There are specific colors but they really refer to color groups.  Why?  Simply because there can be many shades of the same color which can vary from casting to casting, from year to year and from country of origin to country of origin.  This is attributed to many different factors but usually the preparation of the casting prior to being painted has a lot to do with how vibrant or not the color appears.  If a casting is highly polished, then it tends to be very bright and colorful, where if a casting is not polished well and the metal has a darker finish, the color would tend to be dark or dull.  In addition, it seems that no two batches of the same color of paint were mixed the same way.  So, for example, you can have a dark aqua, a very blue looking aqua, a very green looking aqua or even a very light or icy looking aqua.  The color is still aqua; it’s just a particular shade of aqua. 

It is important to note that UV rays can affect the paint color over time.  A good example of this is the result of taking a true green car and exposing it to direct sunlight.  Over time, it faded to an icy aqua-blue color.  The theory for this occurrence is that this particular mixture of green paint was prone to induced UV fading.  Not all paint colors and not all of the same color paint is susceptible. Nevertheless there are some paint colors out there that are, so always store and display your spectraflame beauties appropriately.

Mattel did use some enamel paints during the Spectraflame Era and they are listed below among the spectraflame colors.  The terms in parentheses are alternate names collectors use when describing the corresponding color.  A rainbow can be quite challenging when trying to find the same casting in as many different colors as possible, but don’t forget about the shades in between.  Tracking down shades can turn a rainbow into a spectrum – a feat some collectors say is never complete -  but is quite impressive when on display. 

Color Chart