I am going to attempt some form of summary and explanation.
Although I am waiting on some paint from KBS Coatings and also want to do some more comparisons on a mates original paint 186S, for me at all started with “what the &*^%$ is Holden X2 Engine Red”?
Because rightly or wrongly I was told that HK GTS 327 engines were painted Holden X2 Engine Red and also that X2 motors were painted this colour I went on a quest to find it, however no matter where I searched I could not find a paint company that could produce a code for this colour name.
KBS Coatings in Sydney is an example and Autolac Newcastle is the same, they don’t have any listings for Holden X2 Engine Red under this name.
The only thing I could find was a shaker can sold as X2 Red on Ebay which is nothing like my 327 or the original paint examples Dan has been kind enough to present, so the colour code for Holden X2 Engine Red and exact colour match is an on-going mystery.
Maybe that’s the way its going to stay, Dans has two differing shades of original paint examples and we know from other members input that there is probably many different shades based on issues such as painter mixing the paint, thinners, pigment, suppliers etc, not to mention the differing ageing of original paint example cars.
We went full circle with HK1837 providing invaluable information on the production line processes and company procedures here and in America giving insight into the difficulty of truly identifying exact colour shades. Like has been said before, we will never have certainty of the exact process these companies undertook in the 60’s, but we still do have original paint examples to compare.
For me it was always whether or not I could find an off the shelf product (shaker can) that would get me over the line should I decide to show my car. I for one didn’t want people saying nice car but the motor is the wrong colour, what triggered me was another thread on this forum some years ago where it was exactly that discussion, see the link below
https://www.fastlane.com...s-for-152-000-00.aspx?=
With this in mind, I went to the local Supercheap and picked up a can of Chevy Orange and to my amazement it was an all but exact match. That was where the mission started to find out if Chevy Orange was the same as Holden X2 Engine Red and here we are running this thread.
I am going to put it out there that based on the original paint example of my 327 and Dans 186 X2 that if anyone went down to their local Supercheap Auto and bought a can of Duplicolor Chevrolet Orange DE1620 and painted their engine then there would be no argument regarding the correct colour for their X2, HKGTS 327 and at this stage looks to be 186S.
I will some colour match comparison with KBS Coatings Rocket Red and Duplicolor Chevrolet Orange, get a few more examples of original paint motors and hopefully we will have some consensus.