I know 1955CJ-5 has seen this but I figured I'd include the pic here too in case anyone uses this for reference at some point. It's a comparison of the gray I used on my 3A painted next to an area of original Potomac Gray. My new paint code is what 1955CJ-5 used for the sample in the top right of his pic. Mine is close but not quite right.

It's amazing how different this paint looks in different light and at different angles.

I finally chose the color on the left side of the pictures. We sprayed some out and after it cured overnight I thought it looked fine. It's a gray with a tinge of green and maybe a little yellow.

The color is from a 1972 Ford optional color chart. It's Ford Gray, # WT2180...PPG mix # 32678 I used the Omni brand by PPG..it's a little less money...

Both pictures are of the same two cards in different light....Ryan's mix is on the right, and mine is on the left...I'd love to see these two jeeps side by side someday....!!

You really can't tell them apart in the first photo....I guess that's why choosing a color is so difficult...

And now I like Potomac Gray...again!

I have the folks at the paint store to thank for finding this...I guess you could say there are an infinite number of colors, and nearly that many different paint chips...

I bet our jeeps will look identical unless they are side by side and nearly touching.....if you hold these paint cards a foot apart you can't tell one from the other.....

Your jeep was/is my inspiration!

Here is my '49' I believe this is Potomac Gray Pretty good shape since it was under the dash plate, there is a very pristine patch on the fender, under the horn mount, but I don't have a photo.  The digital color is not exactly correct but fairly close, mine seems bluer than the samples above. 

Yeeeeesssss!!!!!!!!

Taking off the masking tape and paper on a freshly painted jeep is almost as good as unzipping a women's dress!

I can't wait to see photos of the new Willys!

That looks very nice!  Went up to the farm today to get ready to harvest crops and took a few minutes to look at my jeep.  Found a patch of very pristine paint on the underside of the hood.  After polishing it up and taking a really close look I am convinced of two things:  That it is the original paint, and it does not match the Potomac Gray paint chips presented in this thread.  In fact the photo I added is pretty close to what it looks like.  It is way darker and more blue.  I think it is supposed to be PG but it sure does not look like it to me.  Will try to get a good photo tomorrow.  Guess if you are painting a few thousand Jeeps there can be some batch to batch variability in the paint.  BTW I really like the color.

OK think I may have figured it out.  I think it is Picket Gray left over from the CJ2A days.  Not officially listed as a 1949 color but seems reasonable that they would use leftover paint the following year.

Quote:


My daughter wants me to paint the Willys purple with lime green flames.    Not going to happen, she's going to have to settle for (I think) something close to Normandy Blue.  (I have suggested to her that I might let her drive it when she starts going to high school--that's three years away--actually four+, since she'd need to get a driver's licence first.  Gives me time to finish this project...)

-Paul

-Paul [/quote]

If your daughter learns to drive using your Willys, it will be an experience she will never forget.  When she is a Grandma, and we are all dust, she will still tell the story about how Dad taught her to drive in an old Willys Jeep.  How cool is that?

Tim  [/quote]

Wow, that comment really jumped out at me, because when I was 14 (I'm 61 now), I started driving a Jeep around my grandfather's farm.  I have never forgotten that.  It always had a trailer attached to it too, so not only did I learn how to operate a manual shift, but I also learned how to back up a trailer at the same time.  In my wildest dreams I never could have imagined that many many years later that same Jeep would be owned, and restored, by my son.