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It’s hard to imagine someone would paint a Pierce sedan in this color blue. But there is no accounting for taste. I agree with the posters above. Paint it the way you like it. Twenty years later and I still like the blue on my sedan. We tried seven shades before we got it right……according to me!
Ed,
I like that color blue on your car. It works! Is that a custom color you made or is it a standard color from?
Rick
It is a modification of a 1990 Mazda blue. Some people think it’s too much. I still like it more than 20 years later. At least four or five more cars have copied what I did, and now blue seems to be going out of style.
My vote is for the 5th one Richard posted a photo of. The ’30 touring car. A blue-ish gray body with a darker blue fender and spashpans. Nice subdued colors, very classy.
Greg Long
Greg,
I like those colors as well. They were one of the finalist in selecting the color of my DC. I chose anotther but it was close.
Ed,
Here is one to match yours.
Hi everyone. One comment I would make
There was deffinately two camps, two different kinds of customers. If you look at the colors that were predominate in the factory catalouge they were metallic looking and wild. But if you look at the ad pieces of the same cars they were conservative and reserved. Studebaker had just taken over the management and there existed very different opinions within the new company as to where the Pierce Line was going to go.
Rick has a complete set of 1928 through 1930 ads to consider. The range is broad. I don’t think he has an original salesmans catalouge to look at which would be helpful.
There is an original prestige sales catalogue on eBay. I have one & it is a beautiful production in approx foolscap (Bigger than A4) size in full color art paper.
Further to my prev post the guy who has the catalogue for sale is Ken McGee Auto Lit.
The size is 16″ by 10″” by 34 pages. $600 —he has a sale on! There is a small version of this catalogue also available from Autolit.
–BUT remember the colors therein are to attract attention & usually do not reflect the majority choice. Sort of like painting your Early William & Mary chair with 2 pack PolyU!!
Ah, but you missed my point. I have seen all the 25 or 30 catalogues from Pierce, and the 1929 catalogue is unique in in it’s unusually bright and wild colors. Most of the other years are usually much more conservitive. Rick has a paint sample book that shows the colors for the 1929 industry (not just Pierce colors) that are more conservative.
Whoever chose the catalogue colors did not reflect the previous or future colors desired by the basic Pierce-Arrow customer.
Point taken Bill!!
In the leather bound 29 paint sample book, there are the normal conservative colors. However, there is a canary yellow (my title not theirs), orangey red, orange, mint green. Several bright colors are there for the daring few. Not one shade of white though????? Interesting!
There are some very rich looking dark blues and greens, but seem to be rarely used back then. It appears, back in the day, the trend was earth tone browns and good old black. Im not a fan of brown so half the selection is out for me.
I find it interesting, since I have started my project, many people are very vocal about colors. I do think that original is always the best. However, people put alot of money into these jems and should not accept a color they do not like just because it may be “correct”. (Unless your going to pebble beach) Im not sure what the correct answer is but I want to walk into the garage every morning and gaze at my car and smile, not think, I wish I had painted it ________. Lets face it, the majority of our cars will not see the grounds of a true concourse show.
I agree there are some colors that make my jaw drop, but as we all know, we are just caretakers of these pieces of rolling art. The next caretaker may take this car, strip it down, bring it back to its former glory, and head toward pebble beach.
If the color is shocking, think of of it as an unusual primer that is keeping the metal solid until the next caretaker can get it done “right”. 
I agree that one should choose what makes one happy, within reason.
My ’31 phaeton was originally dark green with khaki fenders, and green interior. I have a picture from 1959 that shows it those original colors. Fred Tycher once commented on my car, on a Texas tour, that the colors were “very much Pierce colors, but not necessarily attractive”…
When I had an engine fire, I decided to repaint the car and redo top and interior, and that’s when I chose the two tone gray with black interior and black top.
I’ve never owned a car that generated so many positive comments on the color choice. Just about anywhere it’s been, someone has stated how much the colors are perfect for the car.
So yes, I think it’s an important decision, and of course everyone has their favorites and opinions, thus the numerous comments about color choice. When you reveal your choice, Richard, you’ll have even more comments, and hopefully they’re positive!!
It is a challenge and a bit of fun trying to get the right colors. I decided that the only way to get a real feel was to paint part of the car. Years ago (sorry, Packard again) I started with a plastic model and mixed model paints to experiment and get what looked right. I then had some original Ditzler mixed of a factory color formula that was quite close to what I came up with on the model. Looked good on sheet metal bits dipped in the paint, but then when I sprayed part of the car it wasn’t quite right -too “fleshy” i.e. “warm”. Then had a few other factory colors mixed (from Ditzler formulas). One was a metallic green-teal that was stunning in the can and on a metal sheet, but when sprayed on the part of the car it was obvious it would have looked garish and stuck out like a sore thumb. Ditched that and went back to the beiges all painted on the back end of my parts car. It took a few more iterations, and the result was a light but still conservative color in the vein of the beautiful ’35 coupe above. If anyone were to whine that my color is too light and not “correct” (haven’t done it to my face), I have a color magazine ad showing a car pretty darn close to that color.
Most of these cars were originally dark colors – no argument. I think the impression of color has a lot to do with how close you are standing to the car. Close up a well done dark color looks incredibly deep and beautiful, but from a distance that is less of an impression than the overall lines of the car. I feel that dark monotones tend to hide the beautiful flowing lines and lighter colors are better from a distance, if not up close. Since I am more concerned with how the car looks on the road for people who are amazed at seeing a relic out in the traffic rather than on a show field of critics, I gravitate towards lighter colors.
One of the things I like about the ’35 P-A was that there were a few somewhat unusual factory options for the belt moldings to be a lighter color than the base, and that really can accentuate the lines of the car such as the ’35 coupe above. Trick is getting the right amount of contrast. I had the original P-A Patricia Blue/Alpha Blue combination mixed with Ditzler years ago, as well as the two-tone green combination (Moss green light and dark). Unfortunately, when you get away from the basic blacks, almost black blues, and almost black greens most ’30’s factory colors tend to be “muddy”. Not my term but the comment of the guy mixing the paints for me. We have a choice of being historically accurate or highlighting the design of these cars as things of beauty and a joy forever. I have always admired the lines of these cars, particularly ’33-35, and feel it was an unfortunate slap to the loftsman who carved out those flowing surfaces that they were penalized with a trend of those years for “muddy” colors. I have more respect for the designers and engineers than the production manager at Pierce who chose the simple monotone blue to slap on the car to minimize cost for cars they were “dumping” in Wisconsin (a surprising number of ’35’s were in Wisconsin).
I am still futzing with my ’35 P-A colors. Pulled the body back into the garage after being covered up for a couple months outside while dealing with the rear axle and springs. It has three different combinations of body/belt molding colors and my favorite from a few months ago doesn’t look right anymore, so back to the paint store.
Jim
Dave
I love your car. In fact the two tone grey was one if my first choices. The only diff was I was going to have a grey top and interior.
I chose something different to make my car a bit diff from anyone else’s. ( I hope).
I thought about a gray interior, but gray’s are incredibly hard to match and/or harmonize. As others mentioned, I went through a few different combinations, even to the point of having the entire main body in finish paint and not liking it, to get where it is now. There’s a blue undertone to a lot of grays that’s a tough match.
I also thought of a gray top. At the time Haartz had a weave that was mostly gray with some black strands, and I thought it would look fine….my wife, whom I’ll admit (is that good English?) may have better taste than me, said no, let’s go with black top too, it’ll look very neat and clean….and it does.
We’re waiting with bated breath, PLEASE tell us the colors you picked!!
Or, as they say, not….
I have the fenders, reveal and top selected. (yes, same color) The body and leather is down to two. As you just wrote, the paint color/leather color matching is a killer.
The trunk is original black leather with chrome/nickle hardward. The trunk has custom luggage and compartment for the Pierce Vacuum. That should satisfy you for a little while.
There is only another 6-8 months left before the car is done. 
A one year restoration is an incredible feat these days.
Thanks again for the lively discussions on your car!
If you’re putting a trunk on the car, are you going with the optional extended bumper, that allow the trunk to be within the bumper confines?
I didn’t like that look, so fabricated a couple of extra brackets so I could pull the trunk in tight to the back of the body, and within the original rear bumper.
The car originaly has the trunk/luggage rack. There is no need to extend anything. It will clearly fit. The car came with some tiny little trunk that was obviously not the one that left the factory with the car. The trunk I fond is an inch or so smaller than the rack and fits the existing bolt holes exactly.
Rick