Hello everyone - Just bought a Eddy Merckx Corsa frame and wanted to know if any of you fine folks have ever come across paint codes for these vintage Merckx bikes. Mine is a Pink (better description is a pearl magenta / pink) and was built in 1989 / 1991 when eddy's factory was just changing over to Reynolds tubes. A buddy of mine is in the paint business and has taken up the challenge but thought I'd ask anyone here to possibly save this poor sole some time as I know it will not be an easy endeavour.

I do know the paint was most likely applied in a two, possibly three step process of pearl white, translucent pink/magenta, clear coat pearl.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Are you looking to refinish or just touch up your frame?

Paint codes vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, and not all have cross-references to the others' codes. And yes, this is probably at least a two-stage paint process. Most paint jobbers have optical color matching devices that might get you acceptably close. If they don't, they'll have books with sprayouts that you can use to compare colors. But their sprayouts might not have the right metallic or pearl or be just a little light or dark or whatever. That's why experienced painters match by eye, using their own sprayouts for fine-tuning. In the case of a multi-stage process, this can get complicated, because older paints' nuances can be difficult to replicate.

There's no way to match paint colors on computer screens or photographs either. Colors are produced by the devices and decoded by our brains differently from how paint is.

Sorry, no easy way around this. If you want a spot-on match you will have to have an experienced painter with a mixing system at hand decode what's on there, then take the time to replicate it. There's a real art to it.

Hey Ghrumpy - thanks for the note. I just want to touch the frame up. I don't have the stomach to refinish it, and its not all that bad. Totally understand about the paint colours. I work in graphic arts so I look at colour all day and the buddy of mine who has taken this job as a challenge is in the paint business... so I think with both of us doing our due diligence we should have something very close. Just with anything, if you have a road map, best to start there. Presently, its at 80% of actual... the last bit will be the hardest. We've already looked at all the RAL colours and nothing is close.

I'd consider browsing the nail polish aisle at your local store. Seriously. You might find some pretty close matches, and then can mix to fine tune it. Take the frame with you so you can really tell.

Problem there is going to be light. Paint looks different under fluorescent than it does in daylight.

Good luck