Lets discuss Red for a moment

I'm probably going to get a flogging for the next few words. I'm not into "Bright Red." A restored, "Bright Red" Mach makes my heart pound, but as a color for a restomod it just doesn't get there for me. However, my car must be red.

I've been watching cars on the road and I spent a couple of hours at the PPG store pouring over paint chips but just haven't hit it yet. Too light or dark, too orange too blue, blah blah blah. I keep falling back onto Candy Apple but then think it may be too redundant and not quite ominous enough. Sooo, lets here about "Reds" from the gashouse gang.

Burnt orange is red isn't it? I love that color more than life itself. I love a wine red candy metallic as well but that would look better in a two tone. If I went red it would be like this car. Now this is a beautiful color. http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=1972+burgundy+metallic+mustang&qpvt=1972+burgundy+metalic+mustang&FORM=IGRE#view=detail&id=61775C46FA554526349D7D23EF10BDC5BE435FEF&selectedIndex=124

mmmm, those would look good on ice cream. I'm saving up my burnt orange thoughts for a motorcycle though.

I had my Sportster in Orange and black and it looked great. Bike was also close to the green my car is only it was pearl metallic which would be nice on my car. Have only seen 1 7173 Mustang in Burnt orange and it was fabulous.

Hi '72,

What are we talking here - Solid reds, candy reds, metallic reds, or pearl reds, or all of those? The variations are endless.How do you prefer your reds to be - on the pinky side, on the orange side, on the bright, clean side,on the rich side, on the deep, clean and rich side,on the violet side, on the maroon side,on the dark side to name a few?

Metallics - how much metallic flake, what size of metallic flake, any pearl mixed in with the metallic?

Pearls - 1 layer pearl, 2 layer pearl, three layer pearl finish? And so it goes on and on and on.You may be lucky enough to see the color you love on a painted car, but paint company color swatches are the best way of identifiying what you prefer.They will be formulated as well, which is important for making up more color later if you need it, and matching it correctly.

UPDATE - If you're going solid red, you can choose to put a clearcoat over solid 2k enamel or go basecoat and then clearcoat. The clearcoat gives the finished appearence a lot more depth and richness, and helps the color to pop.Clears also provide a harder, more durable finish than solid 2k reds do. Like solid blacks, solid reds tend to remain softish after curing, and in that sense, are not as durable a finish.

Greg.

Get a House of color chip chart if you want to see some killer reds..Skys the limit with this stuff

http://houseofkolor.com/index.jsp

I like the bright red in certain lights, but in other lights it looks orange. We kept mixing paint until it was red in all lights. This is funny, but what we ended up with is a GM red called torch red.

I love it and couldn't be happier.

I have been struggling with this for six months. I have been looking at VW tornado red or Audi brilliant red. Ford race red was too orange and I thought torch red was too orange as well. Here the kicker. I went to a VW lot and looked at 3 different red cars I found them to all be a slightly different shade. I only like one so haven't figure that out yet. Even if you've the same formula you can end up with different shades based on primer color, and spay conditions. I already sprayed my cab or might have abandoned red for pewter. Good luck and post what you deside.

I also love red cars...but it must be the "right" red...matched to the car.

A particular red that looks great on one car may look horribly out of place on another car. And, of course thete is personal prefetence involved, which is the variable that makes all other "absolutes" ultimately meaningless.

I too think red looks great on an old Mustang, but the "bright red" that Ford offered on the 71-73 Mustang is far too "orange-y" for me.

The last two paint jobs on my Mustang ( out of eight!) were Ford's "bright red" from a 92'-era Mustang. Much "redder" than the orangey OEM shade...I think it looks fantastic on the 71-73 bodystyle, and it also looks "correct" to most people. Not one person had EVER mentioned to me that it does not look like an OEM shade.

When my car has been parked next to another 71-73 'Stang that is OEM bright red at a cruise or car show, the difference is startling. I think mine ( of course!) looms far better, and others have said so too.

Other great "reds" are:

1) Ferrari Red

2) Bucaneer Red ( mid 70s Pontiac)

3) Viper red

My "Starsky & Hutch" Gran Torino is PPG "Viper" red...a brilliant red color.

The TV show Torinos were OEM bright red ( same as the 71 bright red), but the 2004 "S & H" movie Torinos were the Viper red. Much, much better looking. Mike Walsh, the builder of the movie cars has given me a ton a paint tips and info to get this Torino of mine to really "pop" once its finished. I can hardly wait.

Look at the new Mazda color "Soul Red" I have it on my Mazda 6 and it is a great color-I get compliments on it regularly (even more when I wash it!)

You might want to check out the color choices offered by fingernail polish. I've heard of several cars that were color-matched to a shade of color, especially red, that couldn't be found anywhere else.

Another way you may find that perfect color, go pick up some model paints and start mixing.

There is no perfect (red) color. Whatever you choose will change with the light of day. At night it will depend on the lights on the street and in the parking lot.

I went Chrysler 'true red' on my Jeep. I don't think it would look 'right' on one of our Mustangs. I only picked red because it was red before and I didn't want to paint the door jams and interiors.





No clear coat.

It is very red red. No noticeable orange color.

I feel your pain and struggled with picking out something other than bright red. I have a 93 GT in the factory vibrant red that looks great! Not too orange (yuck) and not too blue.

Here's an example of the vibrant red...

Oops, wrong thread.

Here's a different example...



And my actual car...

looks like she had some body work, Don

I think the 2014 Ford color (might have been out earlier) Ruby Red Metallic would great on a 71-73 fastback. If that's too wild the current Race Red would probably also look good with Mach 1 stripes/hood black-out.

I think the race red is close to the original bright red...lots of muddy orange in it.

Just wanted to jump back in here with a bit of color theory..............

On the color wheel, you have three primary colors. Red, blue and yellow. These colors cannot be created by mixing any other colors together. They are a base starting block if you like. So when it comes to red, and red being a primary color,it is what it is, and can't be altered in it's pure form.

However, you can change the look of that primary red, by adding different tinters to it. For example, if i wanted to make it look more orangy, you just add yellow. To get away from the orangy look, you would add magenta , or violet, or red tone blue tinters to the primary red. If i wanted less red color vibrancy, i would add white or black to the primary red color.

If you prefer a real vibrant red, but don't like it having an orange look to it, you can start with a primary red, add a small amount of magenta tinter, then a splash of white tinter as well. This combo turns the red to a more richer pinkier red and reduces the orange effect, without loosing the color vibrancy or impact. These types of reds can be very classy looking.

References .............................

http://www.capsulecore.com/basic-color-theory/

https://www.google.com/search?site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1920&bih=908&q=red+color+mustangs&oq=red+color+mustangs&gs_l=img.12...3355.9380.0.11790.18.12.0.6.6.0.294.2169.0j10j1.11.0....0...1ac.1.54.img..6.12.2168.q1xELCKEmZY

https://www.google.com/search?site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1920&bih=908&q=red+color+mustangs&oq=red+color+mustangs&gs_l=img.12...3355.9380.0.11790.18.12.0.6.6.0.294.2169.0j10j1.11.0....0...1a%E2%80%8Bc.1.54.img..6.12.2168.q1xELCKEmZY#tbm=isch&q=1971+-+1973+red+color+mustangs

https://www.google.com/search?site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1920&bih=908&q=red+color+car+samples&oq=red+color+car+samples&gs_l=img.12...1670.8612.0.10334.21.13.0.8.8.0.230.2344.0j9j3.12.0....0...1ac.1.54.img..8.13.2342.73vw12uvArc#tbm=isch&q=red+color+cars&imgdii=_

Greg.

Chrysler inferno red. My friend painted his camaro that... Looks killer IMO.

Have you thought about the new Renault red? It's a really nice color, my dad is doing a 65 Mustang right now in that color and it just looks beautiful!