[Jukebox-list] Re: AMI G80 Original Colors

[Aaron Heverin]

Dan,

What color is the F-120 now? I haven't been following this thread very closely so I don't know if the original color was addressed at all. Does your F exhibit the typical peeling and flaking that was very common with any of the machines neglected in a garage or barn for 50 years? Does it have a lower front door? If so, is the door solid or has the very bottom rail on the inside started to crack into smaller pieces with the veneer peeling away? If so, here's what I did to get my local paint guy - NOT HOME DEPOT!!!! - to perfectly match the Firecracker Red.

I had an F that needed a ground up restoration. It was originally Red, but all of the exterior paint had flaked off down to the "coral" primer. However, the inside of the lower door didn't have ANY of the paint peeling away...just very dirty. After carefully taking the front grill off of the door, I found that the lower rail was falling apart. I took a small piece of this wood - which didn't have any of the black or grey flecking on it - to my paint guy. He had been in business for 35 years and was a pro when it came to mixing colors. All done by eye. I told him where the sample came from and that it was showing 50 years of dirt and neglect even though I cleaned it up. So my point to him was that whatever color he came up with....it should be a tad lighter than his formula. After 4 days, he called me up to come down and look at it. DEAD ON!

Watching him make a gallon of the stuff was hysterical! He practically drained the red resevoir in his paint dispenser doing it. Needless to say, it was close to $50 a gallon! The paint I purchased was made by Muralo, and I chose a "furniture grade" - which means a paint made to be handled or touched on a daily basis. It's very durable and drys like an epoxy! It's very forgiving and sprays on easiliy providing you thin it slightly. I don't know the formula off hand, but the reason I asked about your front door is that if you have the same issues as I did with mine, that lower piece is a great way to get a clean sample of your original color to come up with a match. I even think you can carefully take the door apart by the four wood screws - two on either side - in order to take one of the side panals of the door to get a color match. Remember, you want to try and use the interior of the door since most of the time the paint remains intact.

Not sure if any of this will work in your situation, but I wanted to throw it out there just in case.

A.

Aaron Heverin