Color advice for a 330 GTC

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Enrique Landa
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Color advice for a 330 GTC

Post by Enrique Landa »

Ferrari enthusiasts:

A quick request for some advice from some of you that may have more experience than I in respect to paint and colors for a '68 330 GTC. I bought this car about a year ago and it was on first look a rust nightmare... but cheap so I unwisely bought it. However, the Ferrari Gods have been smiling on me lately and I found the car to be very mechanically correct, with only minor tune ups and a brake job that were required to get it going and up to speed. With the mechanics in order I found that the car was worth restoring to a very good driver car which entails a propert paint job and a stabilization of the metal on the body which was noticibly rusting in certain places.

I just had the car completely stripped of its various paint jobs... what a an interesting situation we uncovered. Well the car was apperently Acapulco Blu as defined by the factory and on inspection there is a blue color. Then the car was painted various tones of silver, some dark and some lighter. When I purchased the car was a gun metal gray, a bit lighter than the current titanium available on current Ferraris. This color I have been informed was not original, so it is now off entirely and down to the bare metal. Although there were various coats of paints on the car we were lucky enough to find that the car had no colision damage and very little rust that will require serious metal work. Alas my car will not be a further problem regarding rust and the metal will be fixed... in a couple of months at some expense.

However, I am now to decide what color to paint the car. My inclination is not far from what existed which is a dark gray and a navy blue. I do not however know what is most common GTCs and paint codes that are original. If I do not paint it the original Acapulco Blue, I do want to paint it an original and familiar color for time. I ask for your pick in chosing between gray and blue and then your advice on what paint codes to give the painter so that I may get some samples.

Thanks in advance, I will look forward to your replies...

Enrique Landa
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330GT
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Post by 330GT »

Keith Bluemel's Original Ferrari V12 book has a color chart of the standard colors that were available for 275 & 330 cars. Of course, one could get any color if it was special ordered.
Mike Theo
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You can never go wrong by going "original".

Post by Mike Theo »

By virtue of the fact that your GTC has turned out to be a rather special, original and solid car, even if it is to "only" be a driver, I would strongly recommend going back to the original blue.

That shade of blue is beautiful on a Ferrari, and at a minimum, you will never have to explain the deviation from the build sheets. You can look at your car and know that it is how it was born/built. Besides, we're not talking about a ugly color.

Out of curiosity, with all of the paint stripped off, how does the bodywork fit, finish and craftsmanship look? Uniform sections of metal, or a patchwork quilt of pieces? Also, how complete was your paint-strip, how long did it take, and how much did it cost?
tyang

Post by tyang »

Hi Enrique,

What color is "Acapulco Blue?" Is it a light or dark blue? Are you refurbishing the interior as well? I feel either color will look great on that car, but make sure you can get the Conolley leather color you want to match it to. Their production is sporadic, and their colors are not consistent. I also heard rumors that they got sold. Matching similar hues can be problematic if one is off. You either have to be spot on, or off enough to look like you meant for them not to match.

Tom
David Smith
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Post by David Smith »

I am going through the same thought processes right now also. My GTC is at the body shop and I have been combing through my Ferrari archives for a suitable color. My opinion is to paint the car in a color that you like. It doesn't matter what color the car was originally. If you prefer a darker color, then go for it. I am not going to paint my car a color that I think an "expert" will approve of just because I think that I should. For the money involved I will pick a color that I will love. Easier said than done.
JimB
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Post by JimB »

Enrique,
Keith Bluemel's book "original Ferrari V12 65 to 73" has paint codes for most models. Page 59 starts the chapter on 330GTC's. Keith states that 330GTC colors are the same as 275 GTB colors. There are carpet and upholstery color references too.
Hope this helps.
You can get the book from Motor Books International. 1 800 826-6600

Jim B.
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Yale
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Post by Yale »

While it is a great book it does not have a color chart for the interior or exterior colors just a listing of color names. It would be great if there were such a color chart somewhere to refer to. It would be great if someone cataloged the number of each color orginally ordered for the 330's. I asked Kerry if he wanted to do that on his site....oh well. Yale
JonBrent
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Post by JonBrent »

Yale,

I agree, it would be great to be able to correlate the names to the colors. I'm thinking about painting my car, so put together a page with names and pictures. I've got the page started, but need to add more pictures I have. A work in progress:

http://www.jb330gt.com/Colors.htm

We will need everyone's help identifying the colors though! I can put it all together if folks post a picture here with a known original color, or I'll add them if the're sent to me.

Cheers,
Jonathon
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tyang
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Post by tyang »

Hi Jon,

Good work so far! Since I work a lot in graphics, and photography, getting exact color matches is about impossible until you establish a standard to compare to. Pantone colors may help, unless there is another standard in the paint business.

Does anyone have one of those cool color checkers that Pantone makes that can match anything you point it to and shows the match in Pantone? Wouldn't that be the best thing to get precise references to color?

Tom
JonBrent
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Post by JonBrent »

Hi Tom,

I'm sure there are scientific ways of doing this, but so far I've used a 'looks right to me' approach to picking the pictures. A computer screen color will only ever be a starting point, as you really should see the real paint color out in the sun before committing to it.

I wish I could identify where more of these pictures came from - if anyone identifies one of theirs, please let me give credit where credit is due.

The page is updated with more pictures now, including some for identification:

http://www.jb330gt.com/Colors.htm

Cheers,
Jon
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