1972 Ontario Orange paint

[Fred H.]

Has anyone in the group accurately duplicated 1972 Ontario Orange paint (shade & metallic) ?
Looking for a good spray off card if available.

[Patrick H.]

I'd still think very hard about doing this. Ontario Orange is difficult to match, and the odds of having a hood not match the surround are high. Your best option is whatever paint brand and code you used to paint it, as different brands and mixes will give different results, even if deemed correct when someone else's car was judged.

The color variation may be much more obvious that what you're trying to fix.

We're ending up painting a 1962 completely due to the "slippery slope" of trying to match the paint.

[James G.]

Are you attempting to match Original paint or a repainted car?

Here is how I match for judging.
I have a number of original dealer albums with the large paint cards - Warbonnet - Ontario - Steelcities etc which I have scanned at my local Finish Masters, drop 20% of the metallic from the scan formula, sprayout the base, add 15% flattener to the clear and then do a set of spray outs send them to Ballenger and let him tell me which way I need to go.


FWIW this is how I did the Warbonnnet Yellow LT1 Roadster which Bob Puhls had at the National show back in 2019 - it took 2 sets of sprayouts to get the metallic and color correct --- iirc the only thing he got hit for on the paint was too much gloss below the break lines.

[Harry S.]

My 72 was Ontario Orange. When new the paint did not match. There was a paint repair on the hood at St. Louis and it was noticeable.

Corvette 72.jpg

[Mark F.]

The Paint Shop was on the South side of the St. Louis Plant...the paint repair line was all the way near the North end just south of the final trim line.

Variables include at a minimum:
Different Paint Booths
Different Paint guns
Different Line Speeds
Different Drying Ovens - the main paint shop oven was gas-fired; the repair oven was infrared...and they both probably had differing time/temperature ramps for drying...

and last, but not least - Different Painters

[James G.]

FWIW at the 2019 Cinci regional there was a repainted ZR1 in Ontario orange which I believe Gary Bosselman said his son painted.
I do remember they went through the trouble of doing it CORRECTLY and said if you threw a sample card down on the car - you would be hard pressed to find the card.
I have detailed paint photos of the ZR1 at the 2019 cinci regionals and of an original paint Ontario Orange 72 LT1 from the 2019 Greenville National show.

[Patrick H.]

If you followed Fred's previous post, he wants to repaint his hood.
It really doesn't matter what color worked on another car if he only wants to paint his hood.

Now, if he wants to paint the whole car then I would have him contact Gary. But, that seems extreme for a few dimples on the hood.

[James G.]

Patrick, Sorry I had no knowledge of a previous discussion, only this one.

Fred contacted me through pm and for the sake of discussion I essentially said the same as you relayed above.

"The thing with sprayouts, Unless the same person is painting the car as doing the sprayouts - you are unlikely to get matching results.
I just posted that I remembered Gary Bosselman's son painted the OO ZR1 that was in Cinci in 2019.
This is the way to go if you are painting the whole car.
HOWEVER
IF you are trying to match lacquer to touch up original paint I can probably help you as that is really my expertise."