Off to the Body Shop

[tonyfromjersey]

Well, my garage is empty. The Spider is off to the body shop for some much needed repair and a paint job. I was referred to a guy who does great work, but is completely off his rocker. Too many paint fumes I guess.

Now all I have to do is pick a color. It was painted spray can red by the PO, who did everything half-assed. So I want it to be red, but I don't know which one. I have to go to my local auto body supply store and look at paint books. I don't care if it's an authentic red, but I'd like it to be relatively close. I was also told to look at the "hot hues" which are some seriously cool paints, but I think kind of overkill for a 77 spider.

Check them out here: http://pc.dupont.com/HotHues/webengine/ ... _Arg1=Home

Anyway, anyone have any great ideas for reds? I have about 3-4 weeks to decide, so no particular hurry.

[baltobernie]

Congratulations on reaching a Spider owners biggest milestone; finally off to the paint shop!

Color choice is a highly personal opinion, and you know what they say about opinions. The Spider has such great lines that its a great pallete for just about any color. The only advice I can give is that if you're building a stock-looking car, go with a period-correct color.

[Flyingthere]

Tony, I have learned a lot over the years about color and its all about you, but think about a few things. First the trim, black tires, the wheels, the body trim and how it will work with the color you choose. Do you want it to be contrasting? As an example the spider on the top of this page the red makes the trim and chrome stand out and darker hues do that. The lighter colors tend to hide the molding and such.
Secondly what do you want the car to look like, sporty and flashy, sexy and trim, lush, think about that and you need to pick something you will always want to look at and be seen in.
I tend to like medium colors and let the tires and black wheel wells be a contrasting point making the body stand out but giving it the hint that something more it not seen just beneath the surface.

I will suggest this, go to a dealership and I am talking a Porsche or other high end dealership and look at the cars, not just the cars but look at the body color associated with the attachments, mirrors, trim and grill.

You have a tough choice but I would like to see what you come up with, it will help me when I get mine painted. Plans are sometime next summer. I can say however that I have a trend going and it is a color that I never seem to get bored with, you may already have your color and not know it.

Good luck
Aero

[So Cal Mark]

yes, this is a very personal choice. I tend to like the later Spider red that was almost orange. But, I agree that every color I've seen on a Spider looks good

[GOPAPA]

Well, my garage is empty. The Spider is off to the body shop for some much needed repair and a paint job. I was referred to a guy who does great work, but is completely off his rocker. Too many paint fumes I guess.

Now all I have to do is pick a color. It was painted spray can red by the PO, who did everything half-assed. So I want it to be red, but I don't know which one. I have to go to my local auto body supply store and look at paint books. I don't care if it's an authentic red, but I'd like it to be relatively close. I was also told to look at the "hot hues" which are some seriously cool paints, but I think kind of overkill for a 77 spider.

Check them out here: http://pc.dupont.com/HotHues/webengine/ ... _Arg1=Home

Anyway, anyone have any great ideas for reds? I have about 3-4 weeks to decide, so no particular hurry.

Tony
I know exactly what you are going through as I had the same problem when choosing the new paint for my truck .So what I did is pick a color that was used on the 88-94 Chryslers which a guy at a truck show had his painted with and I liked it right off . It is so much better to see the color on a car or truck rather than just off a paint chip card. IMHO that is .
My color is called Black Cherry Pearl Metalic and even with out the chrome yet put back on my truck it gets thumbs up from every one . It is a personal opinion but what ever you pick will most likely be some one elses choice also ,,,so thought I would give you a look at what my choice looks like on rather than on a paint chip .. I first wanted red but this caught my eye and I never regretted what I chose.. good luck and be sure and let us all see when you get your car painted ,, LD

click to enlarge

[pope]

Hard to beat the Ferrari Rosso Red.

[mbouse]

i understand why there are so many red Spiders at every large Fiat gathering, but personally, i'd rather NOT be the conformist...

therefore, i am not telling what my choice of colors will be if and when i am able to motate to the body shop....but i assure you it won't be any resemblence to Italian racing red.

[Tappy]

is it britisch racing green ?

[racydave]

Lighter colors help hide any body imperfections ( lord forbid! ) and solid colors are much easier to match later if you get a boo-bo. Ive been surfin to look at colors, but seein them in person is the way to go!

[ga.spyder]

Every good painter I have ever met is completely bonkers,its gotta be the fumes.At FFO I saw the most beautiful color on a Spider I had ever seen.It was a guy from Maine,and he saw it on a 350Z and said he knew it was THE color for him.It was Nissan Daytona Blue,and I hate to be a copycat but if I ever paint mine...



Craig

[Jimb]

Every good painter I have ever met is completely bonkers,its gotta be the fumes.At FFO I saw the most beautiful color on a Spider I had ever seen.It was a guy from Maine,and he saw it on a 350Z and said he knew it was THE color for him.It was Nissan Daytona Blue,and I hate to be a copycat but if I ever paint mine...
Craig

The blue is beautuful....but I sure don't like to colour of the top

Jim

[Flyingthere]

Funny the purple one behind it has the same top! I would think it would be hard to find.

[mdrburchette]

That blue is beautiful. I'm trying to make up my mind what color to paint the Devil X when it comes time. Since it won't be a show car I told Ron I'd have to break the golden rule of keeping it original. Right now I'm thinking black with a red devil on the hood and cross bones...

[tonyfromjersey]

So far, I'm still hung up on red. It's not a faithful restoration, so I'm not terribly concerned about keeping it original. That blue was pretty cool too. My last daily driver was blue, now I have a black car (a mistake since the garage is generally occupied by the Spider). I was looking at the Ferrari red colors, there's a few. I finally have a day off tomorrow so I'm going to go to a paint shop and see what they have to say.

I will also let the wife have a look, she has a real eye for color and style. I have an engineer's brain, and I wear a uniform to work, so color and style are lost on me.

There's another Ferrari red called something like "Rossa Scudeira" which looks pretty cool, or maybe it's just that anything on a 200K car looks pretty cool.

[baltobernie]

Funny the purple one behind it has the same top! I would think it would be hard to find.

That's one of John and Nancy Erskine's cars from Annapolis. "Grappa" is the license plate! Going over there tomorrow to begin powertrain upgrade, starting with a 3.90 axle swap, new Ferodo brakes and front suspension busings.