Car colour reference

[JoReam]

Hi
Does anyone know if there is a reference online that can be used to accurately match a car colour number to an equivalent RGB or pantone colour number? I have a number of older colour photos of a car to restore and colour correct. I also have the colour paint name. Obviously the original photo's of the car are influenced by the lighting conditions at the time the photograph was taken, and the colour reproduction technology of the photo but it would be useful to know if such a reference exists. There are lots of photos on the internet of this car model which I can use as well as the usual restoration and colour correction techniques but it would be good to have an accurate reference point to aim for if one exists. Thanks in advance.

[Sabrina81]

I also have the colour paint name.

Could you post the name, please? Also the year and make of the car?

[andrewrodney]

Best process (not easy for some), measure with a Spectrophotometer to get Lab values, then easy to convert to any RGB color space.

[JoReam]

Hi

Thanks for your responses Sabrina and Andrew.

The car is a 1971 Dodge Challenger. Thecolour is a 1971 Dodge colour know as "citron yella" - its technical colour description is GY3 (G stands for the year 1971 and Y3 the colour). It is also known on Plymouths as "curious yellow" It is an extremely difficult colour to match, even car painters evidently have problems, as my client believes the repaint job on his car is not correct, because the original colour of the car under the bonnet is different from the newer exterior paint job. Colours of these cars on the net do vary in the photos I have seen between a sort of limey yellow through to what I might term a lemon yellow.

Andrew, thanks for the tip, showing my ignorance here, but I presume the spectrophotometer would be something that you use against the actual car - not photos?

[Sabrina81]

Hi

Thanks for your responses Sabrina and Andrew.

[LEFT]The car is a 1971 Dodge Challenger. Thecolour is a 1971 Dodge colour know as "citron yella" - its technical colour description is GY3 (G stands for the year 1971 and Y3 the colour).

Thank you. I would go to a page like this and copy the RGB values or hex code, and just use that. (For the hex, I get cddf00.)

[andrewrodney]

Andrew, thanks for the tip, showing my ignorance here, but I presume the spectrophotometer would be something that you use against the actual car - not photos?

It is a device that measures color yes, and yes you'd measure the car or the paint. The idea of measuring something printed or on the web is kind of ridiculous! We have zero idea how that image was produced, printed, if it's in or out of color gamut of the original etc.
If a paint shop, auto store etc, had touch up paint, then it could be measured with very good color accuracy and any RGB value from Lab could be produced.

[JoReam]

Thanks Sabrina and Andrew. At least I now know if I get really stuck with the colour correction of the photos what we can do. As you mention Andrew its hard to know whether a print accurately represents a colour due to the technology used to print it in the first place, how its been digitised, the lighting at the time and subsequent print damage over time.