What color is "Shelby Blue"?

Pat

Supporter
On another forum the topic was hotly debated as to the original color of the first Shelby GT40s. I had always assumed they were Ford Guardsman Blue. However a fellow who claimed to be familiar with the Shelby program countered the Guardsman Blue (PPG12832) came after the original slightly darker Caspian Blue (PPG12547). The latter he claimed was actually the "Shelby Blue" of the Daytona and Sebring GT40s in 1965. I've seen the restored GT40 104 at Amelia and it sure looked Guardsman to me but perhaps there is, as they say, more here than meets the eye. Does anyone have any information on this?
 
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I've seen two GT40s parked beside each other painted SHELBY Guardsman Blue and a Ford Guardsman Blue in the last 3 weeks. There is slight difference. The SHELBY color has a barely noticeable turquoise coloration. Both cars were clear coated and inside the Olthoff shop. I was trying to settle on a color for a MkI I'm having done. The color will appear different when outside in sunlight. The painter said depending on the amount of 'pearl' used will cause the different and also how you lay the color down. I was looking for a traditional color used by FORD back in the '60s. Also if you buy a SHELBY car from SHELBY they have their own formula. You really need to see the two beside each other to make a choice and not just a color chip. Very subtle difference.
I like Miami Blue and several of the LeMans blues from FORD and BMW. The newer blues really make the car color pop, but aren't traditional.
 
Is this the color you were referencing? Someone has a beautiful car. I choose a medium blue because it helps to be seen on the road. Silver, grey, or black colors get lost in the 'road shimmer' on hot days with a low slung car. Its accident avoidance to me.
 

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Pat

Supporter
Grady, the color I'm curious is the 1965 Daytona/Sebring colors in the first photo.

The picture of the beautiful MKII you posted looks like a slightly darker Guardsman Blue to me and based on my understanding it's the color of the 1966 Sebring Gurney/Grant #2 pictured below.

For reference, I've also attached a photo of a Caspian Blue Mustang.

My '40 was originally BMW Blue (a popular CAV color) but when I redid it, we matched it to a Toyota color with a little more pearl in it. (Toyota 8M6)
 

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Yes the MkII is the FORD Guardsman Blue. What I was trying to say was that the SHELBY Guardsman Blue is different from the FORD Guardsman blue color.
 
The is a lot out there on the lead painter at Shelby American: Robert "Tweety" Aldredge.
A 'colorful' character. He used to attend the SAAC conventions.
He mixed alot ad hoc. It does seem some mixes had more silver toner but my reading is that it seems it was more variance rather than a different color.
 
In 1965 metallic's where mono coat very easy to achieve seven different colors with the same can of paint by altering viscosity, air pressure, gun speed, gun distance, fan size, mixture (amount of paint to air ratio), temperature. all these adjustments alter the angles and depth the metallic particle sits in the paint.
 
When I purchased my SPF the story I heard was that Ford Guardsman Blue was a bit different than Shelby Guardsman Blue. I don't know if that was fact or fiction, just passing it along.

My car was similarly colored to the MKII above although the ambient light, or lack thereof, would change the hue pretty significantly.
 

Jim Craik

Lifetime Supporter
Hi Pat, how have you been?

As I understand the first "Shelby blue" from 1964 was "Princes Alice Blue" a lighter silver blue color. I remember seeing a transporter with early Cobras and the first Daytona Coupes aboard in this light silver blue. Much lighter than the Shelby blue you typically see today.
 
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Tim Kay

Lifetime Supporter
Pat, according to SPF order sheet this is "Gaurdsman Blue". On another SPF document I have it's identified as "Shelby Gaurdsman Blue" so go figure. Now, when I wanted to match the paint my research turned up more than one variant of Guardsman Blue depending on the model year and whose paint codes you looked at. So to this day I have yet to identify with certainty what "Gaurdsman" really is.
 

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Trying to match an original Shelby color is an impossible task. I've heard and read that the cars were painted again and again, and there was no science to a given paint formula. Thus the cars changed race to race and even two cars at the same race would vary among themselves.

Pick a color YOU like and go for it! Nobody can ever say you're "wrong"....
 
This has its original paint on it - if that helps.
 

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Don't forget that up to 1965, prior to Shelby American assuming the GT40 program, that Viking Blue was widely utilized on SAI team Cobras.
 

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Jim Craik

Lifetime Supporter
Steve, that looks like the light silver blue color that some publications call "Princess Blue"

Per the Shelby site, the name princess blue was changed to Viking blue as Princess blue did not sound macho enough...Same color, which I like better than the later darker blue
 
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Steve

Supporter
I've recently compared paint chips of Viking Blue, Guardsman Blue (presumably Ford Guardsman Blue) and Shelby Guardsman Blue. Viking Blue is the lightest, similar to the photo Steve showed above and Jim references. It has more silver. When you go to the SPF site you'll see some slab side Cobras painted that color. Shelby Guardsman is lighter than Guardsman Blue with hints of silver and maybe turqouise. The Guardsman Blue is deeper, more like a metallic royal blue but not as dark. If you go to the Hillbank site he has cobras in all three colors. To the point above, they do look different in sunlight and live vs on a computer
 

Pat

Supporter
Interesting insights. I've since researched some more information that simply raises more questions than answers. The origination of the "Caspian Blue" listing was supposedly when GT40 104 was in the process of restoration, when they took down all the paint, they found the first coat to be Caspian. One of the many Shelby forums, (in the context of original Cobras) noted that 1964-65 lacquer compared to the same urethane color mixing formula is much darker. Add to that, the Shelby factory's efforts to make the early Cobras far more numerous then they actually were resulted in cars repeatedly being repainted different colors in an effort to bamboozle the media.

Jim, it's great to hear from you! Funny, Debby and I were just chatting about you yesterday in the context of the upcoming Daytona 24 wondering if you are planning to attend. It would be great if you plan to make it to get together again.
 

Jim Craik

Lifetime Supporter
Pat, I'm not going to make it this year, but l'm going to try for next year and will look forward hanging with you and Debbie. We are still a few years out on running the Caddy in the historic 24, but I'd like to check out that weekend as well.
 
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