Ugly Copra Drab

[Mitch//pa]

dont go by the company names of paint and expect that to be correct...

by scanning it you will get a 100% match

my ford maroon came back as midnight cordovan (modern name) ppg
which was scanned from the finish guide chip and we got a 100% match

the color on the car looks perfect to me

use a place that has a good digital scanner
if you want to use flannery ill help
they are on the mark

[H. L. Chauvin]

Hi Terry,

Please don't give up yet. Just simple color choices.

Maybe discuss with your wife the most preferable of the "many, many" variations of Chicle & Copra, with or without correct straw wheel paint, & with or without whitewall tires.

Do you really think for a moment that Model A judges in the 50 States are concerned about who sleeps in your dog house?

Just hope this helps.

[sphanna]

I took the paint chips for Copra and Chicle Drabs from the Model A Paint and Finish Guide from any of the suppliers to O'Reilly's auto supply. They scanned them and perfectly matched the chip colors. I really like the colors on my Fordor and have fielded many complements on the color.

Steve

[pgerhardt]

I checked out Marco's "choose a color" site. It is a nicely designed site with some great photoshop work. However by its nature these photoshopped roadsters reflect the artist's interpretation of each color.

My 1930 coupe in Ditzier Chichle and Copra was of the greenish variety. Which I liked.

[BadgerA]

I too was challenged by these paint colors as the spray outs of the stated color formulas are not correct. Indeed, the vast majority of cars painted these colors are either too gray or too green. I expressed this concern to Ken Ehrenhofer. He had been working on this with his "paint guy" for years. He\we have finally come up with the right formulas for PPG concept single stage that very closely matches the paint and finish guide. I have attached a file with these formulas. I painted my Victoria accordingly and am very pleased with the results. Much better than what is generally out there. If you are thinking of trying these formulas, I would strongly suggest you have your paint supplier do some spray outs so that you can check for yourself and decide if you like them.

Cheers

[Terry, NJ]

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Thanks Mitch! It is appreciated! However, this is all past tense, the paint was ordered, mixed, and paid for. Yeah, I could wiggle out of it, but I don't like doing that. But on the other hand.. Where do I get those paint chips?
Terry

Originally Posted by Mitch//pa

dont go by the company names of paint and expect that to be correct...

by scanning it you will get a 100% match

my ford maroon came back as midnight cordovan (modern name) ppg
which was scanned from the finish guide chip and we got a 100% match

the color on the car looks perfect to me

use a place that has a good digital scanner
if you want to use flannery ill help
they are on the mark

[Mitch//pa]

Originally Posted by Terry, NJ

Thanks Mitch! It is appreciated! However, this is all past tense, the paint was ordered, mixed, and paid for. Yeah, I could wiggle out of it, but I don't like doing that. But on the other hand.. Where do I get those paint chips?
Terry

here is a link to the book or your welcome to borrow mine
https://mafca.com/cart/index.php?productID=129

[Jay's Model A's]

Reference to Copra/Chickle Drab colors, please take a look at A July 10, 2012 Thread on Ford Barn and you will find , ( In my opinion) the true Copra/Chickle Drab colors...Included on that Thread is The Formulation. That I have shared with dozens of people.. If you have any questions please call me or EMAIL @ [email protected]. Thanks Jay

[Jay's Model A's]

See above...Jay

[TonyM]

I love the Chicle and Copra Drabs.

[Bob Bidonde]

I struggled with finding accurate paint formulas for Copra & Chickle Drabs for a few years, but to no avail. Having failed to get formulas for the Drabs that could be verified to be accurate by comparison to a Model A with the original colors, I did my own thing and painted my 190A with colors that I like.

With a degree of pessimism, I question the originality of this car. Does it have credentials to prove and or verify its originality? Would anyone spend $2000 on paint that looks like the colors of the car pictured on the basis of the hearsay that is has original colors?


I am open to criticism re my viewpoints above, but tell me first that reasonably accurate paint formulas with agreement by the the national judging standards committee have come from the car in the picture. Then my pessimism will become jubilation.

[H. L. Chauvin]

FWIW: Maybe something to think about with 1930's original paint.

In the 1930's, if one would have gone to a paint store on the east coast of Maine to order a certain color of paint; then goes to a similar paint store in Arizona to order the same exact formula & color of paint; and now considering the differences between climate change, basic pigments from different areas, & varied amounts of different pigment because of human mixing error, what would be a guess as to what is the possibility of an exact match that if these two (2) formulae of paint were placed on one wall in Saint Louis Missouri where one may add different amounts of paint thinner.

Would all of the paint in all of the Ford Plants be exactly alike in 1930?

[Marco Tahtaras]

Originally Posted by H. L. Chauvin

FWIW: Maybe something to think about with 1930's original paint.

In the 1930's, if one would have gone to a paint store on the east coast of Maine to order a certain color of paint; then goes to a similar paint store in Arizona to order the same exact formula & color of paint; and now considering the differences between climate change, basic pigments from different areas, & varied amounts of different pigment because of human mixing error, what would be a guess as to what is the possibility of an exact match that if these two (2) formulae of paint were placed on one a single wall in Saint Louis Missouri where one may add different amounts of paint thinner.

Would all of the paint in all of the Ford Plants be exactly alike in 1930?

The more you learn about Ford's practices the more you realize their capabilities for consistency. They had to be pretty darn close across the board. For nearly every model you could go to your dealer and order a replacement door "painted and trimmed". That means if you needed a new right rear door for a 155-D Town Sedan in chickle and copra with brown mohair you would order A-156705-D and specify the paint color. They had to be pretty darn close or they wouldn't bother!

Originally Posted by Bob Bidonde

With a degree of pessimism, I question the originality of this car. Does it have credentials to prove and or verify its originality? Would anyone spend $2000 on paint that looks like the colors of the car pictured on the basis of the hearsay that is has original colors?

It would be tough to mistake the car as anything but original! You would understand if you saw it in person.

[ericr]

gotcha but in one of the branch service letters, the branch makes it clear their preference changed to shipping body panels in primer, not color, and let the local body shop fiddle with the color. whether it was an absolutely rule, I don't recall.

[ericr]

I didn't think I could see anything on the Barn that would ever surprise me, but this thread floors me, being one the 1970s-greenish tint owners. the color I am seeing in some of these posts almost looks the Arabian Sand color.

[H. L. Chauvin]

I remember reading in the past, (I think maybe a few years ago on the other Forum), that Mr. Marco's perceptions of some of Ford's body colors came also from actual protected original Model A body parts that were not faded by the sun's ultraviolet rays, nor worn down from polishing; i.e. concealed behind upholstery or some other material.

He could possibly elaborate on same if one is searching for as close as possible to Ford's authentic colors.

[Skibb]

Terry,

Happy wife, happy life....

[bill44]

My car has both the drabs. I think it looks Ok. I can send you some other pictures if you want. Email me direct at [email protected]

[TerryH]

I thought it might be helpful to post a couple of photos of my 1930 Town Sedan, that I bought restored about 8 years ago. The gentleman that restored it had it finished with Dupont "Chroma Premier", in the late 1990's. I have seen many Chicle and Drab Town Sedans, and many are either a greyish tinge or decidedly brown. I happen to like this particular rendition, but do not know if it is any closer to the original color.

Here is the car in bright sunlight and closeup


A profile view

[H. L. Chauvin]

Hi TerryH,

Very neat looking car ...... thanks for taking time to post same.