Correct grille color for '68 Riv

[NC1968Riviera]

I need to do some touch-up work on the grille of my '68 Riv. Does anyone have a reference for the correct shade of metallic gray to use on this part? I can't find anything in the '69 assembly manual that references the correct color.

Thanks in advance.

Mike

[NC1968Riviera]

Bump, I am still looking for an answer to this question.

[68RIVGS]

I'm sure it's specified somewhere Mike, but I could never find the specific formula.

As my car is an '86 GM Medium Grey Metallic  (...non-original),  I color matched the grill surround for a subtle mild custom look.

The same grey was also used for the painted areas in the pot metal tail light bezels if that helps Mike.

A picture from the 2010 Hershey meet (...next post)  -  that really doesn't show the correct color, but you can see the results. 

Click on smaller pictures to enlarge for viewing.

Edited July 27, 2017 by 68RIVGS (see edit history)

[68RIVGS]

2010 Hershey ROA Meet

Edited July 27, 2017 by 68RIVGS (see edit history)

[PWB]

Here is a exterior grade, satin, charcoal gray option that sticks to plastics.

I've never used it but it has very good reviews on automobile use. Wouldn't hurt to test?

 

https://www.amazon.com/Rust-Oleum-Automotive-260861-11-Ounce-Charcoal/dp/B006ZLQRSW/ref=sr_1_4?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1501189690&sr=1-4&keywords=dark+gray+spray+paint

 

 

[NC1968Riviera]

1 hour ago, 68RIVGS said:

The same grey was also used for the painted areas in the pot metal tail light bezels

Do you have a picture of the painted tail light bezels? I was looking at mine and I was wondering if they were originally painted or just suffering from chrome loss.

[RivNut]

For most of the chrome parts which also received smell contrasting paint, the most commonly used color is Argent Silver.

[NC1968Riviera]

3 hours ago, RivNut said:

smell contrasting paint,

Smell contrasting paint??? 

[RivNut]

1 hour ago, NCRiviera said:

Smell contrasting paint??? 

"some"

 

It's my Samsung tablet.  It has predictive text and if I transpose a letter or happen to skip a letter when spelling, it doesn't give me options like MS Word, it picks something close and inserts it. I probably didn't hit the o key hard enough so "sm" came up with smell.

 

If you've noticed on some posts where I've edited it, I have "effing predictive text" saved as an excuse. ?

[68RIVGS]

On 7/27/2017 at 5:58 PM, NCRiviera said:

Do you have a picture of the painted tail light bezels? I was looking at mine and I was wondering if they were originally painted or just suffering from chrome loss.

 

I do Mike, but I'll need some time to smell them, oops - I mean find them! LOL

Sorry Ed - just couldn't resist - I thought to myself: Has that Ed guy been sniffing high octane AV GAS again ?

(. . . My Riviera photos are scattered over 3 computer hard drives).

 

The left hand bezel is an NOS one, and you can see it almost closely matches the grill surround color,  and does provide  a nice contrast. 

The right hand side is Ed's argent silver as most original bezels had faded, or lost the painted inserts completely.

I ended up repainting both the bezels with the same color paint I used on the grill surround, which is a close match to the '86 GM Medium Grey Metallic on the car.

(. . . colors will vary depending on your browser color adjustments)

Not exactly factory, but a mild custom look - I call them Randyisms, and " i " likes it, so there !!

 

Edited July 29, 2017 by 68RIVGS
. . . to add bezel photos and text. (see edit history)

[NC1968Riviera]

13 hours ago, 68RIVGS said:

does provide  a nice contrast

Randy, your bezels look great. Mine are somewhat bubbled so I want to try finding better ones before I attempt any insert painting. I appreciate your sharing your experience and pictures with us. 

[68RIVGS]

Your welcome Mike, that's what ROA is all about !!

When you say bubbled - do you mean pitted?

You can see some of the pitting in the right bezel. The bezels were cast in pot metal,  and very prone to pitting with age and exposure to road salt in winter driving ! 

The NOS bezel was purchased from the Buick Farm, (...their last one), and I managed to trade a decent right side '69 picked up in my travels,

for a decent '68 from fellow ROA member "Briz" in sunny Florida. His '68 had one of each type and he wanted a 'matching' pair !

Decent non-pitted '68 or '69 original bezels are becoming quite scarce to find.

It took roughly 2 hours to mask the  bezels, and approx. 2 minutes to 'rattle can' them !

 

 

Edited July 29, 2017 by 68RIVGS (see edit history)

[NC1968Riviera]

Randy, what are the differences between the 68 and 69 tail light bezels?

[68RIVGS]

The '69 bezels had two vertical bars cast into them - they were introduced late in the '68 model year.

It is not uncommon to see both types on later '68 Riviera, but '69 Riviera should only have the vertical bar bezels.

Both types are interchangeable, and mount with screws at iether end of the bezels.

[NC1968Riviera]

1 minute ago, 68RIVGS said:

Both types are interchangeable, and mount with screws at iether end of the bezels.

Do the light housings need to be removed in order to take the bezels off? 

[68RIVGS]

No - but the bumper has to come off to access 4 speed nuts that secure the bezel to the bumper along the top edge of the bezel.

There are 4 pins that align the top of each tail light bezel to the bumper opening.

Then when you have the bumper off you can remove the taillight housings quite easily,  if need be.

Left and right side housings are interchangeable side to side, but the bezels are left and right only.

On reassembly leave the retaining speed nuts off the locating pins on the top of bezel, so you won't have to pull the bumper next time round !

Simply secure the bezels with the self tapping screws to the cage nuts at either end of the bezels.

The top speed nuts are almost inaccessible with the bumper mounted on the car !

The cast pins in the bezel can be brittle and corroded with age, and may easily break off the bezel !

Edited July 30, 2017 by 68RIVGS (see edit history)