# Schwinn's 1950's Opal Green paint



## Sven (May 16, 2018)

Does anyone know if there a automotive paint that is same or close to opal (opalescent)  green used from 1955 to  {I believe} 1958 ? Would this would use a silver metalic base with the green shot over? 
This is not for touch up. It will be for a redo. Thanks for your help!


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## deepsouth (May 16, 2018)

House of Kolor candy basecoat. Available from 66 auto color.  Check their website. It's available in spray cans too. I used the red on my 1958 Phantom .


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## rhenning (May 16, 2018)

The  best you can do is have a paint store scan the best original part you can find.  Something that wasn't sun bleached out.  There are no Schwinn codes that I am aware of out there.


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## Sven (May 16, 2018)

rhenning said:


> The  best you can do is have a paint store scan the best original part you can find.  Something that wasn't sun bleached out.  There are no Schwinn codes that I am aware of out there.



Thanks. That's is a good idea. I don't have any part in that color. I'm thinking about stripping the faded red off and redoing the whole thing in the green.


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## Sven (May 16, 2018)

deepsouth said:


> House of Kolor candy basecoat. Available from 66 auto color.  Check their website. It's available in spray cans too. I used the red on my 1958 Phantom .



Thanks Ill have to check it out.


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## GTs58 (May 16, 2018)

The silver base is not a "metallic" silver. It's just a plain silver or as Schwinn printed on the cans,  Aluminum Base. I've heard from two collectors that Dupli-Color's Metalcast Green is pretty damn close to near perfect. I know the Red and Blue are good matches but never tried the Green. Since the Opal's and Radiant's are candy colors or translucent, doing a color scan for a candy match will most likely be impossible.
I did some comparisons on the Blue, Red and Green Opal and Radiant colors a few years back and I came to the conclusion that the two, Opal and Radiant, were the same colors with just different names and quite possibly a product change also occurred at that time. Here's two forks I had off my 57 and 62 Corvettes. The steer tubes looked identical in color. I've also noticed that the Opal colors age darker on the exposed paint compared to the Radiant colors which to me indicates a different chemical make up of the paint. Here's my Opal and Radiant Green pics.



 




Here's my match for the Blue with Metalcast over VHT's Flat Aluminum.


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## 51PANTHER (May 17, 2018)

GTs58 said:


> The silver base is not a "metallic" silver. It's just a plain silver or as Schwinn printed on the cans,  Aluminum Base. I've heard from two collectors that Dupli-Color's Metalcast Green is pretty damn close to near perfect. I know the Red and Blue are good matches but never tried the Green. Since the Opal's and Radiant's are candy colors or translucent, doing a color scan for a candy match will most likely be impossible.
> I did some comparisons on the Blue, Red and Green Opal and Radiant colors a few years back and I came to the conclusion that the two, Opal and Radiant, were the same colors with just different names and quite possibly a product change also occurred at that time. Here's two forks I had off my 57 and 62 Corvettes. The steer tubes looked identical in color. I've also noticed that the Opal colors age darker on the exposed paint compared to the Radiant colors which to me indicates a different chemical make up of the paint. Here's my Opal and Radiant Green pics.
> 
> View attachment 808738 View attachment 808740
> ...



Yes the green duplicolor is almost the same i have used it on my 20" spitfire i did the fenders chainguard and rack i didnt do it right though but i try to match the patina of the bike


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## Sven (May 17, 2018)

*I Stripped and repainted my son's Onyx with the Dupli-Color metal cast green over a silver base and metal flake( Glitter paint). I will not  be added the bling to this job. Its amazing to me that how a picture looks different than that of what the naked eye sees. I took the top picture without a flash and the bottom one with. 
Thanks for you guy's expert advise !*


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## Sven (May 17, 2018)

GTs58 said:


> The silver base is not a "metallic" silver. It's just a plain silver or as Schwinn printed on the cans,  Aluminum Base. I've heard from two collectors that Dupli-Color's Metalcast Green is pretty damn close to near perfect. I know the Red and Blue are good matches but never tried the Green. Since the Opal's and Radiant's are candy colors or translucent, doing a color scan for a candy match will most likely be impossible.
> I did some comparisons on the Blue, Red and Green Opal and Radiant colors a few years back and I came to the conclusion that the two, Opal and Radiant, were the same colors with just different names and quite possibly a product change also occurred at that time. Here's two forks I had off my 57 and 62 Corvettes. The steer tubes looked identical in color. I've also noticed that the Opal colors age darker on the exposed paint compared to the Radiant colors which to me indicates a different chemical make up of the paint. Here's my Opal and Radiant Green pics.
> 
> View attachment 808738 View attachment 808740
> ...




*Thank you sir you are definitely a wealth of knowledge*


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## Sven (May 17, 2018)

51PANTHER said:


> Yes the green duplicolor is almost the same i have used it on my 20" spitfire i did the fenders chainguard and rack i didnt do it right though but i try to match the patina of the bike
> 
> View attachment 808857




*Thank you.. The bike is sweet, love the siren!*


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## spoker (May 17, 2018)

i havent cleaned it yet but my 55 corvette seems 2b a non metalic paint


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