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Hello All - So, noticed today on the rear quarter-panel that is painted white some missing paint, where it honestly looks like it just recently fell off. The surrounding paint looks okay. Any suggestions on how to best fix this, that does not include a professional paint work? I was hoping maybe there is an automotive touch up paint I could get online that someone might recommend? The diameter of the missing paint chip is about a quarter sized. Lemme know!
Thanks again and again.
Jay
With not knowing the year of your Desoto. I very much dobt that you will walk into an automotive store and find a color of white to match the current white on your fender. Since the last Desoto came off the line in 1961 and if you have a 61 then the color over the past 50+ years will have faded over the years and being a single stage paint will have faded a lot. You might find a good auto paint store that could take a small chip from the fender and then they could custom match the color as close as possible but maybe not 100%.
I think this would be your best option but still not a perfect match.
Rich HArtung
O'Rielly's has stores that have a paint department. These folks have a "gun" that can "read" your paint color and match it pretty darn close. They can do spray cans or jars of the color.
We do this all the time at Smitty's where touch up is required. May not be exactly "perfect" but so close that it takes a good eye to tell the difference, if any. Regardless it will look a whole lot better than what you have now.
"It's delightful, it's delovely, it's DeSoto"
Thanks for the responses, got really excited about the O'reilly option, called and because of California laws, they do paint here! Bummer!
California's regulations might make this harder and more expensive than it should be.
Rich is right that the paint on the car has shifted over the years, and even if you could purchase a new batch of the original formula, it probably wouldn't match the car anymore.
One workable solution thanks to California's crazy set of rules would be to find a body shop that has a mixing bank and ask them to make up a custom match color in what I would call single stage enamel (but I think California is largely waterborne paints now, and I have no experience with that...)
If you are only doing small touch-ups with a brush to fill a chip or something likewise, a pint of enamel would last you a lifetime.
Probably even more of a hassle, you could remove your gas cap door and send it to someone out of state to have some paint matched and shipped to you. I could volunteer Fred since he has brought up O'Reilly's..... but then again, I have an O'Reilly's with their color gun that can create a pretty close match, too.
It's supposed to be fun!
1949 De Soto Custom Convertible (project)
