Caribbean Coral

[JoeKeys2010]

I'd like to paint my 1949 Kaiser back to the original color which was Caribbean Coral.  it appears that the original color is in the door jams, trunk and dash but I am not sure if that the color in those parts are Caribbean Coral or not.  I have looked at pant chips on the internet but I'm not sure.

My first question would be were the insides of the car originally painted the same as the exterior or did they mix and match exterior and interior colors?   If the answer is that the insides were painted the same color as the outside then I have something to go by.

My next question would be has anyone had an experience with mixing the paint and if so where did you get the formula from?

[Gordie]

Original paint chips are available for all years of Kaisers and Frazers on line.  If your door jambs or trunk area still have good samples of original color take it to your local paint shop and have them make the paint for you. They are experts at color matching.

[joefrazer]

I took my 53K to my local Sherwin Williams automotive finishes dealer and they used a spectrometer to match the paint. The gadget was simply held up to a spot on the car with original paint and in 5 minutes they found a formula. It turns out that Cardinal red is the same as the red used on 1967 Fiats.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Cardinal Red was also a 1970's Chevy Truck color under a different name.

Remember that Caribbean Coral varies in hue and shade based on supplier and year.  They also weather over time.  It used to be we would have 5 or 6 1951 Kaisers at a meet which were Caribbean Coral per the firewall plate but looked different shades:all were billed as original paintjobs (this was in the 1970's).

[Fid]

Well no one answered the question so I'll take a shot at it.

were the insides of the car originally painted the same as the exterior or did they mix and match exterior and interior colors?   If the answer is that the insides were painted the same color as the outside then I have something to go by.

We had a '49 Kaiser deluxe "Bermuda Tan" which is a light tan color as the name implies. The dash was a dark brown, much darker than the exterior paint on the car so no, the interior paint is not necessarily the same as the exterior.
I have a friend here who has a Caribbean Coral '51 Henry J which has been reupholstered  years ago. The paint code calls for Caribbean Coral and the trim code is for Cape Verde green dinosaur vinyl! What a combination but I've seen others with that configuration too. The original paint that's on his firewall is a deep metallic maroon hue which I think is amazing.   
Jerry Johnson's '52 Henry J Vagabond is Caribbean Coral:

and so is John Pitzer's '49 Kaiser -

I don't recall what the interior colors are in John P's car but the Caribbean Coral is darker than the J. I don't think either one has original paint on it.

[JoeKeys2010]

Looking at the photos my door jams are close but different to the Henry J and it is hard to tell on the Kaiser because its n the shade. I can find paint chips but not sure if someone can mix paint based on a chip. My car is painted tan and has a good paint job. I'm reprinting it because I want it as original as I can. So I want to make sure I get the right color.

[Fid]

The underside (inside) of the deck lid is often a good place to find original, non-faded paint.

[dusty]

Find a PPG/DuPont paint dealer in the automotive paint section of the yellow pages. they can get the EXACT PAINT FORMULA from the PPG library.  The CODE FOR Caribbean Coral 1951 and 1952 Kaiser products is Ditzco Quickset enamel (DQE 50197) THE paint can also be matched at stores handling NASON brand paint they have the cross reference's  I have a copy of the Kaiser paint codes on disk that the pain store loaned me from the PPG libraryand a book on the color chips. that is where this info came from.

[JoeKeys2010]

Thanks that is helpful. Do you know if the paint code is the same for a 1949?

[retired wrench]

Off topic a little but we got a new Buick in that had a light blue paint job and a lime green interior. The company paid us to repaint it.

[JoeKeys2010]

I found a formula in an old NAPA book but they can't cross reference it to modern paint. On my way to see a PPG rep tomorrow to see what he can come up with. The dash is deffinately a different color. Looks more dark brown than carabbean coral.

[Corsairdeluxe]

An original carribean Kf car has almost no chance of matching the original color. The red pigment in the early 50's is notorious for fading and oxidixing. Carribean coral might just be the worst. I have seen a score of HJs in carribean coral over the years. Most of them have faded to markedly brown over the paint chip.The use of a spectometer at the paint dealer is solely dependant on where they take the measurment. If it was me, I would look at recent cars in carribean coral, try to match the chip and use the formula for the recent car.The pigments used in the old formulas aint there any more. The ones they would use are supposed to be "equivalent". It aint my first rodeo wnen it comes to painting old cars.

[JoeKeys2010]

Well I'm not sure. I hope to get some form of Caribbean coral on it and will go by what's in the trunk.

[HJ-ETEX]

Carribean Coral:
1) The 49/50 color is not quite the same as the 51 color.
2) The paint chips I have seen listed the color as a "factory mixed" color meaning the paint came mixed from the paint company and the local jobber could not mix it because they didn't have the mixing colors.
3) Yes, it does fade out. On my 51 Deluxe, the body turned brown while the package tray turned silver.
4) I had even started painting my car an easier color (a 1976 Dodge metallic Rust color) but really, the paint choice is important to a KF product. KF couldn't offer engineering innovations like the Big 3, but they could be innovative with the paint and upholstery.
5) I watched cars on the highway for over 2 years trying to get an idea for a later color that could be mixed by a local jobber. I finally settled on a 1976 Cadillac color - Fire Mist Chermise. I made the match based on the back of 2 1951 instrument clusters.
6) When you paint your car, don't expect total agreement on the fidelity of the color. As an example, at the Burlington KF National, there were 5 53 Dragons that were painted velvet Maroon. In the noon day sun, 2 of the cars matched what I thought the color should be and matched each other very well. 1 was a little off but the worst looked like it had a good shot of brown in it.   

[HJ-ETEX]

Cardinal:
I think the 70s Chevy Truck color Jack is thinking of is called Primrose. The price of paint (within substrate types such as synthetic enamel vs acrylic) is based on the cost of the pigment. White is cheapest while Red and Green are the most expensive. For some reason, this Primrose was much cheaper than a real maroon color so I painted my brother's  50 Studebaker Champion W5 with it instead a real maroon. I think it looked brighter than the correct paint, but not that much.