Pre-Zolatone interior paint

[mlconw]

I am restoring a 1953 Flying Cloud (21 foot). The interior walls, ceiling, and overhead cabinets are painted aluminum that is an "off-white" shade. (I understand that the other factory color was "sea-foam" green.) Most of the paint is in good shape, so I only want to touch-up some spots. It is a single, gloss color - no texture or other color bits like Zolatone. Does anyone know what matches this paint? Thabks in advance.

Mike Conway

[Ken J]

How big are the spots - if they are big spots, then it will be hard to touch up, if they are small spots, then I just just used an automotive paint of similar color.

Zolotone is still available, suppose if they could make the color ( I would think that would be tough ) you might be able to blend in, but again, I think that would be very hard to get a good match.

Ken

[Ken J]

Welcome to the forum!

[roger n cindy]

you sure they weren't zolatone in 53? our 55 bubble is a seafoam green zolatone !
roger n cindy

[InsideOut]

I believe that '53 was the year Airstream introduced Zolatone for interior panels. It seems it was used in CA models first then OH models later...so it could have been painted originally and not Zolatone.

Vintage Airstream Features

Although, I thought the original paint colors (from trailers I've seen) were either the 'seafoam green' or a 'soft peach'...not an 'off-white'. However most early trailers were customized by either the factory, a dealer or the prospective owner, so 'off-white' could have been used, I suppose.

The best thing to do would be either to take a sample of the paint to a large commercial paint store where they can computer match it or bring swatches/chips to the trailer.

Shari

[Ken J]

Oops, the question was pre-zolotone - would still be hard to match, but easier than zolotone.

Ken

[51cruiser]

Hello,

The factory paint job will have a clear coat over it. That is what the factory said to me.
I hope this dosen't happen to you:
When we bought our Cruiser there was many places that the paint was peeling, revealing the "soft peach" and aluminum. Suspicious I bought a lead paint tester swab
and yep, the po painted over it with lead paint. yippee I am starting to strip it down to the aluminum. I think I will have to do this in many places so the new paint will have a chance to stick.
It is something you might want to check.

D
1951 cruiser

[mlconw]

Thanks to all of you for your replies.
The color is probably "soft peach". This is more accurately discriptive than my original "off white" (which is all I could think of at the time.) There is no clear coat. Again, I believe that it is not Zolatone only because is just one uniform color. This trailer was made in Ohio (ID# O-3080). Unfortuately, I don't have a sample for computer color matching, unless I trim off a small piece of painted aluminum underneth a light fixture. Some of the bare spots are fairly large: 16" in diameter, but I was hoping not to repaint the entire interior. Several threads have noted that repainting in anything other the original paint drastically reduces the trailer's value, so perhaps it would be better to just live with the bare spots.

Has anyone already done the color match on the "soft peach"?

Thanks again,

Mike

Originally Posted by InsideOut

I believe that '53 was the year Airstream introduced Zolatone for interior panels. It seems it was used in CA models first then OH models later...so it could have been painted originally and not Zolatone.

Vintage Airstream Features

Although, I thought the original paint colors (from trailers I've seen) were either the 'seafoam green' or a 'soft peach'...not an 'off-white'. However most early trailers were customized by either the factory, a dealer or the prospective owner, so 'off-white' could have been used, I suppose.

The best thing to do would be either to take a sample of the paint to a large commercial paint store where they can computer match it or bring swatches/chips to the trailer.

Shari