Toyota Paint Colors Master List (1 Viewer)

[seth]

Hello fellow Mudders!

As some of you may know, I've been working on the restoration of my late-64 fst FJ40, Old Yeller, and in the process have been doing a lot of research on paint codes, color options, and what would have been likely OEM for the year of my truck.

There are a ton of threads on the subject, so I decided to try and put together a master (searchable) database of Toyota paint colors, from a document I purchased on ebay. I scanned the document, turned it into a CSV file, and imported it to this post I've created on my new website, theoldcruiser.com. You can find the post here: Toyota Paint Color Codes and Names 1961-1975 - The Old Cruiser

If you poke around the list, you'll see that there are columns for the following:

• Toyota Paint Code (beginning with T-xxx)
• Color name and years used
• Dupont Paint Code
• Ditzler PPG Paint Code
• Sales Number (Not sure what this reference is, but I kept it on the table)
• Confirmed Land Cruiser color

I would appreciate your input to verify which colors were actually Land Cruiser colors, and for what years. I will be gradually combining all my paint resources to add the PPG and Dupont color references. Hopefully, this list will be a good place for everyone to check and cross-reference.

Over time, I'll be scanning archival documents and uploading them to The Old Cruiser, as well as other stuff I come across along the way.

Long live the old cruisers!!

Thanks for your help, everyone.
-Seth

 

[seth]

Wow, crickets on this.

 

[hobbes]

I think it’s because of the enormity of the task. I’m sure you’ve seen the threads here in the FAQ: Paint code and color information...

 

[seth]

It’s a big task, but someone has to do it.

 

[oregon fj]

I wish you luck. Others have tried before, and not a lot of input is received. I started a thread in the 25 forum a while back on a small subset, not a lot of responses. Vintage paint color references

 

[seth]

A lot of people have contributed a ton over the years (you guys included), so hopefully in my spare time I can combine all of that info into this one spot.

 

[thecrazygreek]

I do not believe the 40 series cruisers were ever painted with a metallic paint. So you can drop all metallic s to get things narrowed down a bit.

 

[J Mack]

I would appreciate your input to verify which colors were actually Land Cruiser colors, and for what years. I will be gradually combining all my paint resources to add the PPG and Dupont color references. Hopefully, this list will be a good place for everyone to check and cross-reference.

Is your plan to mirror Cool Cruisers or are you planning something completely different? Cruiser Color Codes



The issue I’ve seen with the 55 guys trying to find an OE Nebula Green is you’ll get five guys in five different states having paint matched to an outdated code and end up with dramatically different colors. It seems like it would be useful if someone came up new paint codes “formula” to mix readily available paint to match to older Toyota paints as most of the older codes are for paint that’s no longer available.

Having just spent the last 60 days trying to get a specific color I can tell you trying to get the automotive paint store employees to spend much time looking through the archives and reproduce a specific color is not an easy task, combine that with the need to spray a test panel for each shade change approval would make a site that has modern paint formulas invaluable.

 

[seth]

Is your plan to mirror Cool Cruisers or are you planning something completely different? Cruiser Color Codes

The issue I’ve seen with the 55 guys trying to find an OE Nebula Green is you’ll get five guys in five different states having paint matched to an outdated code and end up with dramatically different colors. It seems like it would be useful if someone came up new paint codes “formula” to mix readily available paint to match to older Toyota paints as most of the older codes are for paint that’s no longer available.

Having just spent the last 60 days trying to get a specific color I can tell you trying to get the automotive paint store employees to spend much time looking through the archives and reproduce a specific color is not an easy task, combine that with the need to spray a test panel for each shade change approval would make a site that has modern paint formulas invaluable.

I appreciate what Cool Cruisers have put together, but I'm trying to approach it a little bit differently. I've gone through just about every thread on paint colors and seen most of the other guides/graphics/photos, and to me it's too variable and inconclusive. Any use of photos or color on the web is subject to way too many possible changes with scanning, old Kodachrome photos, repainted trucks, etc. I think everyone should be able to start with "I want Dune Beige", and be able to get a correct, currently-available paint mix from an automotive paint supplier.

This is going to take some time, but I think with all of our collective knowledge and experience, it can be done.

I'd like to start with Toyota Codes and names, and their cross-referenced codes for Dupont and PPG, but no images to reference. I think image references at this point open a can of worms and provide too much opportunity for confusion... as you can see in all of the threads on the subject.

Here's the process I'm planning:

1. Starting with the master list of Toyota color names and codes, collect the PPG and Dupont historic cross-references (ran a script to match using Color Codes - Toyota Paint Cross-Reference and updated list with these on 11/28/2018, so most of them should have a cross referenced code Toyota Paint Color Codes and Names 1961-1975 - The Old Cruiser)
2. Create way for owners to upload a photo of their trucks, in daylight, along with what they think is the Toyota Color Name. "My truck is reported to be Dune Beige". Each Toyota Color Name should have a variety of photos attached to it, so people can make their own judgement about whether it's the color they want... understanding the realities of lighting, camera, computer monitor, etc.
3. The next step would be to have anyone who has recently had colors mixed or knows of a solid color reference to a Toyota Name Color provide the mix and a few daylight photos of their freshly-painted truck. "I took a swatch to my paint guy, and it's the closest I have come to Dune Beige...the mix is xxx, or the solid color code is xxx"
4. IDEALLY, we could actually reference a document that I read about on the forums where Toyota provided mixes to a stateside company, and just take those mixes as gospel... Does anyone have that full document?

This is not going to be an overnight process, and will likely take... forever. ha. But, nonetheless, I'm trying to introduce a little order into something that has been really confusing for me, especially after reading through all of the threads.

 

[gericurl]

Bless you. I don't have any expertise and so I can't with any authority help collect info, but I will leave a comment to the group to try and keep this positive. If all you have to say is how this won't work, it will kill any momentum this thread gains. It's okay to point out the challenges that need to be overcome that might not have been thought of but saying "We need to make sure that ______" is much different from saying "Why bother? You'll never be able to ________"

I'm a designer and color is a bigger deal to me than it should be. If I was doing a nut and bolt purist restoration I would not be satisfied at all with the current confusion of information available. I like the version of Nebula Green my paint guy came up with so I'm content with it. He also came up with a mix for Shell Ivory, which I read over and over again was information lost to the ages. I will post those mixes up when I'm done painting and can grab some daylight pics.

One inherent concern that crowd sourcing information brings, is the necessary extra step of verifying the information before repeating it. What are the benchmarks we can apply to this collection of data that will let us know when we feel satisfied that the table for a particular color is within acceptable levels of accuracy and becomes the new gospel (IH8Mud certified paint mixture).

There are many hurdles (many previously mentioned). I'm going to ramble some thoughts:
1. Is there a good reason to even include any color that isn't an official Land Cruiser color in the list? Currently in the context of this forum, any color that is confirmed to have never been painted on a Land Cruiser, seems to be just worthless clutter to dig through.

2. How do you intend to order the list? Alphabetically, categorized based on a color wheel, by year introduced?

3. How will you reconcile conflicting information collected?

4. Why stop in 1975, Toyota is still making a Land Cruiser right? And why not begin in '51 when the LandCruiser began?

5. It would be fun to populate a timeline based on confirmed data plates. Almost like those maps you drop a pin on each city you visit. My truck is a Nov. '74 Freeborn Red from factory, badly resprayed before I bought it.
That month on the timeline would get a Freeborn Red dot. We might even be able to assume that between dots of the same color, Toyota continued to spray certain colors.

 

[seth]

Bless you. I don't have any expertise and so I can't with any authority help collect info, but I will leave a comment to the group to try and keep this positive. If all you have to say is how this won't work, it will kill any momentum this thread gains. It's okay to point out the challenges that need to be overcome that might not have been thought of but saying "We need to make sure that ______" is much different from saying "Why bother? You'll never be able to ________"

I'm a designer and color is a bigger deal to me than it should be. If I was doing a nut and bolt purist restoration I would not be satisfied at all with the current confusion of information available. I like the version of Nebula Green my paint guy came up with so I'm content with it. He also came up with a mix for Shell Ivory, which I read over and over again was information lost to the ages. I will post those mixes up when I'm done painting and can grab some daylight pics.

One inherent concern that crowd sourcing information brings, is the necessary extra step of verifying the information before repeating it. What are the benchmarks we can apply to this collection of data that will let us know when we feel satisfied that the table for a particular color is within acceptable levels of accuracy and becomes the new gospel (IH8Mud certified paint mixture).

There are many hurdles (many previously mentioned). I'm going to ramble some thoughts:
1. Is there a good reason to even include any color that isn't an official Land Cruiser color in the list? Currently in the context of this forum, any color that is confirmed to have never been painted on a Land Cruiser, seems to be just worthless clutter to dig through.

2. How do you intend to order the list? Alphabetically, categorized based on a color wheel, by year introduced?

3. How will you reconcile conflicting information collected?

4. Why stop in 1975, Toyota is still making a Land Cruiser right? And why not begin in '51 when the LandCruiser began?

5. It would be fun to populate a timeline based on confirmed data plates. Almost like those maps you drop a pin on each city you visit. My truck is a Nov. '74 Freeborn Red from factory, badly resprayed before I bought it.
That month on the timeline would get a Freeborn Red dot. We might even be able to assume that between dots of the same color, Toyota continued to spray certain colors.

I totally agree about the problem with the information available – even from the perspective of a designer as well. We've all seen the same old color chip scans (and I have some IRL as well) but it's very unlikely that they are serving the purpose of something like a Pantone guide.

1. You are correct, it's a lot of unnecessary information on the paint chart, but I wanted to approach it differently. Instead of starting with the common paint names that have always floated around the forum, I actually started from a document that I purchased on ebay that felt incredibly complete – and it happened to be inclusive of (as far as I know) all the paint names in use by Toyota between 1961 and 1975. In this case, I felt it better to reduce the list down to Land Cruiser colors than to add to it given how Toyota often brought colors back with new names.

2. The list is able to be sorted however you desire... counting up by T-0001... sorted by paint color name A to Z or Z to A... filter by name or code. You get the point. Because it's in a single database, I can do a lot of fun stuff in filtering and sorting – even eventually tying names and paint codes back to a large library of photos (less valuable in selecting the right color, but nice for archive purposes). I have also included PaintRef's hex code in the list for broad referencing and color wheel purposes later on, but don't want people to be looking at RGB colors and thinking they are getting anything like a REAL color reference, so I only include the HEX code. (You can see it and some other stuff in the color chart if you expand a row.)

3. The value of the database as I currently have it set up is the ability to start seeing trending information. Since some of us weren't around in 1965, and (for those that were) "It was kind of a greenish gray color" is of little use now, we are going to have to do a little bit of sleuthing from both directions: photo record AND actual physical paint mix references we can find. Somewhere in between all of this, with an organized database, we'll start seeing a more accurate picture of what is what. (At least, that's the goal.)

4. I agree. No particular reason to restrict 1961 to 1975. I happened to start from a single source document that provided those years explicitly. I actually hope to expand to other years, but – again – I'd rather start with original documents and not photos or color chip sheets.

5. This is further to my #3 about having a database. I know there are loose registries of Land Cruisers, but maybe I can build another database that ties to this paint one where people can submit their truck year, VIN, model, and a dropdown selector of what they think the original paint color was. Hypothetically, with a really solid database of VINs/Models/Paint Name, we might start seeing assembly line patterns that could help us deduce what other owners' original colors were, like you were saying.

 

[oregon fj]

He also came up with a mix for Shell Ivory, which I read over and over again was information lost to the ages.

FWIW, I found that RAL 7044 powder is a VERY good match for Shell Ivory. Compare original and after powder.