Sundance Yellow paint code

[Maxthe222]

Hey gang,

Looking at trying some DIY paintwork at home for the Formula. Panels are straight enough (for a driver, anyway), they're just pretty surfaced rusty, and well... blue, when the car should be a factory Sundance Yellow car. I'm going to give it a shot sanding back, prepping, painting etc at home and thought I might as well try and go for the right colour once it's time to slap some paint on. Mind you, this won't be an end result deal, I won't put the W50 decals on yet, i'll save that for when the car is completely restored. But for now, it's down to bare metal in a lot of places, and it needs some fresh paint on it to stop it from rusting as it is kept outdoors.

So, when I look up the paint codes for Sundance Yellow, a whole bunch of different codes come up. Is Chevrolet ( ) Bright Yellow the same colour as Pontiac Sundance Yellow just branded differently by GM? Or are they actually different colours? The codes I've got for PPG are 3084 and Dupont 45186DH. I don't think I can get Dupont paint in Australia, but maybe PPG is possible. That being said, underneath the fenders, the body of the car is still the original untouched Sundance Yellow. Am I better off trying to get paint mixed via those codes? Or just try and find paint that matches the body?

[Wallington]

Many colours were shared across the GM range, but given their own marketing names.

Regardless of paint brand mixture codes or division name, GM simply calls it 51 Bright Yellow.

The older codes don't translate to how paints are mixed these days, in most cases. A sample would still be best to match from.

Or you find someone who shipped the entire paint sample plates to your same city. Here's mine. You may be also able to find single sample plates on ebay by typing in the paint name or codes.

20220625_003046 by Aus78Formula, on Flickr

Here's the same code with names for other divisions. Buick wasn't ever trying to be exciting, just sensible for the older gentleman.

2022-06-25 (2) by Aus78Formula, on Flickr

[roadking77]

Agree with Walli.  At least stateside the paint codes mean almost nothing now. When I was trying to get some paint at one time the paint shop suggested I get a colour sample for them to match. You will probably have better luck. There are paint chip books on ebay I think, should be somewhat easy to track something down.

[Maxthe222]

I thought as much, paint formulas have changed so much I didn't think they would. And sure enough, there is a 1978 colour card exactly like that on ebay. May be worth buying to give to paint shops

[Wallington]

It would be a much better deal and for shipping than buying about 50 to get the 1 I wanted lol.

Like I said, you can borrow this one but probably be more useful having your own if needed down the track and to keep for future mixing, unless you locate a current yellow that is close.

[Maxthe222]

Like I said, you can borrow this one but probably be more useful having your own if needed down the track and to keep for future mixing, unless you locate a current yellow that is close.

Mighty fine of you to offer My thoughts too, this is kind of a practise horse for me in terms of painting, panelling, fitment etc. With the F/A, I haven't done any bodywork myself, this one is a bit more of a "eh what's the worst I can do to it if I try sand it like this" kinda thing, so I might be painting, stripping, painting, striping etc, so I might be mixing paint frequently enough to need my own. It was a $500 car, but at the end of the road, I want it to look the right yellow with the right W50 decals on it. For now, it's almost last in queue as it's "clean-ish" now and isn't far from being a runaround.