Our local quality auto parts store quit mixing custom spray-bombs a couple of years ago. I'm not too concerned about the overall quality on this project, this particular one is more along the lines of "if it looks good from 50 feet at 50 MPH, then it's fine". When this truck evaporates (~5 years, I hope), I'll go west to pick up a rust-free model, then I'll get a little more excited about the quality ;-)
SOLVED -- (for my purposes!) Plasti-Kote 1588 CANDY APPLE RED AT $4.29 a can, my tailgate just cost about $2.00 to paint. It is definately a little too dark, but it's the closest I could find.
I agree that all of this that I am doing is sub-standard and probably a really bad idea for all sorts of reasons, but this is close to a match. It passes the 50-50 test.