72' Grabber Blue paint code

Mike Dailey has paint chip charts and codes on his site;
http://www.panteraplace.com/page337.htm

What does the paint code tag say it is? If it's been repainted at some point it could literally be anything.

Either way as paint fades as it ages I'd take it to a paint shop, have them take a photo with a special camera and mix from that. They usually guarantee a match that way.

Unfortunately, the chip paint codes are useless for this color, per my body shop. I guess we'll have to match the underside of the headlight bucket.

Are you saying the paint chips don't match the color or the body shop cannot make a formula based on the old paint codes?

Are you trying to match a current paint or revert to an original shade?

The car is originally that color, had it stripped to bare metal, now ready to repaint. Thankfully the headlight buckets haven't been stripped so there is a reference, but don't know how close to original it is. I'd rather not mix paint that might be a copy of a copy.

As far as that PDF color chart. The 71 MY V406 can be found, but is a darker blue. The 72 MY blue has no "V" number, and the other paint manufactures numbers cannot be mixed.

The parts manual lists only one "blue" for 1972 Panteras. It has the following crosses:

Ditzler 14622
Dupont 43167
Glidden 169-A-24

Yes, and those numbers are not valid now. At least everyplace I've looked and asked they aren't.

This paint color is more weird by the day. V406 by the chart is this color, and it does mix that way. However, there are hardly any cars shown with this shade. 95% of them are Grabber blue, and they look to be stock. Surely all those cars weren't changed from V406 to Grabber blue. Working the car down to bare metal, and all areas where factory paint would be present show Grabber blue. BUT the engine deck lid shows the V406 darker blue. What was the factory doing?!

It looks as though there was a transition during 1972, perhaps in line with Pre to L updates?

The V406 is a 71/72 color (Ditzler 14314) and the later 72 color is the Ditzler 14622. There at least 3 distinct shades of Grabber Blue, none of which have a Ditzler/PPG code matching De Tomaso.

But if you have found your oem color and have it mixed to match sounds like you are good to go!

I do believe they changed the paint color somewhere midstream production. They had a deck lid painted the V406, and then changed it to the Grabber blue to match the car. That's what I'm going with anyway Too bad they did not update the formula numbers, but that's Italian!

In these photos, taken at the factory at some point in late '72 to early '73, you can see a number of blue cars in various stages of production. They look Grabber Blue to me, or perhaps a bit darker, but keep in mind these were 35mm slides that have been digitized. The colors might be quite far off. Notice how pale the yellow and red cars look.

http://pantera.infopop.cc/eve/...271040956#6271040956

Those are great pictures. I would say those who have a true V406 colored car have a very rare one. Probably early 71 only.