She's off to paint

[Wizbangdoodle]

I took my car down to Ken Pike in Marysville Ca and dropped it off Monday. That is a LOOOONNG drive. Anyway, I'm still tossing colors around. Thought I had settled on a color, but after speaking with Ken, I'm considering other options. He had an Indigo Blue body out of paint and being buffed and it looked gorgeous. So much so, that my wife wants me to paint it that color. I had originally wanted Brandywine from House of Kolor, but Ken said it's not a real durable paint and meant more for show cars. I found Octane Red from Dodge that I really liked and Ken showed me Merlot, which is a Ford color. Both of which look very nice.

How did you pick your color and why? Did anyone have as hard of time as I am choosing a color?

[Grubester]

My wife and I met with him on 5/27 and he had a FFR Mk4 just out of paint, which proved to be a good talking-points car. He showed us what he needs in prep from me, but also what HE will do when he attacks one of these. It was all very informative, and we did talk color. There are some paint choices one could make but they can vastly increase w.r.t. cost/gallon. I'm not in that category.
After Marysville we headed on down to Santa Cruz and saw two more Cobras and owners. One was a Superformance (exquisite!) BUT the point is, each car we saw caused a shift in the colors we thought we liked. It's a big decision and so we're not decided yet. I'm building a 289-style and am inclined to choose a period-correct color, more so than if I was building a 427.

[Blitzboy54]

Everyone will tell you it’s the most difficult part of the build. It’s expensive and mostly permanent. In my experience most everything looks good one of these. My personal motivation for both builds is to do something different or that you don’t see a lot of. But that’s just me.

A rule for me is to test out in my mind a few schemes and the one I circle back again and again is the winner.

It’s a very personal choice. Like naming your child.

[BornWestUSA]

I wanted Black with charcoal stripes, My painter said don't do it, you will hate it... too hot, blah blah blah.

So I'm at home looking at Cobra pics for color ideas on my desktop computer and my wife walks in when a Blue one is on the screen.

So guardsman blue / wimbledon white stripes it is.

Being married I'm used to my vote not counting, but I thought at least this once I would get what I wanted?

[JMD]

It is one of the most difficult decision of the build, even more so than what engine you’re going to use. I’ve been pondering it for over a year and still not completely certain. One thing I will say, you can’t go wrong with Guardsman blue.

[blau iii]

I've been using Chat GPT to help render different images and colors. Has helped a bunch in narrowing my choices.

[gbranham]

A friend of mine who has built many an FFR told me during my first build, a MkIII, when choosing a color, close your eyes and imagine yourself on a nice drive on a warm summer day. What color is the car in your daydream? For my first, it was Ford E4 Vermillion red. Just a basic red, no metallic flake, and no stripes. I was very happy with that choice. For my 2nd, my daydreams have been many, but I keep coming back to Patriot Blue, which is the color of my Ram truck. That daydream has stuck for a year or more, so I feel like that's the color we're going with...again, with no stripes. I will say, once you're on the road, and comfortable with the car, you'll sort of forget what color it is, and you'll simply enjoy the drive.

My MkIII, and recent Jeff Kleiner Patriot Blue Roadster (photo creds to JK):

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[mrglaeser]

I wanted Black with charcoal stripes, My painter said don't do it, you will hate it... too hot, blah blah blah.

So I'm at home looking at Cobra pics for color ideas on my desktop computer and my wife walks in when a Blue one is on the screen.

So guardsman blue / wimbledon white stripes it is.

Being married I'm used to my vote not counting, but I thought at least this once I would get what I wanted?

BornWestUSA - you are far from the only builder in this boat. My Wife could not care less about the engine, options, modifications, etc of the build. But she locked the color in before I ordered the kit.

[Mike.Bray]

My favorite color is Red and my wife's is Blue so we compromised and went with Blue:o

[Derald Rice]

One of the aids that I used was to get a 1/18 scale diecast cobra, and painted it in the my color choice very early in my build..

Then I put it on my desk where I could see it on a daily basis...

After 6 months, it really helped me to visualize the color, and my decision was made..

Just like first impressions, I stayed with my first choice and I have not regretted it.

I have already done the same thing for the new one.

[Mike.Bray]

I had originally wanted Brandywine from House of Kolor, but Ken said it's not a real durable paint and meant more for show cars.

I don't understand that statement. Yes, HoK candy colors of old were not very durable but today's are vastly improved and are basecoat/clearcoat or tri-coat. A candy paint is a base with a dye instead of pigment giving it a translucent property. Pretty simple. And like any basecoat it gets a clearcoat over it. Now, HoK does recommend a clear with a high UV rating to prevent fading but that's not a problem to do.

I went with HoK Cobalt Blue and it's seriously the bluest blue you've ever seen. Park my car in a field with fifty blue cars and mine will be the Blue one. If you read my build thread we had issues with it but that was the painter not listening to HoK and applying the basecoat over a ground coat with two different brands of paint. Can't do that unless it's sealed really well which it wasn't. Once they listened to HoK it turned out gorgeous with no issues.

It sounds to me like Ken just doesn't want to spray HoK.

215488

[egchewy79]

AI can be your friend here if you are a visual person. I was playing around w/ AI from microsoft copilot and it gave a pretty good rendering of my exact car. You can also buy spray cans of the colors you are considering and spray some speed forms that you can get off amazon. I knew I wanted a dark blue and ordered like 5 different colors from automotivetouchup.com

[Jeff Kleiner]

....Did anyone have as hard of time as I am choosing a color?

Ha! Darn near every single one. I bet I can count on one hand (and 2 hands for sure) the number of cars that I've had come in that arrive with the color decided and didn't change before paint. Most come knowing that they want blue/green/red/gray/whatever but not the specific blue/green/red/gray/whatever so I end up doing spray outs of 2,3,4 different choices. Others come undecided and don't even have it narrowed down to blue/green/red/gray/whatever much less a specific one. Then there's the stripe color...On more than one occasion I've called owners and told them "I have 2 cars ready to paint right now. Yours was here first but if you can't give me an answer the other one is going to jump ahead and yours will have to wait." They usually wait. Most times if the owner is paralyzed by the decision they just default to Guardsman Blue and Wimbledon White---what we painters call color code JAC (Just Another Cobra ;))

Cheers,
Jeff

[mrglaeser]

AI can be your friend here if you are a visual person. I was playing around w/ AI from microsoft copilot and it gave a pretty good rendering of my exact car. You can also buy spray cans of the colors you are considering and spray some speed forms that you can get off amazon. I knew I wanted a dark blue and ordered like 5 different colors from automotivetouchup.com

I agree with this. Two years ago I could not get a good rendering from AI. But I tried again just a couple weeks ago and they were pretty good. At least good enough to play around see what generally looks nice.

[Wizbangdoodle]

All very good points guys. I appreciate the comments. Glad to hear I'm not unique in trying to decide color. And Mike, yes, that blue is BLUE! Love it. Greg, that patriot blue is very nice. How did you come across it?

I do want a somewhat unique looking car. I am not doing a hood scoop and I may not do stripes. The color choice is tough. Just when you think you've made up your mind, you see another color that really looks good. Kinda like seeing beautiful women. You see one that you can't take your eyes off, then another one walks by and you forget about the first one.

[gbranham]

Greg, that patriot blue is very nice. How did you come across it?

My Ram 1500 pickup is Patriot Blue. I really like how it shines in the sun.

Greg