What the hell color is my /94 Lumina?

[sad-lumina-owner]

Okay obviously its bright shiney red.

The problem is, I can't match it to any available GM red paint, nor can I find out what it actually is.

The door sticker is worn blank, and the trunk sticker is cryptic and displays no color info.

Obviously someone knows what colors GM made in 1994. But I don't.

I am trying to paint the door I got from the wreckers to match the rest of the car.

So far I have tried "GM bright Red" (apparently there's at least two versions of this). and also "GM Victory Red".

The first resulted in a door that in sunlight looked a dull brown-red in contrast to the rest of the car. The car looked more blue/purple next to "GM bright Red".

The second at least looked RED, but was unfortunately a very significant shade darker than the car. The car now looks like a kind of (candy?) red thats very bright (seems to invoke the name Lumina...), while the door looks like a hearse.

My claim is that SOMEONE knows what color is this thing called "Lumina", and that it must exist under SOME idiotic name or formula number for repair purposes.

[savannaz34]

Originally Posted by sad-lumina-owner

Okay obviously its bright shiney red.

The problem is, I can't match it to any available GM red paint, nor can I find out what it actually is.

The door sticker is worn blank, and the trunk sticker is cryptic and displays no color info.

Obviously someone knows what colors GM made in 1994. But I don't.

I am trying to paint the door I got from the wreckers to match the rest of the car.

So far I have tried "GM bright Red" (apparently there's at least two versions of this). and also "GM Victory Red".

The first resulted in a door that in sunlight looked a dull brown-red in contrast to the rest of the car. The car looked more blue/purple next to "GM bright Red".

The second at least looked RED, but was unfortunately a very significant shade darker than the car. The car now looks like a kind of (candy?) red thats very bright (seems to invoke the name Lumina...), while the door looks like a hearse.

My claim is that SOMEONE knows what color is this thing called "Lumina", and that it must exist under SOME idiotic name or formula number for repair purposes.

did you look on the spare tire cover?also if you give your local gm dealer your VIN number,they can tell you,and your local body shop can put it in a spraycan(spray paint)

[sad-lumina-owner]

Originally Posted by savannaz34

did you look on the spare tire cover?

also if you give your local gm dealer your VIN number,they can tell you,and your local body shop can put it in a spraycan(spray paint)

Okay here's the update:

I located the VIN number, but no info about paint color:

The door sticker has faded blank, the trunk sticker has no color numbers. (this is a /94..)

I have the VIN number. So I tried your suggestion:

First Chevy Dealer in area couldn't operate his own computer and couldn't come up with any paint info. He said, "the computer comes up blank."

An error message, anything?" I asked. "Nope."

"Should I try another dealer?" "Oh no." he said. "They will have the same result."

So I promptly tried another dealer.

Their parts department asked for the last 8 digits of the VIN. No problem. She came up with a "Fisher Code" of 9075, and a paint color of "70".

A guy in the background asked, "/94 Lumina?" "yes" "Is it bright Red?" "yes" "then its Torch Red." She said "we only have one red coming up for that year." "Okay, I'll give it a try, thanks!" I said.

Back at Canadian Tire I picked up a spray can of "GM Torch Red".

Color number three results:

Much closer to car color than "Victory Red", but still a shade ORANGE in comparison to car. But at least its the right "luminance" (brightness).


Recap:

(1) GM Bright Red: - comes out ugly brown-red.

(2) GM Victory Red: - comes out darker blood-red.

(3) GM Torch Red: - a shade too orange, but close.



Now should I go fishing for a "Fisher Code" match (hoping it won't cost a fortune), or should I just repaint the whole car lemon yellow?

Found a facsimile of the 1994 GM paint chip code pages:
http://www.tcpglobal.com/aclchip.asp...94-gm-pg03.jpg

Officially then it appears to be "color 70: 4230 Torch Red Solid, WA9075, for Buick, Chev, Pontiac, Corvette, and Oldsmobile"

According to them, color 70 is "Basecoat + Clearcoat" which explains the way this car chips. I thought some other fool had clearcoated it, but apparently thats factory.

I wonder if a 'clearcoat' will TINT the orange the right shade of 'red'...

[richtazz]

yes, to get a proper color match, you need to clearcoat it. Keep in mind that the car is sun faded, so the new touch-up paint will never match perfectly to the old current paint.

[sad-lumina-owner]

Originally Posted by richtazz

yes, to get a proper color match, you need to clearcoat it. Keep in mind that the car is sun faded, so the new touch-up paint will never match perfectly to the old current paint.

Thanks for the confirmation on the clearcoat, and the headsup on the fading.

The car is 14 years old, so I guess it could have 'turned' a little.

I thought the bumpers mismatched the body, but it may be simply that the body faded (turned more purple) while the bumpers stayed orange.

I'm going to try clearcoating a few layers and see if I can't make a better match.

[gw84]

I would've guessed the torch red would be the closest match. It's the same [bright red] they used on the '95-up lumina LTZ and monte carlo.

[macorocido]

Try BLOOD RED

[jeffcoslacker]

So your deck lid sticker doesn't have BC/CC codes?

I had a Torch Red 2000 Impala...and I've seen Lumina LTZ's that appeared the same color...I think with CC it will be the right color, if it's what I'm thinking of...