For what it is worth, we have been told by some, who are supposed
to know what they are talking about, that all higher end car
companies, at least, are doing this today because of micro
management and bean counters. Some think tank focus group or
something told them that black and silver cars are the easiest to
sell and have the highest resale value so now all the new car
dealers want to their new cars with 3 year leases to be sure that
they get them back. This way the dealer can likely sell the same
cars all over again as a CPO (certified pre-owned) and cash in on
these nice new profits. Again, black and silver CPO's sell faster
and for more money. As an aside: Wonder which million dollar
study came up with "pre-owned"? You gotta love it. So now there
are no more of those bad old "used cars".
Remember when the dealer's maintenance & repair shops along
with their used car lots weren't viewed as profit centers; rather
as necessary evils to their real business? The industry was in
the business of selling new cars and nothing else. But today it's
all apart of pie charts and micro management. By the way, you can
blame this one on computers too. They facilitate this kind of
thing. Speaking of the computer industry, it too isn't immune to
overlooking real money to be made. I'm reminded of IBM (the 800
pound gorilla of the day) back in the late 70's and early 80's
when the average age of the board of directors was likely 90
something , all wearing dark suits, starched white shirts and
whichever tie was proper for the time. This was the mainframe
mentality that said: these new personal computers will never
work. People won't buy them. They are too expensive and are too
hard to use. Which is why IBM was late getting into the PC
market. BIG mistake!
Our 2 cents worth.
I often wondered what’s up with the silver gray white and
black thing.
It’s the same here in VA. It’s like the car company’s
are afraid of color.
Sent from my iPhone
Most of you probably
know this, but the famed paint color scanner
does not produce a unique tinting formula. It
scans the sample and then compares it to the
multitude of formulas for standard paint
colors of thousands of existing and
pre-existing cars and trucks—domestic &
foreign. It then displays the make, model and
year of car and its formula that matches
best. I’m pretty sure the scanner does not
scan for the presence or amount of “poly” or
fine aluminum powder/flakes.
The thing to do is mix
up a test batch, spray it on the special cards
and then start someone with a great color
“eye” working with the formula until you have
a satisfactory match. For the older “poly”
colors, be sure to really cut back on the
aluminum powder. Another thing to do is find
a car with the recommended formula on it and
observe the car in the sunlight and compare it
to a valid sample. Further, each paint
company has different formulations and tinting
colors.
I’m very disappointed
with the paint manufacturers that they have
chosen not to use their staffs and technology
to do this for us. The cost of the new
water-based non-volatile paint certainly
should support some R&D to come up with a
current formula for Platinum, Tango Red or
Roman Red Poly.
In a somewhat related
bent, there are now some really magnificent
colors available on new cars and from the
custom color folks. Yet, in CA anyway, the
predominant colors are silver/gray, white and
black. That said, I was amazed to see eight
pretty red metallic crossovers/SUV’s in the
church parking lot yesterday.
Rich Barber
Brentwood, CA
I wonder if anyone out there has ever
dealt with this problem ?---the 60
Toreador red---Chrysler-----Plum
red----Plymouth-----Winterberry
Red----Desoto--- all have the same paint
code---and same formula-----I had a sample
made for the Winterberry red met----it is
much too red-----checked the formula for
Plum red and it is the same as
Winterberry---this Desoto was repainted
sometime in the past and this paint is
very faded---however the door jambs, under
the trunk lid,and some other areas have
nice original paint still on them----there
is an F cv. on the website----and I have
seen others---that is Toreador red and it
looks to me to be correct-----anyone have
a paint code for a paint that is
correct---or very
close-----thanks------Johnnie Slayton
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