56-57 Arctic Blue

[Thomas G.]

Re: 56-57 Arctic Blue

It's 3 months later and the Arctic Blue paint is done. It looks perfect, and I couldn't be happier.

Many thanks to all that responded. Special thanks to Bruce Bursten who led me to Dave Hoetker. Dave had done extensive research, and he convinced me that dupont Chroma Base BM297K is the best formula available. Tom Ames provided advice for the 2 adjustments to the formula as follows;

Removed 813J Medium Course Aluminum entirely...too course for 1956. Increase the 810J Fine Aluminum by a factor of 2.5 percent.

The blue body and 58559 silver coves look perfect together. Here's the final blue gallon formula;

802J LS white 161.8
827J Blue 155.1
810J Fine Al 184.9
806J HS Black 46.2
820J Violet 33.0
150K B/C Balancer 2126.1
175K Binder 422.6
818J Bright Adjust 419.3
Total 3549.0

Tom Grieco

[Bruce B.]

Re: 56-57 Arctic Blue

Tom,
Sounds like your Arctic Blue car has met your expectations.
Post some pictures when completed.
Bruce B

[Adam S.]

Re: 56-57 Arctic Blue

Thomas, a few pictures, just a month ago with my 57 Arctic blue C1 , almost complete, can't wait. The camera flash does make the clear coat flash back light at you at certain angles, as I, Tom & others have agreed the Doupont Croma Base is one of the best matches for the blue & silver colors when using Base/clear systems at this current time. Good luck on your reassemably, watch out for the door post alignments for stress cracking on fiberglass next to post pockets in doors

[Bruce B.]

Re: 56-57 Arctic Blue

Lets see.
3 Arctic Blue C1s.
One in Louisiana, one in Maryland and one in Ohio.
It would be neat to see all 3 together, well maybe just in pictures.

[Thomas G.]

Re: 56-57 Arctic Blue

It's 3 months later and the Arctic Blue paint is done. It looks perfect, and I couldn't be happier.

Many thanks to all that responded. Special thanks to Bruce Bursten who led me to Dave Hoetker. Dave had done extensive research, and he convinced me that dupont Chroma Base BM297K is the best formula available. Tom Ames provided advice for the 2 adjustments to the formula as follows;

Removed 813J Medium Course Aluminum entirely...too course for 1956. Increase the 810J Fine Aluminum by a factor of 2.5 percent.

The blue body and 58559 silver coves look perfect together. Here's the final blue gallon formula;

802J LS white 161.8
827J Blue 155.1
810J Fine Al 184.9
806J HS Black 46.2
820J Violet 33.0
150K B/C Balancer 2126.1
175K Binder 422.6
818J Bright Adjust 419.3
Total 3549.0

Tom Grieco

oops....in the second to last paragraph I wrote "a factor of 2.5 percent". It should read by a factor of 2.5, in other words, multiply by 2.5.

Tom

[Cecil L.]

Re: 56-57 Arctic Blue

Probably one of the best references for Artic Blue would be the unbelievably low mile 56 that belonged to Ed Thiebaud. As I recall it had less than 2000 miles on it and was stunning with the combination of Artic Blue and red interior. I saw the car when I visited Ed at his Turkey Ranch outside of Fresno in 72. I wonder where the car is now?
Here are a few pics of the cars in his pressurized showroom in his hangar. Not the best quality pics since I converted them from 35mm slides, but interesting nonetheless. You can get a glimpse of car #003 in one of the pics.

[Thomas G.]

Re: 56-57 Arctic Blue

Here is an update on Arctic Blue.

My car was not originally Arctic Blue, and I did not have access to one when I was ready to paint. I recently met a fellow that lives only 15 minutes from my home with a 57 that was originally Arctic Blue. I compared several of my sprayed samples that I used in choosing my paint with original paint on the floor of his car. To my dismay, the sample that came closest in color was the duPont Chroma Base 58245. This formula clearly has some green in it, while the paint used on my car has none. Otherwise, they are very close.

I still like the color that I used. But, the 58245 would be my choice today, making sure that the metalic flake content is correct. I wish that I had made the extra effort to find an original sample as many had suggested.

When my friend gets his painted with the 58245 it will be interesting to see the difference with the two finished cars side by side. That won't happen any time soon, but I'll write more when it does.

Happy New Year

Tom Grieco

[Frank C.]

Re: 56-57 Arctic Blue

Thomas, thanks for asking the question on Arctic Blue. And thank you other folks for the discussion. It's now 2019. Is the info here still the latest? When I suggested to my painter that he read my original paint where it still exists he said some secretary kept an original chip so there's now a chip available. This is the same guy who took my stripped body more than two years ago and is just now starting to fix cracks, etc. Please advise. And as Adam says, "Arctic Blue is really cool ! " Frank

[Tom A.]

Re: 56-57 Arctic Blue

Frank,
That is the same formula we use for Arctic blue, and DuPont (Axalta now) can still supply the correct metallic size. There is not an absolutely correct color chip available, even if we still had an original chip from 1957 it would still be 60 years old and have changed with age. No one expects perfection just a close approximation of the original with the right characterizations (metallic size and content).

[Frank C.]

Re: 56-57 Arctic Blue

Thank you very much. I'm going with it. Frank

[Tom A.]

Re: 56-57 Arctic Blue

Frank,
I apologize for giving you incorrect information. I checked my data base this morning and found that what we have been using is the DuPont formula 58245K. I should know better than to rely on my memory. I have sent a PM with the correct formula for Arctic blue.