Honolulu Blue Paint Code

[MarkIIJim]

Hi there,

Wondering if anyone has any information on the paint code or similar colour to Honolulu Blue that William Clay Ford's Mark II was painted? All I could find in my search was "The exterior was repainted in Honolulu Blue using multi-stage pearl Inmont acrylic lacquer as an homage to the Detroit Lions, the pro football team that William owned." I just love the color on a Mark II and would like to know more about it.

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/lion-hearted-mark-ii-1956-lincoln-continental-mark-ii#&gid=1&pid=1

[Milsteads Garage]

According to the original paint chips, Honolulu blue wasn’t a standard color. Neither was the acrylic lacquer paint you mentioned. Inmont was a very old brand of paint that was bought by BASF paints in 1985. I can assure you the single stage stuff they make nowadays flat out beats the pants off Acrylic lacquer. Matter of fact, the ultra cheap Duplicolor paint shop line is about what Inmont acrylic lacquer was. I am in the process of redoing my 56 in a blue color and am doing some heavy research on paints. I found out that Imron paint line that everyone swore by is now owned by the Axalta line. I plan on not doing a base-clear coat paint just because the clear always seems to lift off the base coat in Arizona sun and heat.

[Milsteads Garage]

A color that might be close is Dodges electric blue metallic. I had a 1990 Dodge D250 that looked very similar.

[jdsnoddy]

Jim:
The current owner of WCF's Mark II is
Rick Schmidt
CEO of National Parts Depot
900 SW 38th AveMap
Ocala, FL 34474
Toll-Free: 800-874-7595
Sales: 352-861-8700

Recommend you contact Rick about Honolulu blue questions.

[Milsteads Garage]

My friend and mentor who restored this car in 1974 is Axel Holm and I didn’t put the two together until just now. He passed in 2020 but he was a close friend of mine since 1997. This paint was 100% a custom mix from what I remember hearing. This is also nitrocellulose lacquer he painted everything with because it was innovative to him at the time and top of the line. He also told me it was a more resilient paint that you could get super shiny with the right amount of buffing. All the cars he did were painted with nitrocellulose lacquer. Reach out to Rick Smith at NPD and see if he can help you.

[Barry Wolk]

There are a bunch of shades of Honolulu Blue. The link you pictured is not one of them. Way too bright. Much more subtle in person.

23064

[Barry Wolk]

I've sent Rick Schmidt a link for this question. Maybe he'll share the paint formula.

[jdsnoddy]

Speaking of different shades, Mrs. Charles ( Hazel) Gates owned 1670. I loved that shade of Honolulu blue; bet it was stunning when new.
John

[MarkIIJim]

Thanks for the replies! I agree the one on the Hemmings link appears much too bright.

[Barry Wolk]

Rick Schmidt is on vacation and will respond when he returns.

[Ricks]

Sorry for the late-response time, I've been swimming upstream all week.

Indeed, the original Honolulu Blue was proprietary to WCF, and was Inmont "lab mixes", i.e. not off-the-shelf colors. I dug into one of my dad's files on the car, and lucked upon the original Ford documents covering the specifications of the original Ford build in 1968. The last page being the specs/instructions for Honolulu Blue. Not that it's going to get you anywhere today, but it's still a pretty nifty piece showing the lengths they went to for Mr. Ford's Mark II.

How exactly my dad and Jeff & Lloyd Brekke (they performed the most-recent restoration of the car) re-created the original Honolulu Blue is something they would have to recount, but my dad's in Colorado and I'm reluctant to trouble Jeff on a formula process that he worked-up 22 years ago. I know that it's Sikkens, and I know that the best that they could do as a benchmarking goal was to pay attention to the attached sheet and match to an enormous chunk of paint that had fallen off from the Desert Classics re-do in the mid-1970's. Yes, when dad purchased the car in 1982, the paint was literally "falling off" in large swaths in/around the a/c air intakes and quarter panels. So we kept some for future reference LOL. I have no idea where those might be today. All I know is that I've known the car since 1982, and Jeff Brekke really nailed the match and the pearlescence. It looks in my eyes precisely the same color it was when we obtained the car, just a heckuva lot slicker. Jeff is a frigging genius, at least in my eyes.

Well, that's all I can say on the color! Needless to say, I hope I'm never involved in any scrape-ups with the car in the future (knocking on wood) LOL. ;) 23391

[Milsteads Garage]

Very cool! Thanks for joining the forum and thank you for getting back with us on the color. Any chance you offer reproduction parts for these? If you do, I’m sure we will all chime in on what we need

[Barry Wolk]

Very cool! Thanks for joining the forum and thank you for getting back with us on the color. Any chance you offer reproduction parts for these? If you do, I’m sure we will all chime in on what we need


I just ordered 4 lower window stop blocks from a Thunderbird listing at NPD. I'll let you know how they work. There are several interchangeable Thunderbird parts.

23499

[Barry Wolk]

Sorry for the late-response time, I've been swimming upstream all week.

23391

Thanks for joining us again. I know you're busy.

[MarkIIJim]

Thanks for the reply Rick! That document on the painting specifications is very interesting, amazing the 3 gallons of blue, 3 gallons of pearl and 2 gallons of clear that went on! And beautiful car by the way!