Wasn't it so much easier when you could just eyeball the paint match? My dad taught me how to mix touch-up paint for his classic car, and we never needed any codes. It feels like everything's needlessly complicated now.
Read something about how modern car paint isn't just color anymore, it's got metallic flakes or color-shift effects in the mix. Honestly, @mila_harris, I get the nostalgia for your dad's method, but I heard trying to eyeball match those new finishes almost never works. A guy at the auto parts store told me even the factory codes can be off because paint fades differently on each car. Tbh it seems like the complicated paints are the reason we need the codes now, not the other way around.