I am assuming the paint that is original to these cars is lacquer. One stage, no clear coat. Would that be a safe assumption?
I found some rust beneath the forward trim piece of the driver's rear quarter window. So today, I removed the window - what fun. I then masked off everything in the general area and took a brass wheel to the damaged area. I've now primed and filled with some epoxy. (The rust was surface, but starting to eat into the metal some.)

My plan is to prime and sand, then paint with my airbrush which I use for hobby stuff. My question - and I think I know the answer - the original paint is truly lacquer, correct?

And ... where is your favorite place to purchase this paint in say 1 or 2 oz?

thanks!

 

Some colors were base coat and clear coat, others were a single coat. I dont think it was lacquer.

 

it was a single stage enamel. although Mazda does have paint formulations for lacquer, so you wouldn't be the first to do it

 

Guess I should have added... it's Sunrise Red. To me, it appears to not have a clear coat. Is there a way to safely tell?

 

My 83 Renaissance Red had a clear coat. My 82 Sunrise Red does not. Just a few more data points for your question.

 

Try polishing a small spot to see if pad turns red or not.

 

Sunrise red didn't have clearcoat from the factory. My 83 S was a one owner, original paint car when I got it, so I know this for sure.

 

I love this forum.

Single stage, it is! Sunrise Red - any particular suppliers anyone would recommend? I'm only working with a small spot, and do plan to use an airbrush for the touch up.

 

In general the metallic paints had clear coat, so the silver, gold, and beat black for sure.

 

Agreed^ seems like the metallics had clear where the normal colors didn't.

As for where to get paint, I go to a local body shop supply place to get my paint. I would not suggest going to Napa or other type places as the colors never seem to be right. Body shop supply places are usually better at mixing this stuff

 

sunrise red did not have a clear from the factory, although if it was repainted at some point it might.

 

I appreciate everyone's input. I'm calling around to shops in the area to see if I can get some paint mixed up. If not, I'll be looking to the internet. The area I'm painting appears to not have any fading - it's mostly under the front lip of the quarter glass. And the car lives in the garage; and was covered by the previous owner. I do recognize it is "old" though.
Anyway, thanks for all of your help. More to come ...

 

I used rustoleum sunrise red for touch up. It looks Christmassy, and it doesn't have anywhere near the deep shine the OEM paint had. Also high contact areas like the edge of the hood and the near the door handle are already wearing through.

My red car never had any clear coat. The sparkly black hood did have it, but it flaked off.

 

I know this is from '17, adding the info so it's out there.

82transam turned me on to this: Duplicolor cherry red, DA1640. It's quite similar to the original sunrise red (RH). Napa has it for around $7 per can. I'm going to do my whole car in it since half is faded and half is a clear coated mess. Here's a shot of the engine bay under some harsh florescent lighting.

 

As noted above for touch up colors the closest color to sunbeam silver is Rustoleum universal satin nickel. Just spray some 2k clear over it and you are good to go.

 

here is the original paint formula

 

I've painted a lot of parts with a spray can, and I agree that DupliColor is the best -- the paint is durable, and the spray nozzle gives good atomization. Your engine bay looks nice; you've motivated me to paint mine!

 

Yes, standard colours were one stage enamels. Acrylic lacquers weren't really common by the 60/70s.

Metallic colours were clear over base coat.