78-79 Colonial Yellow is somewhat lighter than 1938 Italian Cream as shown on a 1938 DuPont body shop sheet.  1938 Italian Cream is maybe a more appropriate color choice for a 1939 La Salle because that formula existed in 1939.

[Barry M. Wheeler #2189]

Call Terry Wenger in MO. He painted his 39 6167 Oxblood Maroon some twenty five years ago. If anyone is an expert on that color, it is Terry. He is in the Directory. (Anyone you have handy will be the same #.)

[Rusty Shepherd CLC 6397]

Terry also painted his beautiful 38-9039 Sixteen Town Sedan Oxblood Maroon during restoration and it is featured on the cover of the July 2004 Self Starter. His article, "The Late Sixteens" Part II begins on p.16 and includes two more color photos of the car.