GENERAL LEE TNT EXPRESS ORANGE QUESTION!

[2fast4u]

   BEEN A WHILE SINCE I'VE BEEN ON SO THIS HAS PROBABLY A TOPIC THAT'S BEEN DONE TO DEATH.  HAVE A MODEL OF THE GENERAL LEE WHICH IS MOLDED IN WHITE WHICH OF COURSE WOULD HAVE TO BE PAINTED. NOTICED THAT ON YOU TUBE THE "LEE 1" WAS RESEARCHED FOR THE CORRECT COLOR AND THE FINAL ANSWER WAS "TNT EXPRESS" ORANGE.
  SO WHAT IS THE PAINT CODE FOR THIS COLOR?

          CAN ANYONE HELP ME?!

[marshallfry01]

First off, don't believe shit that Travis Bell says. That son of a bitch lies when the truth sounds better. The roof of Lee 1 was scanned by whoever owns the original skin. The orange was 1975 corvette flame red... or code 70.

[2fast4u]

  I did a screen grab of the formula and our painters were able to translate it over to Sikkens and mixed a 3 once cup for a spray out card and then cleared it!
  It is spot on!
I work at a Body shop by the way!

[JT01]

TNT express has never been mentioned by the builders as a color used. Travis is a con can't be trusted like mentioned above. The builders themselves have said the first 3 LEES was painted hemi orange originally then repainted corvette flame. Tom Sarmento has said corvette flame was the most used color for the general lee. And like also said above LEE1s roof scanned corvette flame. TNT may be a close match but was never used

[Nacho-RT74]

Once I read the first GLs where painted with any orange made mixing the paint they had around, so there is NOT a "correct" orange made per catalog. I think it was a Cooter's interview

[Mike DC]

   
They were indeed sloppy with it.  They sometimes touched-up cars with spray cans or brushes when they got in a rush.

But there was an intended color, and it was the mid-70s Corvette Flame color.  Multiple mechanics recall it.  Multiple surviving cars/parts either match it or look very close.    



The 2000s movie remake cars were painted AMC 'Big Bad Orange' which is very close to Corvette Flame.  Almost the same.  
   

[VegasCharger]

Once I read the first GLs where painted with any orange made mixing the paint they had around, so there is NOT a "correct" orange made per catalog. I think it was a Cooter's interview

Correctamundo!!

[JimShine]

Okay, I guess I am the one qualified to answer this.

The color of the first 3 Lee's was slightly redder than what the Corvette Flame Red you get mixed today is. It isn't a drastic difference. You can only see it when the two colors are side by side. This isn't Hemi Orange redder.

I am not sold on the idea it WAS TNT Express. It was just the nearest match in the database.

Though, I have to admit, TNT Express would have been a great choice as it was available as a fleet paint. I bet if they knew about it, they would have considered it in the era they were painting a lot of cars. It couldn't have been too foreign to them as the LAX airport always had TNT Express jets lined up, in this color.

I believe the truth is one of the following:

1-It was 1975 Corvette Flame Red quickly mixed. In those days pigments were added by measured volume. It was always off. "Good" paint mixers were in demand as they would be able to add in pigments to "spot match" colors. Don Schisler told me H&H had one of the best in the area. That modern paint mixing "killed an artform". This California batch had more red pigment and was not tweaked to color match.

2-That they mixed up a bunch different paints to extend what they had to spray 3 cars. Lee2 and 3 had base coats applied over factory paint, supporting this idea. Lee1 had no such base coat. The amount of orange paint on Lee1 was significantly thicker  on the top half of the car than the other 2 cars, and there was still "bleed".

One of those scenarios led to a paint color the eye matched to TNT Express.

Now, to make this even more frustrating, in 2007 Lee1 faded. It was during some summer thing it was doing in Wisconsin and was out in the summer sun for 4 days. The faded color no longer even matched in the door jambs and under the hood.  

To showcase how the paint faded, here it is parked next to my car, painted in Flame red. They were a near match.

And to put it all to rest, here are the formulas from 2 different surviving parts. The blends vary, but both get matched to TNT Express. The variance in the final product was minimal. I believe we used the one on the right for Lee1.

[TTSaleen]

That is a cool shot of those cars side by side.  How old is that pic?

[JimShine]

I took those November 13, 2007. It wasn't long after this it left my possession. I think it was with me a little over a year.