If you have a paint shop that can match paint for you, then that is probably your best bet. Though it seems many have had good experience with VMR paint, I have not; I found that it was not an accurate match for an original Honda color. In my experience, nothing beats an expert eye when it comes to paint. I have shunned paint kits entirely for my last few restorations. I instead go to my local Napa. They mix paint (even the good stuff like House of Kolor) and stand behind their products. I haven't been let down. And its great to able to go back and say "I need more of this exact paint" They can look up the formula they used and mix it right then and there.
For the absolute best results, go to your paint shop with an example of the paint you want. Even if you have to buy something on ebay to reference, that will go miles to getting the best match. Here's an example...
After having a bad experience with VMR's candy ruby red on one of my sandcasts, I found an original paint tank in the same color. The tank itself was junk, but portions of the paint were unfaded. I took that to my paint guy and we discovered some interesting stuff. First, the metallic flake of 1969 that Honda used was extremely fine. Not like the stuff they used later. It was silver and not gold (candy paints are commonly done on top of either silver or gold). Second; what Honda called "Candy Ruby Red" was an exact match to what House of Kolor calls "Candy Apple Red". The match was fantastic (the original tank is in the foreground and the House of Kolor Candy Apple Red is in the background...I could not have been happier!):
Finally, and I do not know why this is, use a white primer under a silver metallic when painting a candy finish. For some reason, this makes a difference with the silver metallic. I can't explain it fully, but I have painted with grey primers under the silver metallic and white primers and there is a difference!
