The ShadowMusic Web Community

Thanks a lot to all of you for your information. I'll go down to my supplier and see what they can come up with. I don't know if they can still colour match back that far. Thank you all. Wilson.

I used to work on vintage cars, including the T-bird.
There are many reds described as fiesta red, The only one we could use was the original formula in cellulose.
It can be purchased from vintage restoration groups, I had a link but can't find it. If i find it again i will post it here.

I have spayed hundreds of gallons of the stuff, it only ever looks the proper colour in cellulose, the two pack systems do not produce the same colour.
The nearest polyurathane variant is that used on the Squier Classic Vibe. But put alongside the cellulose colour, is substantially different.

It is also easy to tint or more accurately taint the finish and spoil the colour. The colour supplied by Manchester Guitar Tech is accurate, but you must spray onto a pure white base coat, not grey. do not try to give it a vintage finish by tinting the lacquer. The lacquer must be clear.

Alongside any colour it will look a bright red, alongside red it will look pink.

Books have been written on this colour, but the truth is it was only used for a short time, the remaining paint was bought by Fender. The paint company changed hands in about 1962 -1964. at that point it ceased to be cellulose or Nitro as the Americans called it, and the formula was changed. Hence the confusion and difficulty getting and accurate colour code. Don't quote me on the dates, Iv'e dragged this up from deep memory.