A tale of four colors

Although I still haven't found a single coin or lost dollar bill during the deconstruction of the Stude, I am uncovering some interesting things. I knew that the color of the top was a little bit too light but wasn't quite sure how light. After removing the "Studebaker" script from just above the beltline on the C-pillar, I discovered this:

I didn't spend a good deal of time cleaning this up since it is going to be blasted away soon--I just wiped it clear of several years of gunk with a damp rag. But here you see 4 colors: a baby (or sky) blue (with a little bit of haze from waxing) followed by Studebaker Maui Blue, transitioning to Studebaker Ivory Mist and then a off-white/bone color. While both the sky blue and the off-white color are faded a little, I've polished up a few areas to remove the oxidation and the colors remain close to what you see here in the picture.

How did this happen? Well, someone could have picked different colors, of course, but I have a different idea. You'll recall that the quality of the paint on the car is, uh, let's say inexpensive--I'm thinking it is a typical Earl Scheib or Maaco bargain job. And going into one of those places and simply asking for Maui Blue over Ivory Mist may have gotten you entirely different colors from what Studebaker used. For example, take a look at this GM color called Maui Blue:

While it isn't a perfect match for the upper color (and is a metallic paint) it is much closer to that light blue than the original Studebaker mix.

While we're talking about paint, I also discovered that the car has been painted at least 3 times--possibly more if someone took the car down to bare metal before then--but I suspect not. Each time it appears that people made an attempt to return it to the original color.

More details on the great Stude tear down of 2011 soon. . .stay tuned!