Notice the original paint vs. the mis-colored respray
Here’s an image of what the original “playmate pink” on a ford mustang looked like. This photo was taken during the current dismantling and restoration of my 1965 convertible.
There’s always a lot of debate about the “proper” color for the earliest pink mustangs. Because I was fortunate that my trunk interior had never been re-sprayed and I found a considerable amount of original paint under the dash, I was able to test a wide variety of color possibilities.
I tested every color imaginable, and even had a spectral analyzer take a crack at it. In the end, the color known as WT9301 was a nearly perfect match, as you can see in the photo below.
A variety of 60's paint color chips, courtesy of mustangattitude.com
WT9301 Tested as a 2-stage paint against the original factory paint.
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You really have a beautiful mustang! This dusk rose color is just beautiful! I really enjoyed reading your posts!
Cheers
I don’t know a whole lot about the 65/66 Mustangs, but I do know that there was some question as to if Ford actually call play boy pink, playboy pink in 67 because they were a very modest company in the 60′s or if all pink Mustangs in 67 were Dusk Rose. Well I just seen a 1967 Playboy pink Mustang this weekend and I can tell you the colors are definitely different. My Dusk Rose Mustang is a lot lighter in color and has more lavender tones to it. The Playboy is more like a Pepto Bismol pink. I was also told that the only year Ford used Dusk Rose on a Mustang was in 1967. Although The later part of 1966 one was able to order Dusk Rose on there Mustang because the 1967 colors were available. As far as 65 Mustangs that I have seen in pictures the pink has been a lot paler in color than the Dusk Rose.
I don’t think there’s any question regarding the name “playboy pink” or “playmate pink”. The names were never officially used by Ford, period. I’ve heard the modesty argument in the past, but true or not, it’s subjective. Even if the company ever had any interest in the name, they would have needed to license the name from Playboy. If you recall Ford was too cheap to license the name “Mustang” in Germany back in 1965, and instead sold the Mustang’s as Ford T-5′s.
The terms “Playboy Pink” and “Playmate Pink” are used to differentiate the paint colors that ford offered from 1965-1968 that were never formally listed or named in the paint charts. The Playboy color was 1967-1968, and was much closer to Pepto Bismol pink, like you said.
You are right that Dusk Rose was only used in 1967, at least officially. There are 1967 dusk rose cars that were not given paint codes, however. These cars can be easily confused without a Marti Report to verify the paint code properly.
So, with the 1965-1966 pink (playmate), there is a lot of dispute regarding the legitimate color. Because I have one stripped down to original paint at the moment, I am working to show the original paint decisively. Bear in mind that the paint for special order colors was acrylic, tended to fade, and original paint cars look ligter now then when they came out of the factory. There have also been several inaccurate restorations of 1965/1966 cars. Joyce Epperson did a great resto on her 1966, but her paint is lighter than dusk rose, and that may be due to the fact that her car was rescued from years of neglect in a junkyard and she did not have a great source to match a paint sample to.
There were also 3 cars painted in unique “Tussy Pink” lipstick shades, I don’t know that they have ever been found, but I know of a few people that have painted to try and match those shades.
The question that needs to be asked is did Ford mix a special acrylic enamel paint for their ’65/’66 Mustangs that was never in any paint books, or did they use their 1950′s acrylic enamel dusk rose without publishing the name until mid-1967? My suspicion is the latter, having worked on 1950′s dusk rose cars in addition to this 1965 pink mustang.
my mom was the 2nd owner of a ’67 pink mustang convertible. white top , white interior.i think she purchased it around 1969. it was customized with hood turning indicators, electric top, folded glass rear window with mustang logo etched in it. i definitely remember her saying over and over that the color was dusk rose on all the paperwork and it did not look anything like playboy pink. i agree playboy pink looks like pepto pink.
My project since 1996 has been a 1968 color of the month pink mustang. My research has been ongoing since 1989. I recently (2005-2008) had the body work completed and fresh two stage paint laid on it. The DuPont regional supervisor matched the color as Ditzler is out of production. Unfortunately because I chose two stage paint, it will not exactly match the original single stage. Tough thing to consider doing. The pink color of your car matches the 1956 Lincoln color, as does mine, and not dusk rose according to my research. Perhaps you knew that. Very interesting site and I hope to hook up with you at a show. I am also in Maryland, though north of Baltimore. I haven’t looked at my information folder on the color in about 6 years. I will pull what I have acquired and see if I can get it to you. Jeff Speegle was a great help in the late 1990′s, as was the Horse of a Different Color registry.
Bill
1968 “hot pink” 289 2V
The color matches are very tricky indeed. I ended up having 6 different colors done up and agonized over making a final decision.
Why can I not see any pictures on your page??? I have a pink (Pepto) 65 convertible Mustang & am trying to see other Pinky’s out there. Please help as I’m itchin’ to see!!!!
~Tami~
hi we to own a 66 pink notch back i would say color to that at top of the blog there is no paint code on the door plate ,this car is in new zealand arrived here in 2005 . rego tags still alive till march 2006,plate number is 2hem965 cali plates is there any way we can find the history of this car,we now it has nothing to do with the play boy thing but would great to know it history,have some old levi adds with pinks in them,have read heeps of blogs ect on this subject most interesting
There’s a number of things your car could be related to. ’66 was not a “mainstream” year for pink mustangs, so it’s possible it could be related to the ’66 Dole Pineapple ads, the ’66 Tussy Lipstick giveaway, or the ’66 Readers digest contest. Do you happen to know the paint mix code?
65-67 mustang color code -S- for pink rose on vin plate on drivers inner door!
Randall, That’s not correct. There was no “S” color code in 1966, and in 1964/1965 the “S” color code would have been for Cascade Green.
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