Is Black, Black?
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2004
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From: Coralville Iowa
Is Black, Black?
Starting work on my 72 project. Front end was replaced with 75 front clip. The bumper was in about 5 pieces. My replacement bumper will arrive next week. The car is black. Are all blacks the same? I am not sure of the black that is on my car if they are not. Does anyone know?
Thanks
Dave
Thanks
Dave
Le Mans Master
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From '70 to '76 black was not available on a Vette........
Safety Car
Joined: Oct 2000
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From: Carbondale Pa.
Not always, only because I worked for an auto parts store that did a big business in supplying paint ( duPont ) to our body shop customers and from time to time it'd be my turn to mix paint for those customers, the customer would call in their order and what type of paint they wanted along with the necessary information year, make, model, paint code etc. and if we didnt have a factory pac we'd have to mix it in their quantity, one customer had a later model Cadillac (for the time) which was black . Looking up the formula to mix it I noticed there were 4 or 5 different alternates with differences explained, customer complained I was bothering him with trivial $hit and to mix anything, I did and when he shot it it dried to a very GREEN tinge of black. It looked like crap. So I guess you need to be aware of differnt shades of any color, we found that reds were among the worst. They finally got a dealie that would look at the paint and spit out a formula for an "exact" match. Good Luck, Peace,,, Moosie 
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2005
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From: Montgomery Alabama
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St. Jude Donor '06
I understand that black is black, but even if the color is exact, black looks way different if the level of orange peel is not the same or the level of gloss is different.
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,255
Likes: 7
From: Coralville Iowa
Not always, only because I worked for an auto parts store that did a big business in supplying paint ( duPont ) to our body shop customers and from time to time it'd be my turn to mix paint for those customers, the customer would call in their order and what type of paint they wanted along with the necessary information year, make, model, paint code etc. and if we didnt have a factory pac we'd have to mix it in their quantity, one customer had a later model Cadillac (for the time) which was black . Looking up the formula to mix it I noticed there were 4 or 5 different alternates with differences explained, customer complained I was bothering him with trivial $hit and to mix anything, I did and when he shot it it dried to a very GREEN tinge of black. It looked like crap. So I guess you need to be aware of differnt shades of any color, we found that reds were among the worst. They finally got a dealie that would look at the paint and spit out a formula for an "exact" match. Good Luck, Peace,,, Moosie
Thanks
Dave
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From: Richmond Kentucky
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Not to give a short answer, but black is NOT black...................... I retired from Sherwin Williams Automotive after 30 years in the QC / Tech Service labs. There are a number of "black" pigment suppliers and they ALL have their own formulas / chemical treatments for their pigments, which results in varying degrees of what is referred to as "jetness". This is actually a measure of the depth or degree of blackness, as seen by the human eye. Jetness can appear different under different light sources, i.e., fluorescent, incandesent, morning vs evening daylight. If the car has its original finish, it is probably Dupont. They were the primary supplier of coatings to GM when your car was built. If the car has been repainted, then it would behoove you to try to determine whose paint was used and try to get some from that supplier. However, even this does not gurantee that it will match because, as I implied earlier, the pigment suppliers actually "control the colors" with their pigment formulations, crude stock and process changes. On a positive note, a good painter can blend most colors so that any color difference is "minimal" as perceived by the human eye.
Good luck!!
Good luck!!
Drifting
Joined: Apr 2008
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From: Sparta Mo.
I also have a quite a few years in auto body. To put it simpler, different manufacturers use different basis for black. I shot my 'Vette with a brown based black, but I shot the SS stripes on my Chevelle with a blue based black. Side by side it's hard to tell a difference, but the two colors on the same car would stand out like shoes on a snake.
....so, no. Not all blacks are the same. For the record, when I shot the bed white for my '93 Ford truck, I was shocked to find out Ford used five different whites on Just their trucks in that one year!
These days, you need to have a paint code or take the fuel door off and bring it in for the paint company to scan it and get a matching color. (They can do that now)
....so, no. Not all blacks are the same. For the record, when I shot the bed white for my '93 Ford truck, I was shocked to find out Ford used five different whites on Just their trucks in that one year!
These days, you need to have a paint code or take the fuel door off and bring it in for the paint company to scan it and get a matching color. (They can do that now)
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Instructor
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From: TRAILER RENTALS - Florence Twp. NJ
Big difference in brands of Black...Period..(i.e. RM, Dupont, etc.....)
my personal favorite is Dupont Centauri - Pitch Black (99a-SS,
199a-BC )......
my personal favorite is Dupont Centauri - Pitch Black (99a-SS,
199a-BC )......
Last edited by J.K. Cooley; Aug 31, 2009 at 09:25 AM.
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From: Richmond Kentucky
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Unfortunately, even the most sophisticated color equipment doesn't handle black very well....................it REALLY takes the human eye to make a color match and the best light source is morning or late afternoon sunlight. Without getting tooooooo technical, these links may help you understand what "color" is and how it is interpreted.
http://www.devx.com/projectcool/Article/19954
http://www.artsparx.com/seeingcolor.html
http://www.devx.com/projectcool/Article/19954
http://www.artsparx.com/seeingcolor.html
Team Owner
Joined: Jun 2000
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From: Southbound
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Blacks are probably not the same. There was no factory black for 75, so your clip has been repainted. Can you contact the previous owner and determine what might have been used? An automotive paint supplier might be able to help with matching the existing clolor.
Last edited by Easy Mike; Aug 31, 2009 at 09:22 AM.
Drifting
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 1,438
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From: Melrose Florida
Starting work on my 72 project. Front end was replaced with 75 front clip. The bumper was in about 5 pieces. My replacement bumper will arrive next week. The car is black. Are all blacks the same? I am not sure of the black that is on my car if they are not. Does anyone know?
Thanks
Dave
Thanks
Dave
Steve
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2006
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From: Butler Pa
FLAME SUIT ON: For the most part, older (1970's) Corvette black was black, just plain old black. I understand that is different in many cases (my '87 GTA is black with gold in it), but your car is probably black. I also understand that black was not a factory color for '72 or '75. From the factory, the paint jobs would have had a light grey primer underneath the topcoat.
Steve
Steve
I painted a few cars back in the late 70's and early 80's. Then if you wanted black, whether you had a paint code or not, you were handed a can of premixed paint off the shelf which was labeled BLACK.I'm sure things are different now.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Sep 2018
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To get black base clear to appear as JET BLACK as Lacquer, you will have to shoot a couple of coats of 50% base mixed with 50% clear over the black base in order to TRAP the light, otherwise all of the base clear blacks look "gray:".
