Kotobuki

There's nothing wrong with using a modern color on a classic car. I was at a local show last fall, guy had a 68 Mustang painted with a late model Taurus paint. Real dark blue, almost black... looked amazing.

I think it's really just about finding a color that looks good on the car. Whether the color is original, or modern, from a foreign or domestic range, none of that matters. Just find a color that looks good on your vehicle. Heck, some of the original colors weren't even that good looking on the Mustang. I give you, for example, the 1965 color Rose Beige.



I think we can agree that, while period correct, not a particularly stunning color for this car. All that said, if you can find a color that has some heritage for the car, that you like all the better. Ford's got some really nice blues that they've used on the current Mustangs that are beautiful. The aforementioned Vista Blue, and the current 2010 Kona Blue, if you want something darker. There are also two good choices from the 66 Mustang range that I think would look probably as good as that Lexus blue, Acapulco Blue (which looks like it has a little more metal flake), or the Shelby specific color Sapphire Blue (which looks a little darker, and slightly less metallic).

edit: Somehow missed the coupe picture which looks a LOT darker than the closeup that was showing it with the stripes. So, those 66 colors might not be quite your cup of tea. The 66 color Nightmist Blue sure is sexy. But seeing the darker blue on the coupe, if you wanted a more modern color I'd suggest the Kona Blue.

THUMPIN455

If you are doing a resto with the chalk marks, correct date coded hose clamps, and all that nonsense, then by all means paint it the factory hue in a single stage enamel. It would be the closest thing to what it had originally.

Now if you are going with a base/clear and it will be period correct with aftermarket wheels and mods/upgrades that were available back in the era, then pick whatever color you want. Its your freakin car man, if it speaks to you wearin a color they sprayed on a Kia, then use the Kia shade.

There is only one car I am building that will wear its factory hue, and that is because I am building it for someone other than me. He wants it to be like the one he had in the 60s, so it gets a factory color, but in a modern base clear. I am thinking of throwing a small bit of flake in the first clear coat to make it unique. Not a lot, just enough to make the solid color not as boring. It too is a period build, not a resto.

My Cougar is painted the same color that is on my 98 Pontiac Formula, that red is blinding in bright sunlight. It looks better on the Cougar than it does on the bird. It also looks a billion times better than the original red did in 67. The Mustang is going to be anything other than the original shade of boring green. It might still be green, but it will be one that rips your head around and grabs your attention. Not some same old, boring, conservative, lets not be too hasty 71 factory color...

I like the medium blues better, the darker hues tend to become a shapeless blob in a photograph. They lose definition except in the harshest light, and then some of it will wash out. One of my favorite blues is Lucerne blue, its the color they painted 70-72 Trans Ams and a few other Pontiacs. It even looks good after it has sat for two decades.

jonward786

a lot of the factory colors are very very boring and ugly, imo. more current colors look better on any car, old or new. like that "beige" one someone posted a few above me^^^ ugly as hell

tx65coupe

I'll agree that beige is not very good. However, unless its a total resto mod, I would prefer to have a classic Mustang with an original color. I don't usually like the modern colors on the classics. It takes away from them.

gothand

I like the Caspian Blue as well. You don't see that many of them it seems.

andrewmp6

The 2008 Vista Blue or caspian blue get my vote.

jspagna1

Too metalflakey for me!

jspagna1

I like this color!!!

jspagna1

The thing with modern paints is that even the modern version of the original colors are going to look different/better than the originals because of the technology.
An example of this is when I got my car repainted, the color name is no longer SilverBlue (original). PPG calls it Blue Ice Metalic.

Carlos Pineiro

Acapulco blue which is a 68 color (I think) is really close to the Indigo blue in this thread and it's a stock Mustang color

Jus sayin'.

I'm partial to my Winter Blue Metallic. The color changes with light. At night and in the shade, it looks darker. THere's just enough metal to give it an iridescence without a metalflake look.

CP