1986 AMC Touch Up Paint (18 OEM Colors)

The 1986 AMC Vibe

By 1986, AMC was in a strange, beautiful place-caught between the rugged Wisconsin soul of the 4x4 Eagle and the quirky French DNA of the Alliance and Encore. It was a year where the brand was trying to look sophisticated, and they leaned hard into it with a massive palette of 18 colors. We're talking about a lineup heavy on the "prestige" metallics of the mid-80s, like Garnet Metallic and Sterling Metallic, alongside those quintessential earth tones like Autumn Brown Metallic that just scream "Saturday morning at the hardware store." It was the era of the "downsized" American dream, and AMC made sure you could paint that dream in everything from Olympic White to Mocha Dark Brown.

Paint Health Check

If you're staring at an original '86 AMC today, you're likely witnessing the "Great Delamination." This was the dawn of the Peeling Era. Manufacturers were moving away from the old-school single-stage paints and experimenting with early basecoat/clearcoat systems. The problem? The chemistry wasn't quite ready for the sun. On these mid-80s survivors, the clear coat tends to give up the ghost, turning into a flaky, white "sunburn" that peels off in sheets while the color underneath stays stubbornly attached. If your Dark Blue Metallic roof looks like it's shedding its skin, you aren't alone-that's just the 1986 factory bond failing its long-term physical.

Restoration Tip

When you're touching up an '86, you have to be a bit of a surgeon. Because this is a basecoat/clearcoat era, you can't just slap color on a chip and walk away-it won't match the depth, and it won't stay sealed. Seal your chips immediately. If you spot a rock chip in that Sebring Red, treat it before the air gets under the surrounding clear coat. Once the clear starts to lift at the edges, it'll "run" like a crack in a windshield. Clean the area, apply your color in thin layers to build the depth, and always, always finish with a quality clear topcoat to lock the edges of the original paint down. It's the only way to stop the peel before it claims the whole fender.