MTFCA Forum

I am planning to prep and paint my car soon. My original paint plan was Windsor maroon. does anyone here have pictures of model ts with that color? also, i am going to paint the fenders and running boards black.

Hi Jonah. I googled "1926 1927 model t touring "Windsor Maroon". These 4 different cars came up. They were described as Burgundy but as similar as they are I believe they were striving towards Windsor Maroon. The one in the upper left was from:
https://www.volocars.com/auto-sales/veh ... onvertible
It also states "Ford Maroon"
There are some great photos of it there. If you want to google you can see more cars.

Nobody is really sure of what the actual “Windsor Maroon” looks like as no color photos or paint samples exist so your guess is as good as mine. Just choose a maroon color you really like and christen it Windsor Maroon. Here are the maroon colors I like and hope to paint my 1926 Fordor with one day. Jim Patrick

Jim is right about about paint colors being hard to match exactly. You can get close but it wont be the exact shade as Ford used.
Age, time and finding original examples are extremely hard to do make it very difulcult to do.
Surprisingly later paint used on modern cars can be pretty close. That’s an option to use when trying to find the right shade. When you do find it using a single stage topcoat looks really good and it’s not as many steps for a paint job if you choose to use a clear coat which is another step you have to do.
I have a 2010 Toyota Tundra PU I bought new and the color is what Toyota calls ‘Salsa’ which is real close to the center paint square Jim posted! I noticed it right off. Also the Dodge Ram PU’s has a real similar color.
Good luck!

Bruce provides paint formulas in the Encyclopedia:

It is difficult to determine the colour you like from paint samples/chips. Not only is the sample area very small, looking at it on different coloured background changes perspective also. I chose colours for my Australian bodied cars by chosing from those used on modern cars. You get to see them in their natural environment and in large blobs. The other advantage is you can then get a paint colour code from which you can have the correct colour made. Even if you then don't like it, you have a base colour from which the paint mixer can make alterations to suit. My chocolate van deep maroon started off as GM colur called Durif Red, to which we added 16% by volume of deep black to make it what I was hoping for.

Hope this helps,
Allan from down under.

According to the info I got when I bought my Fordor, this was painted Windsor Maroon.
Trouble is, as someone posted here, and in previous posts, you can go to 4 different paint makers, and end up
with 4 different shades of "Windsor Maroon". So in the end, you'll have to pick the one that trips your trigger, not someone elses.

Here's my interpretation.

Bottom line. When doing ANYTHING on your car...ask yourself, does it make YOU happy. We can chime in all we want, but if you take our advice and are unhappy with the results, the purpose of having a Model T that is a reflection and result of your taste, decisions, expense and hard work, that is supposed to make you happy, is defeated.

For instance my ‘26 coupe is supposed to be painted “Channel Green”, but the examples of what people thought “Channel Green” looked like, that is based upon old faded surviving examples, appears more to me to look like a dull olive drab, which I hate (see first photo). So do I want to be authentic, according to what others say and be unhappy with the results, or do I want to paint it my version of what I think Channel Green looked like and be happy. I choose happy and would paint it a brighter green that I like (second photo). This is a BIG decision because preparing a body for painting is expensive in time and materials and is the most visual part of your efforts, so, much thought has to go into it before you are committed. Since no one is really sure of what Channel Green looked like, I have a lot of leeway to choose what appeals to ME. Same with Windsor Maroon. The very dark purple looking color that many portray as Windsor Maroon, is just too dark for me, so I can use the excuse that, no one really knows, and paint dulls, fades or darkens over time, etc. to choose a brighter color more to my liking, that is a reflection of my taste and most of all, that makes me happy, instead of regretful. Jim Patrick

PS. Since I have a 1926 Fordor that will be painted Windsor Maroon when the time comes, I have given this a lot of thought and have chosen my preference. The third photo of the ‘26–27 dash is what I would interpret and prefer as “Windsor Maroon”. First of all, it is maroon and not a dark burgundy or merlot and it is bright and beautiful, at least to me. But, to each his own. Good luck on your choice

A few years ago at Chickasha there was a 26 T Coupe for sale at the asking price of $15,000. It was a nice restored car with a Ruxtell and etc. The car was painted what suspiciously looked like John Deere green with yellow wheels. If it wasn’t John Deere green it was the closest thing to it. It was his choice and I guess it made him happy. To each his own.

I would not have liked John Deere green and yellow on a T, but you’re right. To each his own. Jim Patrick

"Accurate" paint has been one interests since I was your age Jonah. 1926-1927 T paint is complicated because we don't have formulas or chemically-stable samples. (McCalley talked about opening NOS samples of Windsor Maroon, and they'd turned black in the can.) Reds used to be notorious for being unstable.

I would say that if you want to get an "accurate" Windsor Maroon, eyeball it from the advertising on this thread: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/118802/123150.html and other color 1926-1927 sedan ads. There really isn't an exact formula, and even if there were, it wouldn't be apples to apples because some of the pigments and chemical bases are different now. Plus pyroxylin (nitrocellulose) lacquer is illegal in various states. When do you find your color, if your paint guy does old car work, tell him that you want it to look like the old lacquer paint jobs, and you'll probably be pretty close. I'm glad you care about getting it right, that's the difference between an ok T and a nice T. Keep up the good work!

Jonah, Good to see your T coming along. If you are painting it yourself, a Harbor Freight HVLP is good. The 2 gun one with case is a good deal as it has the take apart tools and brush to clean it. PPG 'Shopline' is also a good inexpensive but professional quality paint. Good luck and let me know how it goes. -- IV

Couple of things here to consider.
A human can only distinguish a few hundred colors, the difference from one shade to another has to be enough for the eye to pick it being so. In the case of Maroon there has to be enough of a change in the color from lighter/darker to any other tints introduced into it for the eye to see. So even if we knew exactly what the original Windsor Maroon was (and we don't have the original sample) you would have to put your color up against it to be able to tell there was a difference. Several variations put beside the actual color would be very hard to distinguish unless they were a long way different.

Windsor Maroon is a name, any company or person can name a color and call it anything, does not mean it is an actual color it could be anything. Some car colors have names which give no clue as to what the color may be, just because its called sky blue does not mean it is exactly the color of the sky as the sky can be many shades, Windsor Maroon was a dark red someone mixed thought it was a good shade and another person probably decided Windsor Maroon was a good name to call it.

Jonah:
I have no affiliation with this company, and cannot attest to the quality and service. They were at Hershey a few years ago and mixed a small can of Channel Green for my ’26 coupe while I waited. They claim to be capable of mixing ‘any OEM factory color’. Good luck with your project, jb

The Paint Guyz http://thepaintguyz.com/
Xtreme Auto Finishes High Quality Auto Paint 417-860-8950

“Give us the Make, Model & Year from 1900-2014, and we'll mix any OEM Factory Color Kit for you in Single Stage or Base Coat Applications.”

Contrary to popular opinion, there are surviving paint chips from the Model T era. This is from about 1910.

Notice that the green and blue used by Ford are as Bruce described them, so dark as to almost look black.
I don't have anything like this for 26-27, but I wouldn't be surprised if somebody does.

Dad was a Telephone guy for 50 years the T is telephone green with yellow pin strip, He liked it that way so paint your car the way it makes you happy.

Dad was a Telephone guy for 50 years the T is telephone green with yellow pin strip, He liked it that way so paint your car the way it makes you happy.

@Steve, oh yeah. We have paint chips of the era. We just don't have any from Ford for 1926-1927. Sort of like how we don't have a NOS control sample of moleskin pyroxylin engine paint.

I'm a little skeptical of very old paint chips. I've compared 1910-1930 paint chip samples to printed facsimiles in Sears, paint company, and home builder catalogs, and red, green, and blue paint chips seem to be darker than the facsimiles. I honestly think that some pigments were unstable and darkened with age. I suspect white lead and red lead, but I need to ask a couple chemical engineers. They'd know better.

Colin. Your Dad’s car makes me happy! I wouldn’t change a thing. Jim Patrick

It's due for a paint job and I am going to redo it in the same colors. First the crank breaks at 101 years and how the paint only lasts 60 years things just don't last anymore.

This info may have already been shared, I saved it from a Forum post in 2013, sorry about format, jb
Body Colors
Year Ford Color Modern Color Mfgr. Number Formula
1909-14 Red Carmine DuPont 7410AH n/a
1909-14 Green Brewester Green Medium Ditzler 1017 DAL: 46=10 55=30 27=100 49=256 10=464 2=1074
1909-14 Gray Gray DuPont 72092A n/a
1909-14 Blue Midnight Blue DuPont 81501A n/a
1915-27 Black Black - - -
1926 Channel Green Green Ditzler 546 DAL: 27=68 4=148 17=534 2=744 46=1102
1926 Windsor Maroon Maroon ? ? ?
1927 Commercial Green Rock Moss Green Ditzler 117 DAL: 46=70 27=104 10=200 49=460 2=724 17=1072
1927 Channel Green Green Ditzler 546 DAL: 27=68 4=148 17=534 2=744 46=1102
1927 Drake Green Vagabond Green Ditzler 122 DAL: 49=382 4=484 46=586 17=1094
1927 Highland Green Dark Green DuPont 4190A n/a
1927 Phoenix Brown Rosewood Beige Ditzler DDL-20064 n/a
1927 Gunmetal Blue Gunmetal Blue Ditzler 436 DAL: 43=10 6=150 46=338 42=674 2=1056
1927 Moleskin Moleskin Brown Ditzler 544 DAL: 27=82 6=278 46=428 2=1068
1927 Royal Maroon Ford Maroon Ditzler 1011 DAL: 27=144 2=626 48=1060
1927 Fawn Grey Dawn Gray Ditzler 434 DAL: 42=46 25=142 6=352 46=1102