B5 Blue Owners -- Your Input is Requested!

[CudaChick1968]

Over the years I've had many, many requests for powder coating work in B5 Blue. I could never convince any of those people to provide me with a color sample to work with though so my hands were pretty much tied in being able to come up with any kind of suitable match.

Even though he has other plans in mind for his own car, FABO member VOETOM volunteered to help out and has gallantly stepped up to the plate on behalf of B5 owners everywhere!!

He sent me a paint sample which I forwarded to my powder supplier in Oregon, paid for the two powders that comprised the formulation, and then shipped me a nice 14" steel rim to try them out on. I got it finished up the night before last and snagged some pictures of it out in the sun yesterday.

I'll be shipping his wheel back early next week so he can mount it on the car and compare it with his paint job in person, but in the meantime he asked me to share it with the Mopar World for opinions and input.

It's my understanding (thanks to beloved restorer Kori Alexander of Show and Go Resto) there is more than one B5 Blue depending on the application year and paint manufacturer ... but if I can get close to one of them I'll have finally accomplished a major goal I've had for a long time.

Though monitor settings can have a big impact on how a color truly looks, I'd love to hear what ya'll think of these preliminary results on this long sought after potential B5 color match. I've been experimenting for years and this one finally looks pretty good to me ... but I'm not the one who has to be happy with it. YOU ARE.

The first few pictures were taken outdoors in the sun at 12:15 p.m. Central time and the last one on the brown paper was inside under the shop lights. Some of my usual 2- and 3-inch close ups are probably TOO close to be much help here, but you can at least get an idea of the serious metallic content.

Thank you all in advance for your opinions and input!! I'll be posting this thread on the sister sites (and anywhere else I can think of lol) so don't be shy if you have a thought or a pic of your own car to share and compare.

Thank you FEBO, and a bigggggggg Thank You with a full blown Dating Game kiss goes out to VOETOM muahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

 

[DetMatt1]

I see turquoise, LL1 from '68 but it just might be my screen.

 

[CudaChick1968]

DetMatt, you're right -- it does have a hint of turquoise / green in it. Good eye!!!

 

[ramenth]

I see turquoise, LL1 from '68 but it just might be my screen.

It's your screen. Nice and blue on mine. Maybe a bit darker than the B5 originally on my Barracuda, but I'm thinking that with the paint differences from manufacturer to manufacturer and even amongst the paint lines within any given manufacturer, you'd be hard pressed to find a dead nuts match.

PPG uses an offset for Concept base on the older colors, substituting for something close from more modern cars. Concept single stage is usually close to a match for the what's original, but in today's age, unless you're a very experienced painter, no one likes to use a single stage on heavy metallics. Shopline and Omni uses something close to the original mixes, but Omni is such a quality that no two mixes will come out of the gun even looking close. A blend is a must.

BASF has a good paint match for what's original, but given the variations from plant to plant and from year to year using B5 as original I think you'd be hard pressed to find any two that would match unless it's been a repaint using the same mix. Given that, it might be wise to offer up multiple choices for B5 taking into account year to year and plant to plant. I think you'd even be surprised at the variances going down the line as one blue car was painted, then a white one, causing just a bit of white to be mixed with the blue, then a black one, causing just a bit a black being mixed in, etc. I know you have guys offering up paint samples. When they send them to you have them write down the MY, the assembly plant, and model of car. I think you might be surprised at the differences when you lay them all out side by side. In the meantime I'll see if I can't find something original off the Barracuda to send you. No promises on that as the car's been in primer for quite a while now, with most of the metal either having been replaced or stripped.

I'm thinking that if someone used what Leanna's showing us on a set of wheels or maybe even the dash, then the natural break of the colors, like wheel wells and tires, or door gaps might be enough to fool all but the most experienced painter's eye.

 

[ramenth]

DetMatt, you're right -- it does have a hint of turquoise / green in it. Good eye!!!

On the close up shots it appears so, but the outer shots it's not so apparent. Had me going back to look... damn it! I hate getting old. Once upon a time I would have picked that out right away.

 

[moparleo]

Even primer color will affect end result. I am sure most of us will be happy to have something that is even close to oe. Good job for stepping up first.

 

[DetMatt1]

On the close up shots it appears so, but the outer shots it's not so apparent. Had me going back to look... damn it! I hate getting old. Once upon a time I would have picked that out right away.

I can relate Robert, I've got to have my readers on to read anything in front of my face. If I don't bring them in to restaurants I can't even begin to read a menu any more. It feels like it happened over night...

 

[ramenth]

I can relate Robert, I've got to have my readers on to read anything in front of my face. If I don't bring them in to restaurants I can't even begin to read a menu any more. It feels like it happened over night...

So much for my "experienced painter's eye." lol.

But at least I can still walk across a parking lot and see where a blend has been done on a car fifty feet away, even if it's a good blend. Used to drive Sarah nuts, 'cause she could never see it.

The glasses thing, though, cracked me right up. I was trying to read the back of a Cheez-It's box when I discovered I needed them. Started playing trombone with the box and still couldn't see the fine print.

 

[CudaChick1968]

Keep it coming guys!!! Every bit of research and input is helpful and important to the end result here. Once I'm able to nail down a "base B5" color, I can doctor up my mix a bit to tailor it to each individual ride if I have a sample to work from.

I really appreciate all the comments and thank you all for your participation.

 

[Chryco Psycho]

there are 2 B5 Blue colors , EB5 which which is the 89 color & GB3 which is the 71 color [slightly darker]
It looks great to me though !

 

[CudaChick1968]

Actually Chryco, I've learned over the weekend (from the vast number of replies to my identical post on the sister sites) that there are several, some by model year and others referred to as the "alt" colors with a lettered prefix as you mentioned. There are also slight variances in the color depending on the paint manufacturer as far the amount of metal flake used.

It seems though in light of everything that my "Base B5" shown above is going to be close enough to either use it as is or for an acceptable starting point for others. From there, I can custom tailor that base and doctor it up in-house to more closely match whatever version my customer might have.

I'll be shipping my Test Mule Rim out to my customer and should know within a couple of days how it looks on his car. (He's just right across the border from me in Missouri so it won't take long.) I'm anxious to see how it looks. I'll post whatever pictures VOETOM shares with me so we can all check it out for ourselves.

Gentlemen, I REALLY appreciate all the input, research and comments here ... it's exactly what I was hoping for when I wrote my first post and so far you've all gone above and beyond the call to help me out. Keep 'em coming!!! There is no bad information here and all of it will be useful.

 

[Chryco Psycho]

I have seen so many arguements over ther Real B5 blue shade over the years LOL
I hope you have it close for your customer at least , I would have powder coated a lot of th parts for my Charger knowing a B5 was available .

 

[CudaChick1968]

Chryco, thanks! I just now got done getting the box ready for FedEx to pick up in the morning [ughhh what a day!! lol] so we should ALL know how it looks in the next day or two. I truly appreciate all the help and input with this experiment.

 

[ramenth]

When your customer gives you pics, let's see them, Leanna.

While my Barracuda is no longer B5 I do have a '69 B5 Road Runner in the que to be done.

 

[CudaChick1968]

Oh don't worry Robert, I will! The FedEx guy picked up the box early this morning so I should have some comparison pictures from the customer very soon. I'm not sure who is more anxious to see the results, him or me! LOL

 

[CudaChick1968]

The Results are IN!!!

My customer got the Test Mule Rim mounted and did a little pictorial / write up on FABO today. Check it out ...

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/...ghlight=leanna

Just like Hannibal on The A Team, I love it when a plan comes together.

 

[Chryco Psycho]

404 not found for me , maybe I have to be a Fabo member which currently I am not ??

 

[CudaChick1968]

You should be able to read it Chryco -- not sure why it's not opening for you since FABO is a public message board. I didn't download all of Tom's pictures but here's the write up.



"Here are some images of Leanna's B5 Blue wheel on my old Barracuda spare tire wheel. The blue is very close and looks very good on the car. I need to edit the images some more; the sun here is so bright today.

The first is hers on the left, mine on the right. Mine is lacquer painted twenty years ago.

The second is mine on the car, the third and fourth are hers on the car.

The metallic silver under the blue is more pronounced than my B5 lacquer but I bet some smaller flake will fix that and the final color will be almost a dead ringer. Also see how darn shiny it is compared to my car?

Leanna did very nice work on it for trial number 1 don't you think?
Tom Hand"