This Color Is So Wrong...
 

I'm at a point where I can start painting certain engine components before installing them. Months ago, I ordered a few cans of Strato Blue Metallic from Ames. That's supposedly the correct color for 1975 to early 1977 Pontiac engines (and 1965 to 1976 Oldsmobile V8s). My Trans Am is an early 1977 400, so it's not wildly inconceivable that it COULD have come with a Strato Blue Metallic engine.

Anyways, I painted the timing cover today, and this is what came out of the can:

https://i.ibb.co/q7x2RjT/20221105-171016-HDR.jpg

Pretty sure no Pontiac or Oldsmobile engine ever came painted that color. I purposely included a lot of gray and white in that photo to make sure the white balance would be correct, and what I'm seeing on the screen closely matches what I see in real life.

Does anyone have photos of an engine painted Strato Blue Metallic, and remember where said paint came from?

Is this the color? Got it from Butler a while back. OER branded can.

That’s the corporate blue ( Buick, Olds, Ponti ) from the mid 70s

Yes! That's the one I wanted. That doesn't look anything like what I got.

Doesn't look like Butler carries the OER one anymore. What they have now is Restoration Colors, which I also see at Inline Tube. I wish there was a way to confirm that it's accurate before I buy it...

Ames shows the "75-77 blue metallic" in my Firebird catalog. Part # FN410P

Yep, FN410P is what I had ordered. I ain't never seen such a dark blue engine in my life

Ames would probably like to know that there is a problem with that product. The color on my A is pretty close. lol

There's a thread here, concerning Pontiac engine colors. It shows all the Pontiac engine colors, for nearly all years.
My 77 TA engine was a lighter blue than those pictured. Here.
Mine looked very close to the Plastocote 208 color ( there's a thread here concerning that 208 color, someone updated that thread in last few days.

I'm not trying to match my car's "original" blue, though. Just wanting a blue that I find aesthetically pleasing and is at least plausible for a '77. They changed color a couple months into' 77 production and this Strato Blue Metallic, while being slightly darker than what came on most '77s, really appeals to me. Or at least it would if the one I had was correct... I swear this is practically navy blue

Looks like Ford blue

Been communicating with Ames. They did some tests and acknowledge that the color of the paint they have in stock for 75 to early 77 Pontiac V8s is really dark. They're acquiring samples from a different supplier to find out if that'll be a better match, then they'll replace the paint they sent me.

Meanwhile, I acquired a can of paint from Hirsch Auto. The difference is dramatic:

https://i.ibb.co/XjLk6wb/20221112-220046-HDR.jpg

THAT'S the color I'm looking for on the right.

That colour on the left reminds me of the old Ford tractors I used to see as a kid. The colour on the right looks plenty nice for a Pontiac engine.

Awe geez, don’t make the fella cry.

Try that lighter blue on top of that dark blue, should adhere and tack-in real nice.

Getting the right engine paint color for these cars is a pain, and Corporate Blue is one of the hardest to match. Ironically, a lot of guys use Duplicolor's Chrysler Green DE1619 and it turns out looking correct, since it has just the right tinge of green to it as opposed to the VHT Corporate Blue which is actually very dark and rich. Maybe after some aging and heat cycles, the VHT Corporate Blue begins to look more correct while just shooting with Chrysler Green sort of skips that...

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...06f71685b1.jpg
Been thoroughly through the wringer on this one. OER makes the only paint that doesn’t make me want to paint it all black. This is the “Strato Blue Metallic”. It’s as close as I was ever able to get to correct Strato Blue. The 70 “Silver Blue Metallic is also a really pretty paint if you like the light silvery blue. Everyone else’s looked like that Corp Blue/Ford Blue Metallic. Note: I’ve been told that going and buying Olds Blue Paint works as well. Oldsmobile Blue and Strato Blue are real close if not outright identical. In my, non-overly critical, non-concours minded, non-expert opinion.


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That's a gorgeous blue...

The one I got from Hirsch Auto is Oldsmobile 455 blue, which seems to be a very close match to Strato blue

Not sure how these engine paint formulations can get so screwed up. For decades Oldsmobile metallic blue from the early 70's was dead on for the '75- early 77 Pontiac blue. Was available locally at NAPA. Used quite a few cans.

Many years ago I picked up a a small can of metallic blue that was a near dead on mix for the '75- early 77 Pontiac engine paint, & it was labeled "Hawaiian Blue"

On the commonly referred to reference page on Pontiac engine paints through the years, now hosted on www.Pontiacpower.org , the color of "Corporate Blue" at least on my IPad is waaaay off. If nothing is dead on out of a rattle can for Corporate Blue, just will have to have it mixed. That was the only solution when I first had '71-early '73 Pontiac blue made in the late 80's & offered it for sale.

I was an auto body mechanic for many years, and then I worked at an automotive paint store for a long time. While paint manufacturers try their hardest to ensure that all their base dyes are identical all the time, the truth is that suppliers change, sources change, and equipment changes, so that even the way the dye is processed can sometimes cause a minor shift in hue. Over the years, the base dyes change constantly while the mixed recipes stay the same, and the variations become greater and greater. Some manufacturers take these changes into account and modify their mixes, while others don't. I remember we had SO MANY COMPLAINTS one year when one of the black base dyes that Dupont provided in their ChromaBase line changed just enough to throw off every mix that used a significant amount of that base. Ultimately Dupont had to release whole new mix recipes for those colors and they had to apply a new part number to that base dye so that paint mix setups with the old dye still used the old recipe. But that's only because it was a large, sudden change. If it had been a small change, it would've taken another few iterations before anyone noticed.

Mind you none of that explains that dark blue I got saddled with... I swear it's practically this color (Cadillac dark blue):
https://i.ibb.co/tHcw0vw/s-l400.jpg

If that’s the “right photo” up there in the side by side I’d say you’re good. I’d run that paint over a dark base all day long. Pontiac used some super ugly engine paints. Especially pre-70. Some of that stuff is almost Girl Scout Green. Certainly not “Performance” colors. Must have been cheap in bulk.


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