Name this color
 

I am trying to identify the color of my SC. The label that I am told that should be under the trunk lid, is not there. There is a small metal tag on the passenger side of the trunk that in English says"synthetic varnish". I assume this is their way of meaning paint. The number is 817-9-2. My local dealer couldn't make heads or tails of it. It was determined that it isn't a standard factory color, but it is a factory paint job. I am attaching 2 pics. of the car. When the sun goes in, the car appears to be dark red/maroon. When the sun hits it, it almost looks like Gaurds Red. It is not a metallic paint, unless it's super fine and I can't tell. Any opinions would be appreciated. The dealer said it could of been a "paint to sample" color, in which case there is no chance of getting touch up paint for it.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1141504393.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1141504457.jpg

If it's paint to sample, I'm no help. But for 1983, here were the standard (reddish) colors:
Guards Red (027)
Ruby Red Metallic (810)
Kiln Red Metallic (811)

Regardless of what it's called, it's a very pretty color.

Stunningly beautiful color !

And I like the large Rhododendron bushes too. What sort is it ?

Maybe when they stamped the paint code they made a "typo". I looked more closely at the pain today with the sun hitting it and I think I noticed a super fine metallic in the paint. Quite possibly it is Ruby or Kiln Red.
Marcus, as for the bushes, I haven't a clue. They came with the house :D

It looks like Ruby Red in the 1st photo. The lighting in the bottom makes it look like kiln but I'd still vote ruby. Really nice color.

Ian

Markus, sorry I mispelled your name, anyways here is picture when the bushes were in bloom.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1141508212.jpg http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1141508251.jpg

a great mountain plant... should be some in the Appalachians near you.

defintely NOT guards red

Beautiful color!

Beautiful ! I could probably name three out of four sorts for you. But I guess it wouldn´t mean anything to you.. :D

Ruby red ....hmm. Porsche have plausibly used the color names in different models over the years. I have seen plenty pics of for example the 964 RS in "Ruby red" and that color was much different - more of pastel like (rather kinky actually).

That color reminds me of when I used to have genetics course in college. In the lab part of the course we had to cross-breed fruit flies, Drosophila Melanogaster. Most of the flies had eyes the color of "Cinnabar", which strongly resembles the color of your car.

Here is my Ruby Red. A s you can see the shade of Red tends more towards brown than guards red

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1141582261.jpg

Well here's my '84 Kiln Red. Looks a lot like your second photo but nothing like the first.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1141583937.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1141583976.jpg
I know from my own photos that Kiln looks different depending on the light but it's never looked like your first picture.

Yowsa! That Carrera script looks great on your Kiln Red.

Thanks,

I struggled with that for a while when I refinished the wheels

The original color was platinum which matched the interior (grey beige). At the time Platinum to match the interior kind of reminded me of this guy I used to work with who matched the color of his shirt to the socks he wore. I could never get over that...

I though about going with black but that just seemed to look too dark so I finally decided to try something different. If I could get a stripe in Platinum I might eventually try that but I'm not sure if anyone makes them in that color.

you may not be able to order touch up, but if you remove your fuel filler door and take it in to a good auto paint shop (paint seller, not bump shop), they can mix whatevewr quantitiy you want. I've even heard of them just mixing touch up bottles.

But why take off the fuel filler door? Just drive it over and have they them do it?

I went to one local body shop that told me when in cases like this they remove a piece of the car to send it out to their paint supplier to get a batch made up. They suggested the same thing with regards to removing the fuel door. I think the easier thing to do would be to take of the headlight bezel and have them do a color sampling off that. I am leaning more towards calling it Ruby Red, because like Rubies, with little light they are a dark red (almost like blood red), but when light hits them they obviously get brighter.

i don't think the headlight bezel has a large enough flat surface to get a good read with the spectrometer. Some places may have a portable unit that can be taken to the car, other's are bench set ups.

It looks like Peru Red to me. There was a recent thread showing several examples of cars in that color. Great color, that was discontinued in the late 70's, if i remember correctly. Do a forum search and you will find.

not Peru red, (very non-metalic)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1141664691.jpg

IF the paint code doesn't reveal the color then it might be time to take pics of the car with a color standard in the frame - a chip from a chip book would do it.

The next step down would be for everybody to specify the conditions when they took their pics -- cloudy or not and middle of day or late in the day. Both factors shift the color temperature ("quality") of the light and will bias color rendition.

I just came back from the grocery store and someone stopped me in the parking lot to complement the car. He thought it was more of a Brick color because there are hints of brown in it. Who knows maybe that's what it is. Someone ordered it to match their house. I actually do know the name, address and phone number of the original owner. Though I don't know if the info is still valid after all these years. The car was made in Oct 1982 and delivered to Porsche/Audi of Manhattan in Nov. 11, 1982. Wouldn't that be weird for someone to call you out of the blue saying they now own the car you had bought some 23 years ago.

I have a Ruby Red 83 SC and it just doesn't look even close to the same color as yours. Good luck and make sure you let us know your conclusion.

Howie, since you have an '83 as well, I will rule out Ruby. I just tried looking up the name, number and address of the first owner through 411.com and came up with nothing listed. So possibly it's Kiln Red metallic, because something has to be making the color "pop" when the sun hits it, so I will assume super fine metallic flakes are doing it.

match their house -- sounds like a special order color. You need to decipher the paint code and maybe get info from P AG

S2GART,

Kiln red is a brick red. However, it is also easliy discernable (to my eye) as a fine metallic. Seems strange that someone would special order a color that looked so close to one that was available from the dealer. However, maybe it was because for some reason they didn't want a metallic finish. I'd still vote Kiln Red if your finish looks like my attached close ups. My car spent it's life in Florida so the paint has faded some and may look a bit lighter than yours.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1141685656.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1141685761.jpg

The label on mine actually reads the correct German nomenclature which was Ziegelrot (I think I spelled that right!) which is in effect brick red in German.

I've also owned a Peruvian red car and I don't think that's what we are dealing with here.

Oh, one last word of caution and probably the most important of all. If it turns out it is Kiln Red you will not be able to get an accurate touch up paint without having the color matched professionally. The Kiln Red formula used by the companies that provides touch up paints is way off, almost purple-ish. Ask me how I know.

If you wrote to PCNA for a Cert of autenticity, wouldn't they be able to list teh original color? (Assuming it's original)

whatever it turns out to be, it rocks

Kilodawg, I like that color, but mine is darker. If that is Porsche's metallic, then my paint isn't metallic.
I was told by the dealer that a Certificate of Authenticity will list the color, or it will say Paint to Sample. Has anyone here got a COA for their car?
Here is one more pic of my car. In this one the color is in between the 2 previous pics I posted. You can see the front lower valance has some wind "burn", plus there is some road rash on the mirrors and bumber. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1141700737.jpg

Yep too dark for Kiln Red. Good luck on your search and let us know what you find out!