I took my 81 SD into the paint shop yesterday. Shop owner has promised to give it a great paint job and to keep it within my budget. So far so good.
He called and asked if I would want to improve the rather uglified burgundy color on the beast. No doubt I would.
My question here is would a fresh paint job with the same color improve this, or did the MB burgundy just look that bland all along. Has anyone been there before?
I really do not want to do a color change, at least not a dramatic color change. Gets too spendy.

What was he suggesting he could do to Improve the color ?

Hey old Deis,
I am suprised you were not qouted a price up front. Doing a quality color change can be very time consuming, the more prep is done, the better results. I would not reccomend changing the color unless it is done proper. This means painting all door jambs inner pliiers (a,b,c) rockers, engine bay. If these are not done it makes the work look cheap. The original color can be tinted within reason, and applied with out having to expect to paint the above areas. I am sure the factory color was brilliant in it's day, only dulled and fadded over time. As him for a sample of what the new color will look like and then decide. I would be very hesitant to buy a car with a noticable color change, it reflects on the decisions the PO made in the care of the vehicle. .02 as usual

No bad advice. I have not trusted my judgement on color since I painted my interior house doors red a few years back. (Yuk). The shop has good price to repair the dings and repaint the car. I could not decide whether to shade the color a bit away from that brownish burgundy that is on it now. Shop manager suggested I think it over. He thinks making the factory pak a drop redder would do it. I was looking to find if any of the Jedi counsel had done repaint using this color. I see it on a lot of MB's out there with that same color. Seems that most of them have the same problem I did, clear coat failing and peeling off, and they all look drab to me.
Oh, and I sold that house and built a new one with nice oak finished doors.

Our burgundy color wagon has had the benefit of lots of "little" paint jobs thanks to various minor dings, bangs and failing clearcoat over the years. Cheap me, I've usually just had the panel repainted and not had it feathered into the other panels on the theory that at some point I'll have the whole car painted. As such, I have now acquired about 4 slightly different burgundy color hues and would make the following observations:
1) Burgandy is a very tough color to match exactly
2) Where there is a sharp corner (like at a door edge or door jamb) you won't notice the color change unless it's pretty substantial
3) The original factory clear coat fails after 15-20 years in the California sun and the only solution is a repaint
4) It appears the factory burgundy color darkens slightly as it ages/gets sun exposure
5) The more brownish tints look less good (in my opinion) than the more reddish ones.

I think your paint guy is right. Just use moderation in the reddening tint and it should look quite good. My 2 cents.

IRQ

That is the question I was looking for the answer to. I think I will go ahead with the slight reddish tint. I was very concerned about it coming out looking like an obvious repaint when the hood is opened or the doors are open. From what you say it does not sound as though that is likely, so long as we don't go to a Fire Engine red.
By the way, even here under the steel gray skies the burgundy seems to get darker and darker and the clear fails. Might be a poor factory paint.

Old Dies,
Like any paint job, if someone is really looking for evidence of a repaint they'll find it. Fact of the matter is your paint guy will likely have a tough time exactly matching your existing paint anyway so just have him lean toward the red side of slight mismatch. Wer'e talking very minor shades but I think they do matter when you step back and look at the whole car. I'm planning on doing the same thing one of these days. Let us know how it turns out.

LRG

IRQ


I'll let you know the details. The arrangement I have here keeps it in the shop for a couple of weeks. Sort of a freindly deal $. I just called the shop manager and he said they took an airgun to the clear coat and most of it just blew off. Pretty poor adhesion.
I told him to tint the paint a bit redder. He has better taste than I do. I am sure he will get it right.