I believe 50+ years ago Ditzler called it "sheen gray poly" and the number is 31104. Ditzler is no more and that color is no more and the formula is no more.
Now fast forward to today, Ditzler is now PPG, their color library has produced offsets to the old colors in today color systems. The PPG Color 27467 and Graphite Brown Metallic is what PPG calls the color they are able to produce today with the materials that are now available.
The color is very deceiving, I have been monitoring the forum for a little over six months and read back into the archives and this has been an ongoing discussion for years and there are hundreds of interpretations of what the original color is supposed to be. To my eye the “champagne” description that is popularly used is close, it isn’t brown and it isn’t gray it’s something in between and really hard to nail down. That’s why I am saying that the PPG 27467 offset color from the PPG color library that I picked up last week looks very close to what was on the side garnish of the seat in my ’50. It was in pretty good shape and I don’t doubt that paint that has been around 50+ years may have faded some. It probably was never waxed or cared for in any way.
The solid color i.e. non-metallic, on the mast jacket was much closer to a gray but had an odd tint to it again very difficult to nail down.
Tim is an expert in this area, maybe he will jump in and verify or correct my interpretation.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL
