The critical path now is drying time. I mixed enough to shoot an 8 1/2 x 11 folio cover that I will cut up and send. PM me with your addresses. (I love the smell of lacquer thinner in the morning. It smells like restoration.)

When it is dry enough to handle, I will compare it to my car for a color reasonableness check. I think wet sanding, buffing and polish change the appearance but hopefully the color shade will match. The lacquer should be sufficiently dry for Monday's mail although I have noticed full curing takes a month or two. Usually I find that I can wet sand and finish after a day or two.

To the best of my knowledge, this color match should be very close to original. It is the same paint (acrylic lacquer) used by the factory and is mixed to the Dupont 4948-LH number in the charts. When I first repainted, in 1988, I don't recall significant deviations from areas not exposed to years of weather and sun. There are still some recessed/hidden places on my car that have never been repainted. When I replaced a quarter in 2004, I had a new batch of the acrylic lacquer mixed at a different store and it matches the 16 year-old stuff perfectly. I challenge anyone to find which panels were repainted in '04.

The gallon I purchased in 1988 cost $56.25. The gallon that I bought in 2003 as a spare, before they zapped lacquer here, cost $278.

It is dry enough to handle. The color of the “chip” seems to be close to the final look. The reflection of the garage door in the sanded/buffed and Zaino polished car trunk lid makes it a bit different.


The trunk lid underside has the original 38 year-old but faded dull abused paint so it looks a little different. Don't compare the two pictures to each other since the lighting and exposure is the real difference.


Can on the right 1988, on the left 2003.


My webpage has my solar red story: http://www.geocities.com/jims68fb/SolarRed.html If you would like to add your DCC experiences to it when your done or a link to your sites where you discuss it, please let me know.