Thread: Paint Color

I just received my new headlight from DRATV. It came in the Saphire Blue color. That sure is a pretty color. For a minute I was thinking of repainting it this color since that is an up coming project soon anyway. But I seen that the only colors they came in that year (1971) were Blue\Green, Topaz Orange, or Emerald green.

So not that I will be changing color but was wondering what the reprecushions would be to painting it a color that was not correct for that year.

Unless you're building a show bike to enter into contests, there won't be any repercussions. 99.99% of the population doesn't have a clue what color your bike came from the factory with. Paint it whatever color fits your fancy.

I agree, . . . paint it the color you want it to be unless you're going to put it in a museum or something. And if anyone ever says, "Hey, that thing's not the right color for that year." just tell them, "Yeah, I know, . . . so what?!?"

-kevin

If it's right for you, that's what you go with. I agree the blue is a great color. It may be my favorite but I'm keep'n mine blue/green. ckyle29 and Miniac make some good points. bjatwood thinks blue/green is tops. He's doing one know. The blue/green is special in the fact it changes color in different light. It's blue with lights shining on it at night and the green comes out in the sunlight. Thats enough about that.
You could paint it black and forget it, huh huh. Just to throw another opinion in the mix. I watched and waited looking on ebay for over a year for a blue/green one to come up. That color is hard to come by. Blue is easy.

Thanks for the replies. I have had time to look at the two colors in the sunlight and at night. I agree the Blue/Green just has that special something about it. And the more I look, my bike does not even qualify for a total repaint. I took some rubbing compound to a test area and then a nice wax. It looks great. I think I'll just touch up some spots here and there and keep it original.

The only thing that got me going on this tangent is that I need the whole headlight bucket painted, and the chain guard needs a good going over.

On a more serious note; the later models have black light buckets. You could do that until you come across the correct color. The chain gaurd whould look kinda funny. I don't know how close the TU paints are. Being patient for the right color and petina to match the bike can be a challenge. You know how long I waited for one and still had to work on it a little. The color was a dead on match. Can't tell it spent it's life on another bike. It can be done. The hunt is half the fun.
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Daytona 003.jpg

Unless your top priority is resale, go with whatever color you like. Fact is, I've seen K0s painted HK0 colors and vice-versa that brought the same money at resale time. There will always be a few out there who think "boy, I'd really like that model if only it was in that other color". I've even seen custom-colors used that didnt' seem to affect resale value perceptably. Color is the single most subjective aspect of these bikes and you know the old adage: "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". So, the main "repercussion" would be having your bike in your favorite color. Somehow, I think you'd survive

Brian (XSIVE)
Offer is still on the table buddy! When I get the 71 painted, just send me your headlight bucket and chain guard sanded and ready for paint and I'll have it sprayed when mine is painted.

Brian

Today I was seriously thinking about painting the headlight bucket black for now and replace it. I was tired of looking at the broken up faded one anyway and the thing rattled to death when the RPM's came up.

So I took a chunk out of the original headlight where the paint looked good just incase and went to get paint.

At first glance did not see anything and was looking at black. Then I saw on the bottom shelve a color that looked close. I took out my paint chip and was amazed at how close it was.

It is Dupli-Color Auto Spray paint in the 5 OZ can. It is BR AQUA MET that I got from Auto Zone. It matches very well. It has just a tad more Blue and Less Green but hardly noticible. My wife could not tell what parts I replaced. I painted the headlight buck and the Chain Guard. 2 coats of Grey Primer first, 2coats of color, and 2 coats of Dupli-color clear after. Still have just under half a can after painting. Thought I would give a heads up. It still has the Teal at daylight and blue at night.

$15 Bucks.

Looks nice. I bet it looks excellant @ 40 mph!