Special paint decoding on 69 conv.?

[hgger69]

Hi,
Just came across this 69 convertible yesterday and I´m leaning on that this one is a special paint order, am I correct? B means black top and - means special paint, if I understand the CRG Special Paint Table? The cowl tag:



And if it is a special paint order does that mean that you can put almost whatever color you want on it and i's original to the car, if you don't have any evidence how it was actually built from factory?
It also have the kph-scale on the speedometer, very rare even here in Sweden!

[ZLP955]

I think you are correct, also the special paint dash on the tag was used if a stripe was deleted or a non-standard stripe color was ordered, if that model RPO typically included a stripe.
Interesting to see that is one of the mid-year tags that doesn't have an X code, as noted in the CRG decode section.

[hgger69]

Thanx Tim,
This is a standard, non SS or SS, convertible but it doesn't have a X44 coding as I would have guessed when I first saw the car!
But you cant know what the original color was on this specific car then?

[69Z28-RS]

If you wanted to know what the original color was, you could do a little digging, remove items which generally aren't removed for repaint, and check under them... (the weather strip above the door glass for example?).    Go to TC and read the long thread about the EO special paint car and you can learn what is and isn't possible for the 1969 model year Chevrolets!   it turns out there was a limit to the colors that were possible for 'special paint'...   but it would seem as long as you stuck to that list during a proper restoration, you'd have a good story for that car... (whether it was the 'factory 'correct' paint color or not)..

[hgger69]

If you wanted to know what the original color was, you could do a little digging, remove items which generally aren't removed for repaint, and check under them... (the weather strip above the door glass for example?).    Go to TC and read the long thread about the EO special paint car and you can learn what is and isn't possible for the 1969 model year Chevrolets!   it turns out there was a limit to the colors that were possible for 'special paint'...   but it would seem as long as you stuck to that list during a proper restoration, you'd have a good story for that car... (whether it was the 'factory 'correct' paint color or not)..

Thanx Gary, but it's not my car and it's already restored in a fantastic but non original style!
I was just curious while I've never seen this type of cowl tag before!

[HOT3O2]

How would that work when comes to judging at car shows? If you had that  " - " in your paint code could you paint the car any available color that Chevrolet offered at the time?

[firstgenaddict]

Any GM color except the Firemist Cadillac colors which required a different type of gun.

[69Z28-RS]

How would that work when comes to judging at car shows? If you had that  " - " in your paint code could you paint the car any available color that Chevrolet offered at the time?

I think you'd get credit for 'correct paint color' if the car were painted one of the possible colors for that year and that manufacturer.

PS. I had always heard that for Chevrolets from the fifties (and perhaps into the sixties), you could get a car in primer and have your own painter paint it, but I don't recall seeing any documentation for that.. just recounted stories.   An example might be the Army vehicles painted 'Army green', and air force vehicles painted airforce blue, and perhaps other 'large volume purchasers', but I'm unsure if Chevrolet actually painted those 'fleet vehicles the non-factory colors, OR if they were bought in primer and painted by the customer?

[firstgenaddict]

Even the Pink Camaros were painted by the factory, the more number of units ordered the lower the special paint charge became, I believe at a certain number of units there was no additional charge. 

[HOT3O2]

Great info Guys. I appreciate it.

[JohnZ]

PS. I had always heard that for Chevrolets from the fifties (and perhaps into the sixties), you could get a car in primer and have your own painter paint it, but I don't recall seeing any documentation for that.. just recounted stories.   An example might be the Army vehicles painted 'Army green', and air force vehicles painted airforce blue, and perhaps other 'large volume purchasers', but I'm unsure if Chevrolet actually painted those 'fleet vehicles the non-factory colors, OR if they were bought in primer and painted by the customer?

Slightly less than a dozen Corvettes were built in "primer or special paint" each year from 1964-1967, and they show either "primer" or "spec" in the Paint section of the trim tag.

[firstgenaddict]

PS. I had always heard that for Chevrolets from the fifties (and perhaps into the sixties), you could get a car in primer and have your own painter paint it, but I don't recall seeing any documentation for that.. just recounted stories.   An example might be the Army vehicles painted 'Army green', and air force vehicles painted airforce blue, and perhaps other 'large volume purchasers', but I'm unsure if Chevrolet actually painted those 'fleet vehicles the non-factory colors, OR if they were bought in primer and painted by the customer?

Slightly less than a dozen Corvettes were built in "primer or special paint" each year from 1964-1967, and they show either "primer" or "spec" in the Paint section of the trim tag.

I have a Hot Rod magazine from the late 60's which has a complete GM crated mid year vette body in the For Sale section in the ad it stated only a few were made... could this have been one of these?
Or were the ones referenced complete finished units? 

[rare396bronze]

My 68 convertible has a -1 were paint code is. Original owner hate stripe so he special order car stripe delete. Have only seen one other car this way it to was a stripe delete car .

[hgger69]

My 68 convertible has a -1 were paint code is. Original owner hate stripe so he special order car stripe delete. Have only seen one other car this way it to was a stripe delete car .

Thanx for all info about this tag, guys!
Two more quests:
But how do you know if the - concerns a stripe delete or a special paint?
How rare is this on a tag from 1969?

[ZLP955]

Hakan, in 1969 the term 'special paint' covered stripe delete, a stripe in a non-standard color, or a paint color that was not one of the regular Camaro choices (except Firemist metallics as James stated). The CRG exterior color use estimates table indicates that around 1.5% of 1969 Camaros had special paint. I don't believe that there is any further breakup of how that 1.5% estimate was shared between the 3 possibilities above, especially as a car could have been ordered with 2 out of the 3, such as non-standard color, and no stripe. Without anything on the trim tag to confirm, unless a '-' car still has known original paint, or genuine documentation, it's owner cannot provide the CRG database with solid info on how the car was painted.