In my case, I gave my body man the paint code (904 white) and he ordered the corresponding Sikkens paint. So you can easily do this, there's no real trick to it.

What people are trying to tell you is that the color that you get using this method is likely to be dramatically different than the color that your car is now. So if there are any areas that aren't being painted (engine bay, etc), those may appear to be dramatically different than the new paint color. That's why matching is preferred if you're not painting everything and want the two colors to match closely.

ask the guy at the paint counter to mix up a quart of paint according to PPG#....or am I missing something? The Datsun color code and PPG reference numbers are at zhome.com or here:

http://www.tcpglobal.com/autocolorlibrary/

the original colour probably ought to be close, and would be a good place to start, IMO. Why not just paint the whole car again in the original color, instead of matching the faded colour?

I did paint them the original color. I'm not talking about matching the faded original color. In all three cases that you see in my sig. picture, none of them were matched from the paint that was already on the vehicle. They were mixed from the formula that the particular factory color code designates. Any good paint shop can do this. But, I hate to say this but sometimes giving an opinion in one of your threads makes me feel like I'm arguing with a sign!

280Z's don't have tool compartments in the rear deck? I didn't realize that.

I am pretty sure this is partially untrue. The 1975 and 1976 models had a "lower" rear hatch floor, similar to the 240Z I currently own. In 1977, the rear hatch floor was "raised", I have no idea why, but it was significantly higher, and probably negated the need / ability to have the tool compartment.

It's been 22 years or so, but I am 99% sure my '76 280Z had the tool compartment. I also know about the hatch floor because 2 of my friends had '77 280Zs, and there was clearly a difference.

I think that was done so that the collapsable spare, etc. would fit in the 77-78.

I have a 76 and there are 2 compartments behind the seats, one on each side, if those are the took compartments, then yes they are on the 75 and 76's, the car also has a full size spare tire. I don't know why they would raise the 77's deck, the inflatable spare is smaller.

The local place here still has the PPG color chip pages for the 70's datsuns. Auto paint supply in Richmond VA.

I don't know why they would raise the 77's deck, the inflatable spare is smaller.

I think the fuel tank on the '77-78s is larger.

I have had all years from '75 thru '78. The earlier 280's have a different fuel tank shape which allow the spare to fit under a hardboard circle that spans the tire well. The later 280's have a collapsable spare which sticks up well above the sheet metal. They added stanchions which are about 3" tall to support a full wooden floor to cover the tire as well as hide the tools and jack.

The wood is very heavy, but does a great job of hiding stereo equipment. If not for that, I would ditch the wood and spare tire and go with an inflator kit only.

They added stanchions which are about 3" tall to support a full wooden floor to cover the tire as well as hide the tools and jack.

Yes, now I recall that as you describe it. Both of my friends' cars had the wood floor, my '76 did not.

BTW, the tool bin cutouts are still in the floor with the wood false floor, they just don't have the doors bolted on to them.

As far as ordering paint goes, I've never had a problem with just asking for the color code. I tell the paint store employees that I want say a pint of Datsun color code 072. They then proceed to look at me like I'm speaking in a foreign language. I then rephrase the request substituting the word "Nissan" for Datsun, and a few minutes later I have the paint in hand. It might not work in all places, but if they get confused (and they do sometimes) I've had them look it up on the internet. Different paint manufacturers have sites with some extensive archives.