1972 1.7 Orange (L20E) can't find the color, The right colour Options

[Rikky74]

Hi, there! I am struggeling to find the L20E color what is on my car from the factory. A couple of weeks ago I ordered a spraycan with Porsche L20E paint, but received a very light Orange (almost yellow) orange colour. This coulor seems to be also a original Orange colour that Porsche was using, and I think still uses on Porsches. But mine is Signal Orange from '72 with the L20E on the original plate in the doorspace . It looks like more Amber, but I don't want to order an other one and risking it's not the right one. Anyone who is familiar with this problem? Thanks!

[Superhawk996]

You will not find a perfect match just by paint code.

As Wonki states, modern mix and materials will be different due to environmentally friendly reformulations.

And then there is UV fading which will be present no matter what.

Your best bet will be to take a sample (headlamp cover works great) to a paint shop that can do color scan and match via computer. That will get you a lot closer but still won’t be a perfect match. If you are exceedingly lucky you’ll find a color guru at the shop that can tweak the mix based on the computer suggestions and by eye.

Even then, it still won’t be a perfect match. In all reality, this will probably be close enough for a small, amateur repair.

A pro painter will usually spray out test panels and possibly tweak it just a bit more based on how it looks.

After all that, it still will be dependent on the painter’s skill to blend the paint across panels and to blend the new to the old such that the human eye can no longer detect the subtle color mismatch.

Paint matching is an art. Perfection doesn’t come out of a can.