Scorpio Body Cladding Color?

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john keefe
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Scorpio Body Cladding Color?

Post by john keefe »

Hey All,
Doing some exterior repairs, and I can't figure out if my body cladding color is near, or the same as the body color, or just a faded brown which now kinda' matches the body. Every image I can find on-line shows two-tone Scorps. Car is a 1988, Chestnut (brown) metallic. Was this a special "all color" version, like the 1989 XR's?

BTW, for smaller painting jobs, if you're interested... I fixed a bad nose ding, and had to repaint the hood. Turned out to be a decent 3 footer. Problem was finding a CA low VOC compatible match. Used stuff from TouchUp Direct, which was a pretty close, allowing for 30 years of color fading. This is advertised as "eco-friendly." The base was a water-based, and the clear coat regular urethane. I'm fine with a water base, but have no idea why CA does that... same clearcoat as always (low VOC), but the base coat has to be water-based. What's the point? You're either putting VO"C's in the air, or you're not. Couldn't find a water-base clearcoat formula.

Base coat covered just OK. Its like the color at the ends of the spray width was richer, so you had to keep making a lot of passes to hide it. Didn't matter how far away I held the can, or how much I shook it up. Should have bought 2 cans, but kinda' expensive because they didn't (at that time) sell just the base or clearcoat alone.
john keefe
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Re: Scorpio Body Cladding Color?

Post by john keefe »

Ha! Turns out there was just a lot of old polish, or some kind of treatment left on the cladding which dried light. After a LOT of light cleaning by hand with safe-cut compound, the color came back. Car looks very nice now. So, answered my own question. :)
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brokencase
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Re: Scorpio Body Cladding Color?

Post by brokencase »

FWIW - The paint codes for the body cladding are as follows...

Lucite Acyrlic Lacquer
1986-88 Xr4ti "Mid Gray" Dupont H8912L
1988 Scorpio "Metallic Grey" Dupont H8914L
1988 Scorpio "Metallic Taupe" Dupont H8913L

Source Ford TSB 87-20-1 "Bumpers and Bodyside Moulding - Paint Procedure"
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john keefe
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Re: Scorpio Body Cladding Color?

Post by john keefe »

Thanks! So, its not really body color, but it turns out its a fairly close match? Must be the metallic taupe, as my body color is the chestnut metallic? If I touch up all the cladding, I guess the best look would be to just spray it all the same color as the body.
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brokencase
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Re: Scorpio Body Cladding Color?

Post by brokencase »

It depends. Hard to tell without a picture. Somebody may have painted your cladding in the past in an attempt to match the body color.
I've seen several Scorpios where this has occurred. The original cladding paint does not hold up that well with regards to scrapes and scratches.

Plus many folks feel it gives the car a more modern look.

In addition, the paint codes previously mentioned - I've never seen them available anywhere in a touch up can.
You have to go to a professional auto paint supplier. Even then it might be hit or miss.

So that leaves you with the only options - paint it with some kind of gray taupe that it not exact match or paint the cladding to match the body. Most choose the later I suppose....
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john keefe
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Re: Scorpio Body Cladding Color?

Post by john keefe »

Yeah, its just a little bit off... but doesn't seem "thick" enough to say that a previous owner had tried to spray it body color. Just have a couple small cracks in the upper sections above the rubber liner.
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