I can't quote this stuff from memory like Chris McMillin can, but I think I remember the story of how it came to be that color. One of the original team members worked at a body shop/auto paint store or something like that. The color was a special order that was mixed up, and then the customer never paid for or picked up.I'm thinking it may have been some sort of OEM GM color? Anyhow, rather than have the paint just sit, thinking that no one else would be interested in that color, they used it on the Shoestring. I think the airplane sustained some damage here and there in it's early life, and in doing repairs, they couldn't match the original color exactly, so that is why you see subtle changes in pictures in different publications. I would have to dig that up in a book to be sure. It might have even been posted here on the forum before.
I will cast a vote for the original color also, how ever close you manage to get it.
Type at you later,
Dan McEntee