Dave Schwaab
04-24-2025, 06:01 PM
What color to paint their car is one of the most challenging decisions every builder faces. I wanted a color from the 1960s, and as closely related to the Cobra as possible. My wife insisted I stay away from Red or Yellow. My favorite color is Blue (and I really do like the Viking Blue), but, with the vast number of Cobras already done in Blue, and the inspiration for my build coming from a British built Cobra, I was leaning more towards Green.
Most of the Greens I found, like Vineyard Green, Highland Green and Ivy Green, were a little too dark for me, too much like the dark British Racing Greens. I was looking for something like a Kelly Green or Leaf Green that would look good in the Sun, but not look almost Black in the shade. My search for an acceptable shade of Green would end up taking me several years!
I thought I had found my color when I first saw Poppy Green, a color used in Mustang promotions in the late '60s. Poppy Green was part of a Rainbow Of Colors promotion run in 1968 and '69 at certain Ford dealerships on the West Coast and was also used for a “4.1 Liter Special” edition in the Indianapolis area in 1969. The first pictures I saw were taken in the shade and looked really good, then I found one of a freshly painted car (during restoration) in bright Sunlight. It wasn't quite Neon Green, but still much brighter than I wanted.
Finally I heard about the Special Order Paint Codes offered by Shelby American, in addition to the regular color lineup, on their 1968 GT Mustangs. The colors were not given specific names, and are usually referred to by their Ford Paint Codes. There was WT4017 Red, three shades of Orange, WT5014, WT5107 and WT5185, the very popular WT6066 Yellow (which actually replaced Sunlit Gold in the regular lineup) and this Green, WT7081.
I happened to come upon a series of 1/18th scale diecast models highlighting this series of colors and bought one of the Green. Seeing that model in the Sun confirmed my choice! The WT7081 Green Special Order Paint from a 1968 Shelby GT350.
I needed to take some pics of the completed car for the New Jersey Registration process. Here are a few. What do you think of this choice...
213000213001213002213003
Most of the Greens I found, like Vineyard Green, Highland Green and Ivy Green, were a little too dark for me, too much like the dark British Racing Greens. I was looking for something like a Kelly Green or Leaf Green that would look good in the Sun, but not look almost Black in the shade. My search for an acceptable shade of Green would end up taking me several years!
I thought I had found my color when I first saw Poppy Green, a color used in Mustang promotions in the late '60s. Poppy Green was part of a Rainbow Of Colors promotion run in 1968 and '69 at certain Ford dealerships on the West Coast and was also used for a “4.1 Liter Special” edition in the Indianapolis area in 1969. The first pictures I saw were taken in the shade and looked really good, then I found one of a freshly painted car (during restoration) in bright Sunlight. It wasn't quite Neon Green, but still much brighter than I wanted.
Finally I heard about the Special Order Paint Codes offered by Shelby American, in addition to the regular color lineup, on their 1968 GT Mustangs. The colors were not given specific names, and are usually referred to by their Ford Paint Codes. There was WT4017 Red, three shades of Orange, WT5014, WT5107 and WT5185, the very popular WT6066 Yellow (which actually replaced Sunlit Gold in the regular lineup) and this Green, WT7081.
I happened to come upon a series of 1/18th scale diecast models highlighting this series of colors and bought one of the Green. Seeing that model in the Sun confirmed my choice! The WT7081 Green Special Order Paint from a 1968 Shelby GT350.
I needed to take some pics of the completed car for the New Jersey Registration process. Here are a few. What do you think of this choice...
213000213001213002213003