SHOULD I PAINT MY SS396 CHEVELLE THE ORIGINAL BUILD COLOR WITH NUMBERS MATCHING W/ 20K ORIGINAL MILES

[John_S_in_Penna]

46 minutes ago, Restorer32 said:

My question is why would a "rust free 20,000 mile barn find" car have been repainted ?

 

I think there are many possible reasons.

For example, I have a '74 Eldorado which I bought

from the original family.  It has documented mileage i

the low 20's, but the owner, who eventually became elderly,

drove it for 40 years in all sorts of weather.  She

just never drove more than 15 or 20 miles from home.

 

Or, the car was stored for many years, inactive,

and was in a building where dust and nicks accumulated.

Maybe someone bumped it with a riding mower.

 

You can imagine many scenarios, but you might be

right if you're wondering that the mileage is really 120,000.

[West Peterson]

1 hour ago, alsancle said:

It would be insanity to nut and bolt that car when 60-70k buys the nicest one in the world.

 

Btw, “resale red” has been dead for 20 years.

 

In a nutshell, kinda what I said from the very beginning. Even if you did a last nut-and-bolt back to numbers matching (color AND transmission), your sale price between numbers matching and not numbers matching is relatively negligible compared to what you have in it. That doesn't mean I'm against restoring it, as this is a hobby and that is what we do. But when you have to monetize it, perhaps you're in the wrong hobby.

[Zimm63]

My dad bought a 70 Challenger new.  318, 3 speed, leather front seats.  Brown.  We called it baby poop tan.  No idea what he was thinking, especially as he had 3 teenagers at the time.    

 

Car begged to be a different color.  Never looked to see how many were brown, but I bet it wasn't many.  

 

[TAKerry]

2 hours ago, Restorer32 said:

My question is why would a "rust free 20,000 mile barn find" car have been repainted ?

Just because its low mileage doesnt mean its pristine. My point with the comment that its hard to consider it an 'original low mileage automobile' if it has been rotiss restored.

I looked at a '80 turbo trans am one time with just under 30k original miles. It looked like it was parked behind the barn, near the swamp. Needed a total restoration.

[TAKerry]

2 hours ago, Restorer32 said:

My question is why would a "rust free 20,000 mile barn find" car have been repainted ?

Just because its low mileage doesnt mean its pristine. My point with the comment that its hard to consider it an 'original low mileage automobile' if it has been rotiss restored.

I looked at a '80 turbo trans am one time with just under 30k original miles. It looked like it was parked behind the barn, near the swamp. Needed a total restoration.

[Brass is Best]

Life is short. You are going to spend a lot of money to restore that car. Paint it a color that you like. 

[padgett]

Reminds me of the joke attributed to Mozart: "If you have to ask..."

[John348]

10 hours ago, capngrog said:

 

How can it be a "numbers matching car" if the type of transmission has been changed from that with which it left the factory?  With the 4 speed modification, it is in danger of being classified as a "resto mod".

 

As far as I'm concerned, unless you purchased the car just to flip it, restore it the way you want it.  The transmission change will definitely affect the value with the "numbers matching" crowd. 

 

Cheers,

Grog

 

i agree with Grog as far as the transmission affecting the numbers matching factor

 

Unless you are going to put back the original type transmission, the 'matching numbers' and build sheet mean nothing.

 

It all depends what kind of shows you plan on participating in as to the color you decide. If you plan on a Chevelle National Meet where they check cowl tags the car might not fair as well, even with the best paint money can buy, it will be viewed as incorrect. It is, and will be an expensive proposition either way.

 

Myself, considering the paper pedigree trail I would would bring the car back to the way the build sheet say's it was built, but that is me.

 

Good luck 

Edited January 8, 2021 by John348 (see edit history)

[padgett]

Interesting. I read the response to mean "it is an automatic and not a 4-speed" and not that the transmission has been changed. Mythconceptions can be like the telephone game.

[West Peterson]

I understood it the same way as John understood it. It is a fully equipped car, with a/c and a lot of other extras that you normally don't see in a muscle car, so it didn't surprise me that it originally came with an automatic transmission.

 

[Skylark4367]

I think the GM yellows from the '60s are great colors.  I had a 1964 Corvair convertible that was yellow with a black top and interior.  It was a nice looking car with a great color combination (I think they called it "Goldwood Yellow" in 1964).  I'm guilty of a color change on a car I used to own.  I had an Ermine White 1965 Impala sport sedan with the optional all vinyl black interior.  It needed a paint job and body work when I bought it.  I thought a white car with a black interior looked dull, so I had the shop paint the car Crocus Yellow.  

[padgett]

I had a lemonwood 66 Monza vert. Power top was unusual. I like snowflakes.

 

 

[Marty Roth]

We ordered our former '69 Pontiac Custom"S" with the muted yellow they then called "Mayfair Maize", an excellent color for the time.

[zepher]

6 hours ago, Restorer32 said:

My question is why would a "rust free 20,000 mile barn find" car have been repainted ?

 

My parents bought a '64 Malibu SS hardtop new in Jan of '64.

Sometime in summer of '66 the car was stolen and taken for a joy ride.

They dented the right front fender and swiped the carb and battery when they were done with it.

My Dad had the entire car repainted after that incident.

Car had less than 12k on it when it got a complete repaint.

Stuff happens.

[JamesR]

Beautiful yellow Chevys, dudes! Thanks for the pics. And the pic that Graham Man posted shows that a '67 SS convert can look very sharp in that color. If it were me, that's definitely what I would do. But it's not me, and I guess the guy footing the bill shouldn't be dissatisfied with the way the car looks. An alternate original color might be decent compromise...less than optimum, but decent. 

 

Having said that, I sure wish the original color on the Thunderbird I'm refurbishing looked as cool as the yellow on that Chevelle. Instead, it's a Prairie Bronze, but the good news is that it won't be a "love it or hate it" color. It will look classy, so that's what I'll go with when the time comes to have it painted. Originality has an appeal all it's own.

 

[TerryB]

The lines of the 1967 Chevelle, especially the SS is highlight of the mid 1960s Chevelle line.  In 1968 the shape changed and the 1970 model is the hot one to have in that group.

[Ed Luddy]

The yellow suits the 67 Chevelle very nicely. Black top, side stripe, matte black tail panel. Rallye wheels and redlines will make a sharp combo.

 My cousin had a Butternut yellow 67 SS 396, so I have always liked that colour.

 I'm working on a 1970 Chevelle and have the  documents and trim tag that show it as a dark gray metallic with black bucket seat interior. I was thinking of maroon exterior with red interior at first. But I'm going back to the original combo after removing 2 layers of repaint. One in blue, then burgundy. After using razor blades I got down to the slate gray original and kinda like it now. Even though it seems every 2nd car on the road is metallic gray now!

[Pfeil]

On 1/7/2021 at 2:58 PM, Graham Man said:

I have seen worse... nice looking car

 

 

 

Yes, Yellow/black

 

My neighbor has a 67 SS396 hardtop, butternut, with black interior, redlines. It looks great.

 

Butternut was a very popular color from about 1964-1967. In 1965 the same color was called Crocus Yellow, it also looked good on my friends new COPO 65 Z16 Chevelle in 1965. 

[John348]

23 hours ago, padgett said:

 Mythconceptions can be like the telephone game.

 

You would know...better then most

[gungeey]

If I were in Rulers shoes, and it is indeed rust free, I would spend a few thousand on a mechanical reconditioning..tires/brakes/hoses/fuel etc.  Drive it around for a year or so THEN decide if I like the car enough to pour real money into i ast body and paint is where the wallet opens wide.

If it weren't my cup of tea I could recoup my money and go on to the next low mile original LOL

[West Peterson]

16 hours ago, gungeey said:

If I were in Rulers shoes, and it is indeed rust free, I would spend a few thousand on a mechanical reconditioning..tires/brakes/hoses/fuel etc.  Drive it around for a year or so THEN decide if I like the car enough to pour real money into i ast body and paint is where the wallet opens wide.

If it weren't my cup of tea I could recoup my money and go on to the next low mile original LOL

 

^^^^^^^

This really should be the cardinal rule before doing any restoration. Of course, if you buy a basket-case, that is not possible. I have heard way too many stories of people that loved the looks of a car, then immediately sent it out for restoration. After driving it, they either did not fit in it very well, or they hated the way it drove, or pick any number of reasons. Do yourself a favor and fall in love with the car before restoring it.

[capngrog]

On 1/7/2021 at 6:26 PM, ruler2019 said:

 

Padgett, everything is a perfect match except the muncie 4 speed it came with the auto trans. 

 

All Punctuation Matters (APM)!  In these days of twitter, instagram, parler et al, we are becoming comfortable with writing while dropping pronouns, avoiding punctuation, writing in acronyms and ignoring many other features of the written English language.  The above example, in my opinion, lacks a period mark and a capitalized "i", which resulted in some confusion over the meaning of the sentence.  The English language, being highly contextual as it is, doesn't need any additional help in creating confusion amongst its users (especially yours truly).   I'm sure that in my limited grasp of the English language, I've committed numerous grammatical errors in the foregoing sentences: however, being in error hasn't stopped me yet.

 

Cheers,

Grog

[Guest]

2 hours ago, capngrog said:

All Punctuation Matters (APM)!  In these days of twitter, instagram, parler et al, we are becoming comfortable with writing while dropping pronouns, avoiding punctuation, writing in acronyms and ignoring many other features of the written English language.  The above example, in my opinion, lacks a period mark and a capitalized "i", which resulted in some confusion over the meaning of the sentence.  The English language, being highly contextual as it is, doesn't need any additional help in creating confusion amongst its users (especially yours truly).   I'm sure that in my limited grasp of the English language, I've committed numerous grammatical errors in the foregoing sentences: however, being in error hasn't stopped me yet.

capngrog I agree with you 100%.  If you read the post Interesting EV article with an eye  to correct English or even correct American (they are or should be almost the same) you will find over 100 grammatical errors.  I read a research article the other day that said 19% of the people in North America are "functionally illiterate".  The article was not about social media such as instagram etc. but about newspapers, technical articles and professional writers.

[padgett]

I love the English language, it is so flexible and constantly evolving (I remember when "gay" meant "happy"). Boston digital is so fast as to be almost unintelligable and southern mushmouth takes forever to get anywhere. East Texas is the most pleasing to my ear and have never understood a place where "Mango" means "green pepper".

So treat it as an art form and enjoy.