sjbB112 Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 Hello everyone! I am new to the forum, and having read through a bunch of different topics I decided to join. Myself and my two brothers are in the process of restoring a 1966 Riviera as a surprise gift for my father. The body tag indicates that this is a paint code B car, Riviera Gunmetal. However, I can not find a single photo anywhere of that color on a 66 Riviera. I was wondering if anyone had access to any pictures, or maybe have a 66 in that color. At this point, I am assuming it was a rarer color option for the year. The color does show on the bottom of the truck lid. We've been fortunate to score the car (which has been mostly unmolested) for $3k, and we just got the ol' 425 fired up last weekend and she runs beautifully. Lastly, it looks like one of the major things we may need, but are having trouble finding, are new front and rear bumpers, while we can rework them, they are slightly rough. Any suggestions? Thank you to anyone for the help! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PWB Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 (edited) Perhaps... It appears that you have a '67 grill. Unbent spare bumpers don't exist I'm afraid. These were easily bent up in the middle with a 5mph bump. Edited March 26, 2020 by PWB (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RivNut Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 ... I decided to join... The ROA or this forum? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PWB Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 Oh, thanks for the reminder Mr. Ed. I just renewed. I guess my renewal card got trashed while I was on the road. I wish they'd find my ROA # from the 80's. Hey sjbJ112 - I got a free and decent driver grill if you become a ROA member! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimera Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 Congratulations Sjbb112 (might want to rename that), Riviera Gunmetal is a great color and seldom seen. Its a blue gunmetal that is black in some light, navy blue in others. It is not particularly a rare color, yet it is the lowest run of the "Riviera" specific colors that year. A bit under 3000 produced in 66. When you join you will access to statistics and intel like this. Your probably going to want to buy a 1966 Buick paint book to see the paint chip and get multiple example to compare to your trunk and get a color that is accurate that you like for restoration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RivNut Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 1 hour ago, PWB said: Oh, thanks for the reminder Mr. Ed. I just renewed. I guess my renewal card got trashed while I was on the road. I wish they'd find my ROA # from the 80's. Hey sjbJ112 - I got a free and decent driver grill if you become a ROA member! Do you happen to remember when you first joined? Like down to the month? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kreed Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 Interestingly I have just finished painting my ' 66 GS back to its original B code gun metal gray in a frame on restoration I am hopefully getting the car in the next couple of days from the paint shop and I will be glad to send you some pictures. My car was at some point painted black laquer in a Texas dust storm! I had it taken back to bare metal during this repaint . I can tell you that when I had the paint shop spray out a card for me , it was absolutely a surprise . I loved it! As mentioned above , it's a very subtle blue hue that pops in the sunlight ! . There is "nothing " gray about it . I highly recommend it . Picture to follow soon . KReed ROA 14549 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1965rivgs Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 1 hour ago, kreed said: Interestingly I have just finished painting my ' 66 GS back to its original B code gun metal gray in a frame on restoration I am hopefully getting the car in the next couple of days from the paint shop and I will be glad to send you some pictures. My car was at some point painted black laquer in a Texas dust storm! I had it taken back to bare metal during this repaint . I can tell you that when I had the paint shop spray out a card for me , it was absolutely a surprise . I loved it! As mentioned above , it's a very subtle blue hue that pops in the sunlight ! . There is "nothing " gray about it . I highly recommend it . Picture to follow soon . KReed ROA 14549 Hi Ken, Do you remember us looking at this car and me reassuring you to return the car to Gunmetal? One of the best colors IMO but I definitely perceive the color as being a blue/gray-silver depending on lighting. If the color "popped" in the sunlight there is a heavy dose of metallic in the mix which will change the hue toward gray/silver at certain angles in certain lighting conditions. Looking forward to seeing it! Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NC1968Riviera Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 @sjbB112 check the spare tire well. If it hasn't been repainted it should be painted the original color. You also might pull off the door panels and find the original color on the inner door body. Join the Riviera Owners Association. You will be glad you did. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kreed Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 Quote Hi Tom - yes I absolutely remember you telling me I would over the color and I do ! I have never seen it before . I have to put it all back together now as it is scattered out all over my garage floor and may be calling you soon as I seem to always have "nuts and bolts and little pieces " left over . 😃Waiting on replating Of my bumpers now . KReed ROA 14549 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjbB112 Posted March 27, 2020 Author Share Posted March 27, 2020 (edited) 16 hours ago, PWB said: Oh, thanks for the reminder Mr. Ed. I just renewed. I guess my renewal card got trashed while I was on the road. I wish they'd find my ROA # from the 80's. Hey sjbJ112 - I got a free and decent driver grill if you become a ROA member! Based on the recommendation of many of you, I submitted my information to become a member of the ROA this morning! Thank you all for the help, I can already tell this is a passionate and extremely informative group. A little about myself! My name is Steve (I'll work on creating an easier username), and I've had a passion for cars and drag racing since as long as I can remember, currently 27, I started racing locally at 17 and have been fortunate enough to claim many wins, and championships in my 79 Camaro dragcar. This whole project is something my brothers and I have decided to do to give back to my father, who fueled all of our love for cars. In the 60s and 70s, my father was a huge Pontiac and Buick fanatic, racing Pontiac's at the same track I now called home. Initially, we were looking to recreate one of those cars for him. However, my mother brought up how in the 60s, my father absolutely loved the Riviera, but being they had a young child (my oldest brother) and we're attempting to make ends meet, it was a car he could never afford in those days. With her advice, we completely switched gears to located a 66 or 67 Riv (the years he always wanted). Oddly enough, just 20 minutes down the road a gentleman was selling the car we now have. The car is a 66, and is for the most part, completely unmolested. The drivetrain is all original with roughly 80,000 miles, the only updates being a Holley 650 carb, and a newer exhaust. Our plans for this car is to keep it as original as possible, while also adding some small upgrades for safety etc., such as front disc brake conversion, most likely switching to an HEI style distributor with an external coil to keep the original look. Currently the car is in our shop getting the necessary body work. The original 425 fired right up with fresh plugs, points, oil and fuel, and runs like a peach! A bore scope and compression test showed a very clean motor, checking out in all aspects that we would hope. The motor will still be pulled, cleaned up, repainted, and resealed as well as a complete cleaning and painting of the engine bay. In regards to the compression test, cylinder 5 and 6 (adjacent from one another) showed slightly lower than all the rest. all were around 155-160, those two were in the 130 range. When speaking to my engine builder, he said because the car was sitting, its possible with how it sat, they valve seats developed a little rust that will need to wear down, and not to be concerned. Just wanted to confirm that this is probably nothing to be overly worried about. The motor ran great and showed no signs of issues, no smoke, no noise etc. We will be keeping the car the original color, Riviera Gunmetal, fortunately one of my brothers is a painter! We are extremely excited about this project, and can't wait to give my father his dream car. Once again, thank you to all who have replied, we truly appreciate your generosity and help! Edited March 27, 2020 by sjbB112 (see edit history) 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
71GS Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 3 hours ago, sjbB112 said: Based on the recommendation of many of you, I submitted my information to become a member of the ROA this morning! Thank you all for the help, I can already tell this is a passionate and extremely informative group. A little about myself! My name is Steve (I'll work on creating an easier username), and I've had a passion for cars and drag racing since as long as I can remember, currently 27, I started racing locally at 17 and have been fortunate enough to claim many wins, and championships in my 79 Camaro dragcar. This whole project is something my brothers and I have decided to do to give back to my father, who fueled all of our love for cars. In the 60s and 70s, my father was a huge Pontiac and Buick fanatic, racing Pontiac's at the same track I now called home. Initially, we were looking to recreate one of those cars for him. However, my mother brought up how in the 60s, my father absolutely loved the Riviera, but being they had a young child (my oldest brother) and we're attempting to make ends meet, it was a car he could never afford in those days. With her advice, we completely switched gears to located a 66 or 67 Riv (the years he always wanted). Oddly enough, just 20 minutes down the road a gentleman was selling the car we now have. The car is a 66, and is for the most part, completely unmolested. The drivetrain is all original with roughly 80,000 miles, the only updates being a Holley 650 carb, and a newer exhaust. Our plans for this car is to keep it as original as possible, while also adding some small upgrades for safety etc., such as front disc brake conversion, most likely switching to an HEI style distributor with an external coil to keep the original look. Currently the car is in our shop getting the necessary body work. The original 425 fired right up with fresh plugs, points, oil and fuel, and runs like a peach! A bore scope and compression test showed a very clean motor, checking out in all aspects that we would hope. The motor will still be pulled, cleaned up, repainted, and resealed as well as a complete cleaning and painting of the engine bay. In regards to the compression test, cylinder 5 and 6 (adjacent from one another) showed slightly lower than all the rest. all were around 155-160, those two were in the 130 range. When speaking to my engine builder, he said because the car was sitting, its possible with how it sat, they valve seats developed a little rust that will need to wear down, and not to be concerned. Just wanted to confirm that this is probably nothing to be overly worried about. The motor ran great and showed no signs of issues, no smoke, no noise etc. We will be keeping the car the original color, Riviera Gunmetal, fortunately one of my brothers is a painter! We are extremely excited about this project, and can't wait to give my father his dream car. Once again, thank you to all who have replied, we truly appreciate your generosity and help! Welcome, and what a cool thing to do for your dad. Keep the photos coming . I’m sure many here would like to follow along. Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjbB112 Posted March 27, 2020 Author Share Posted March 27, 2020 30 minutes ago, 71GS said: Welcome, and what a cool thing to do for your dad. Keep the photos coming . I’m sure many here would like to follow along. Brian Thank you! After everything he has done for us, it is long over do, and he deserves it! I'm considering creating a post to create updates and progress along the way, especially if others would also be interested in following along! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted "Wildcat65" Nagel Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 After seeing a 67 Riviera in Charcoal Grey I had to paint my 65 that color. It is a really handsome hue! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JZRIV Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 Gunmetal was my 2nd choice in painting my car behind Shadow turquoise. Here is a very Original Gunmetal 66GS at Gettysburg. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimera Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 5 hours ago, JZRIV said: Gunmetal was my 2nd choice in painting my car behind Shadow turquoise. Here is a very Original Gunmetal 66GS at Gettysburg. Gorgeous! Yeah, GUNMETAL sounds cool enough, but with Rivieras, looks even better. Thanks for the picture Jason! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjbB112 Posted March 29, 2020 Author Share Posted March 29, 2020 16 hours ago, JZRIV said: Gunmetal was my 2nd choice in painting my car behind Shadow turquoise. Here is a very Original Gunmetal 66GS at Gettysburg. Wow! That looks awesome! I can’t wait to get the paint on ours. We can see the color on some spots, but nothing beats being able to see it full blown. Thank you very much for the picture! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted "Wildcat65" Nagel Posted March 29, 2020 Share Posted March 29, 2020 Wow is right! I need to see this car in person. I've spent a lot of time looking at the Autocolorlibrary and missed this one. I based my selection on the 67 color Charcoal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1965rivgs Posted March 29, 2020 Share Posted March 29, 2020 The picture Jason posted is from the ROA meet in Gettysburg which I attended. The picture looks rather dark, at least on my laptop. My experience is that Gunmetal has a lighter shade appearance with more silver/gray highlights. Jason, what do you think? Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivman Posted March 29, 2020 Share Posted March 29, 2020 Here is a bit different view, with different lighting ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1965rivgs Posted March 29, 2020 Share Posted March 29, 2020 4 hours ago, Rivman said: Here is a bit different view, with different lighting ... Hi Randall, Yes, better overall lighting but in this pic it loses its metallic character, almost looks black in this pic. Amazing how pics differ...its one of those colors that`s difficult to describe in words and even more difficult to capture in pics...gorgeous color really Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RivNut Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 On 3/27/2020 at 2:18 PM, sjbB112 said: Thank you! After everything he has done for us, it is long over do, and he deserves it! I'm considering creating a post to create updates and progress along the way, especially if others would also be interested in following along! It could also be your monitor or whatever screen on which you chose to view it. I used to have my mo itor connected to my laptop for a larger view. If I opened the laptop and viewed both screens at the same time, there was usually a difference in color. I don't seem to get true color when taking pictures with my smart phone or my tablet, only when I use my Canon 35mm DSLR. Paintref.com says that Riviera Gunmetal was also used by Oldsmobile and Pontiac. Pontiac probably has the best description of the color. They called it Blue Charcoal. They have a picture of a 1965 GTO painted that color posted. Pontiac used in in 1965 - 1967 on various models. Oldsmobile had the least descriptive name - Nocturn Mist 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1965rivgs Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 To my eye these are accurate: http://classiccardb.com/pontiac/407570-1965-pontiac-gto-blue-charcoal-with-0-available-now.html 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimera Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 I broke out some 66 paint chips from sellers manual and 66 Buick paint book. Probably not super accurate. I took the chip out in the sun and the blue picked up. Wow, the GTO looks wicked... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1965rivgs Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 lots of metallic...makes the perception of shade very dependent on light intensity and angle, Tom 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RivNut Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 If you want to take a real visual image trip and see what lighting and different cameras and angles do for color do this. Type 'Pontiac blue charcoal' into your browser then when the search is over, click on the images link. If there are 25 cars pictured, you'll see 25 different colors. 🤔 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JZRIV Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 18 hours ago, 1965rivgs said: The picture Jason posted is from the ROA meet in Gettysburg which I attended. The picture looks rather dark, at least on my laptop. My experience is that Gunmetal has a lighter shade appearance with more silver/gray highlights. Jason, what do you think? Tom I can't recall if that car was a repaint or not. Perhaps it was and older repaint. When you saw the car in Gettysburg what did you think Tom? As I recall in person it did look a bit lighter much like the bluing on a gun barrel only with metallic. I thought I had a pic of the Fisher tag. I'll have to look. I know there can be slight variations in colors in different years that use same or similar name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted "Wildcat65" Nagel Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 I was so excited by this color I purchased some from the autocolorlibrary TPI people. I think a color change from Desert Beige might be in order. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1965rivgs Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 29 minutes ago, Ted "Wildcat65" Nagel said: I was so excited by this color I purchased some from the autocolorlibrary TPI people. I think a color change from Desert Beige might be in order. Hi Ted, Which type of paint material did you choose? Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted "Wildcat65" Nagel Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 I think urethane base coat. I'm sending it to the guy that painted the Stage 1 to spray out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1965rivgs Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 2 hours ago, Ted "Wildcat65" Nagel said: I think urethane base coat. I'm sending it to the guy that painted the Stage 1 to spray out. Nice!...would be cool to see the sprayout...did they specify this color only available in particular paint types or was it available in all paint types? Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted "Wildcat65" Nagel Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 Looked like all- I wonder what a single stage would look like. T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kreed Posted May 30, 2020 Share Posted May 30, 2020 Finally got my 66 GS beater out if the paint shop yesterday . Still got a few minor things to tidy up but thought I would share a couple pics . As discussed above the color is now the correct Code B -gunmetal gray . Apologize for all the glare /shadows but wanted to try and get a few shots of the color which is anything but gray . The dual quads are my add on to this MW 425- it is not an MZ code. Originally an Oregon bought car so non-AC . This was my steep (and expensive )learning curve on EBay about three years ago. Saw about 50 pics which in retrospect had been photoshopped . Seller said paint was 7-8 /10 .Was actually 3/10 having been painted black lacquer in a Kansas sandstorm apparently ( that was fun to get off along with the other two coats of paint) . Only rust was the battery tray and the lower front driver fender next to the battery tray. Hard to believe but the seller never returned any of my calls after I got the car. 🤔Anyway it’s about done and is fun to drive KReed ROA 14549 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
telriv Posted May 30, 2020 Share Posted May 30, 2020 Sure looks like a blue/green in the pics. IF this is your beater car I dare guess what the others??? may look like. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimera Posted May 30, 2020 Share Posted May 30, 2020 A true sophisticated and classy gentleman's luxury sports tank. Looks great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JZRIV Posted May 30, 2020 Share Posted May 30, 2020 Stunning Ken! Just stunning. Congrats on getting it out of paint prison! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RivNut Posted May 30, 2020 Share Posted May 30, 2020 (edited) Nice. If this is a beater, I'll take one any day. Love the color. Windows down, air vents open, 75 mph, who needs air conditioning? 😁 Edited May 30, 2020 by RivNut (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J3Studio Posted May 30, 2020 Share Posted May 30, 2020 18 hours ago, kreed said: Beautiful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J3Studio Posted May 30, 2020 Share Posted May 30, 2020 On 3/29/2020 at 9:05 PM, 1965rivgs said: lots of metallic...makes the perception of shade very dependent on light intensity and angle That would be correct—especially for darker colors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68RIVGS Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 Perfect color choice - but I'm partial to metallic greys ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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