Everyone has an opinion.... (53 Firedome Estate)

John

As a person That went to Poway High School, I would try to return the car
back as close as possible to The Original Green.

The Clear Coats and other paints do not have the era hue or what ever it is
referred to. The Single Stage Paints do have this.

Rodger & Gabby
Colo Spgs

psss
Rebuild To Quality --- not to price

John, something to consider is whether the repaint with the white was very thorough or not so much. Your car could still be forest green under the trim, or maybe the sill plates, or maybe even under the carpet or seats. And how about the trunk or firewall? If the previous owners did not get the white paint into the less obvious places, I would keep it original forest green.

John, I revisited this post and I do not see the reason to repaint the car. It looks pretty darn good white. I do not know what the color will do to the value. Maybe someone else will know. I do know that it is always better to have the car original. Hot rodders will of course disagree and they are right because they probably sank a lot more money into the car to modify it than someone did to make it original. Food for thought ! What do you want is probably the operative question.

Paul and Rodger -- thanks for your thoughts. As for the white paint respray-- it was pretty thoroughly done. I'm actually missing the door sills, so they tell no story, but the jambs are white. The only green samples I can find are a few chips and flakes where the white has been knocked off.

The problem is that either rust was not repaired or it has appeared since the paint job. I have to replace the lower skin on the tailgate, and the lower edges of the doors are bubbly. Around the windshield there are more rust bubbles, and inside the roof at the windshield there are some missing (rusted and destroyed) sections. I want to fix these, so I will be in primer over 10-15% of the car when that's done. The rust repair is what is really driving the need to make a decision.

Rodger advised me to keep it as original as possible, including single-stage paint. His advice makes sense to me, but the paint guy I'm talking to says that with metallic colors, two-stage is far superior in appearance to the original. So if I go back to the forest green metallic, his advice is do the base/clear coat.

OK, let's hear some more wisdom from the rest of you! And thanks.

-John

John,

I'm far removed from being an expert, but 1953 DeSoto station wagons could be ordered in three solid colors: ( codes 324,345, and 361) and two two-tone paint codes: ( 370 and 380). I would go with the original 324 or the two tone 370 using the modern base coat/clear coat on either. I don't think the value of the car will be decreased by going with the modern paint. I don't think the value will be increased by matching up the new paint with the original 324 color particularly since the engine is no longer original. I was surprised that the white color was not offered in 1953.

Mac

Well...you dared to ask!

First, I just gotta say...FABULOUS Desoto you have there, John! Wowza, that's nice!

I can really understand that you want to take your time choosing the paint colour for your car. As you know, it's a serious undertaking to properly repaint any car, let alone a HUGE, vintage DeSoto. The exterior is one thing, but painting the door frames, firewall, engine compartment, trunk, etc. involves a whole MESS of work and decision-making. Plus, it's not an inexpensive endeavor, so I know that you don't want to have to do it again any time soon. ChaCHING.

I'm currently undergoing a repaint of my '57, and sometimes I get tired just thinking about it. LOL The whole ordeal involved a lot of prolonged indecision and second guessing on my part, but I'm still enjoying the process despite myself.

Something to consider, is that the darker colours do take more work to keep looking their best on our beloved behemoths, and none of us are getting any younger. LOL Plus, a darker colour might show the painting imperfections more than lighter colours would, if your painter is less gifted than others. Also, the real colour of the available paint chips can vary from photo to photo, source to source, and computer screen to computer screen, so those factors can sometimes alter decisions. I may be wrong, but I'm under the impression that non-metallic paint looks better using single-stage painting methods, and metallic paint looks better using two-stage painting methods? But to be honest, I think that how shiny and "perfect" your car ends up looking is due more to the final buffings, topcoat application methods, and to the over all talents of your painter. But what do I know?

In my humble opinion, 324 Forest Green Metallic is a very nice colour for the '53's, if you decide to keep you car "original". It's a real, classy colour for a grand old 'wagon, such as yours. I don't think that you can go wrong with painting your car its original colour, as long as YOU like...no...make that LOVE it!

Of the other two original paint colours for the '53 'wagon, I like 361 Sovereign Maroon Metallic better than the less-impactful 345 Arizona Beige (non-metallic) for a grand 'wagon such as yours.

As for the two original choices for a two-tone paint scheme for the '53 'wagon, I like 370 (Spring Green over Forest Green) better than 380 (Arizona Beige over Morocco Brown), but that's just me.

As for the other non-'wagon, but original, '53 paint colours:
...a very nice, one-colour paint scheme would be:
- 309 Harbor Blue Metallic - another stately colour.

...and a very nice, two-colour paint scheme would be:
- 322 Spring Green and 301 Black (body green/roof black) My favourite pick?
- 322 Spring Green and 310 Midnight Blue Metallic (body green/roof blue) My second favourite pick?
- 322 Spring Green and 365 Ceramic Yellow (body green/roof yellow)

Anyway, this is just my opinion for what it's worth. I'd have a tough time choosing among the above choices myself!

Best of luck!

John. It is your car and you can do what you want. A simple opinion shared by me is to paint it in the original color with the single stage paint. You cannot go wrong with this. Probably 50% or more of NDC members could be into maintaining their cars as original.

I second that. Paint it whatever you like. Or.....don't paint it and drive it. The cost of a properly done paint job will likely exceed the value of the car, so I'd drive it and have fun.

Have a nice day
Steve

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Did you make a decision regarding paint colour, John?

John, You answered your own question before you even asked: you want it to be a nice driver. That said, I wouldn't spend extra money for an authentic paint job by someone who isn't extremely experienced with single stage. If you want to go original colors, fine, if not, that's fine too. It's your car man. I don't however, recommend pink & purple...

OK, this is driving me crazy. "Opinions are like navels, everyone has one (except for Adam and Eve"). I just had to spend my "two cents worth".
Did you ever wonder why late model cars aren't prone fading, chipping, etc and you can spill brake fluid on the finish without disasterous results?
Yep, it's the high-solids, UV blocker laden, urethane clear coats. The manufacturers didn't start clear coating everything (much more expensive up front) because it makes the vehicle look "prettier", it's to protect the finish and substrates from corrosive contaminants (like acid rain). When the average financing term has advanced to over 64 months, there needs to be something left after the last payment.
Us old folks remember back when that pretty red car we bought would turn to dull pink in a couple of years due to sunlight promoted oxidation. Today's clears prevent the UV rays from getting to the basecoats and primers.
Through the use of spectrophotometers, a good body shop or auto paint store can match virtually any color (even that old letter sweater!)
I've posted before that the best quality of spray paint application for the buck will be found at your local MAACO. All that spray tech does is just that-sprays! Since the corners they cut to keep the price low is in the prep (masking and sanding) and quality of the finish materials. If you do your own prep and supply your own materials, you can end up with outstanding refinish job.

Article re paint (I know nothing about the subject, but found this interesting )

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/hot ... aints.html

This is an enlightening discussion. Thanks to all who have contributed. Rosemary, the link you posted covered soup to nuts on single stage or base/clear. Interesting. I plan to have the tailgate repaired, and then decide about the further rust repair benefit-to-cost ratio. If I deal with all the rust, I'll have a lot of primer on the car and will probably repaint it. My current leanings are toward Forest Green Met, the original color, if we do a full respray. I'm also considering a green, maybe the lighter green from '53, on the top, leaving the body white. Several have noted that the metallic colors are much more satisfactory in base/clear, so I'm favoring that for the Forest Green Met option.

Here's an unrelated note on my project. We started on this car a little over a year ago. It's always had a noticeable list to the left. I just had new coils installed up front, and the spring shop who did the work apologized that the list is less now, but not gone. (Drum roll...) The LF tire is smaller than the other three! 235R70 there and 255R70 on the other three corners! What the...? Anybody have an extra Yokohama Avid 255R70-15 with 2 3/4 whitewall? I had checked tire pressure, but I had not crawled under the car to read the markings on the inside of the tires.

But Dan Lyman, I loved the Shell Pink and Iridescent Lavendar combination offered in '56! I'm aghast at your derogatory comment!