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Original
Colors
Which
Colors Which Years?
Chassis
& Upholstery Colors
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Quite
a few people over the years have asked us what color
they should paint their car. Most were inquiries
pertaining to questions on the original colors. Some
people just couldn't make up their minds and wanted me
to do it for them. (That's a good way to lose a
friend!) I thought I'd put out my generalized answer
so all of you can agree/disagree, snicker, be shocked,
be offended, have a good laugh, or most
important...take a look at your own roadster and see
if it could use some sprucing up!
The
color's got to be something YOU like. YOU are going to
have to pay for it, wash it; wax it and LOOK AT IT. To
heck with everyone else. Cars like the roadster are
culture, whether or not they are bone stock white or
screaming, eye watering metalflake yellow.
When
we used to have a walk-in counter in the 70's I always
thought about putting in two doors and divide the
waiting room, like the animal clinics have for dogs
and cats; except in my case it would have been one
door for the "keep it original" people and the other
door for the "keep the shell everything else goes"
people. People in between would be on their own!
I
don't want to be thought of as a fence sitter, just
wide minded! I like both groups of people but they
sometimes didn't like each other! I like seeing
roadsters that are correct down to the 5.60 tires with
correct whitewalls. I also like the other extreme. My
favorite was a car that had the rear axle and IRS
system off of an XKE I think. The entire rear axle
assembly with all the linkage pieces was chrome. The
front body had been welded together into a one
seamless piece that flipped forward, like a Triumph
GT6. I never found out what drivetrain ended up in
it.
The
original colors that were used on the roadster were
for the most part very mild. (except "Cherry Red" on
the early cars!) It was a very expensive car to own in
Japan at the time and I think they wanted the car's
paint color to reflect its hoped-to-be "status". As
far as staying with an original color, if you like it,
great, but I wouldn't expect any financial benefit
from it at this point. Someday maybe...when it's time
to put the car in a museum. In the meantime...in my
humble opinion...YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE, SO
GO
FOR IT!....for
19" & bigger monitor click here
Sorry
I couldn't do any earth tones (gold, silver, copper)
and there are a few hundred other great colors out
there also. Check what was on the MGB in the early
70's. Nice...almost all of them. And that rootbeer on
the 74 Buick. Just doing this section makes me want to
stop working on this website and go play in my own
garage!
RETURN
TO TOP
ORIGINAL
COLORS
(LHD
cars)
The
purpose of a "chip-chart" is just to order touchup
paint and to identify your color if the original tag
is gone. Looking at a small piece of color in a book
will not tell you what the color will look like on
your car. If you are really considering going with a
certain color, original or not, and cannot find a car
that has recently been painted that color; you should
consider having your body shop purchase a minimum
quantity of the color and paint at least a one square
foot of metal that they've probably got lying around.
It's best to use a chunk of something that has both
curves and flat spots; and look at it in all types of
light. Keep in mind that unless the care in
preparation and painting is the same as you are going
to require on your car the paint will not look the
same. The color may be the same, but the "look" of the
paint will be different. (That's why even BEIGE looks
great on a Mercedes!)
With
these color samples below I have tried to make
something that is more representative of what the
colors would look like if the sample was bigger. A
true "chip" chart will look different. I took a
picture of a chip chart, compared the digital images
to the chart, adjusted them so they looked close, and
comparing the result to actual paint samples found
they did not give an accurate "feel" of the
color.
I
went through most of our car inventory, peeling off
never removed smog stickers and paint stickers to find
original "kept from the light and air" paint samples.
Even so, paint can change color just from age, but
it's as close as we can get without actually mixing
the paint. After taking closeup digital pics and then
comparing the monitor's presentation of the color to
the sample (usually a small piece of the car's cowl)
we again adjusted our colors to be as close as
possible. These colors look completely different from
sunlight to shade to artificial light. Different
computer monitors and/or operating systems can
represent each color differently as well. The lighter
grays look like silver, the darker one is just gray.
Unfortunately, due to an unacknowledged paint problem,
all of these grays began looking like gray primer
within just a short time. Many roadsters were
repainted very early in their lives.
This
chart represents what we believe to be correct.
Although exported SP310s and SPL310s supposedly were
painted in the Turquoise and the Nissan Blue, I have
never found one I could prove was original. It's
possible that they were only on RHD cars. We keep
hoping that one of these days someone will turn up
accurate sales records from Nissan showing how many of
each color where shipped/sold everywhere or even what
vin numbers were painted what colors. If any reliable
information lands on our doorstep we'll pass it on. As
we began this journey when the cars were relatively
fresh and have always had a bit of an information
fetish, we've kept notes on a lot of these tidbits,
however, information from any of you REAL oldtimers is
ALWAYS WELCOME!
PAINT
NOTES:
We are also providing the current PPG formulation
numbers where possible. (In case your paint store
doesn't have an old enough book) Some colors have been
used by Nissan before under different paint numbers.
One paint number, 531 was even used in the 80's for a
different color! (Vail White). Color #410 Pagoda Red,
was used on the 312 and other vehicles. The same
formulation red was used on the roadster as #524 and
called Hustler Red. Cherry Red was issued under #525,
but previously was #415 (same PPG formulation#)
Turquoise #562 is the same formulation as Turquoise
170 from earlier years. RETURN
TO TOP
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COLOR
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COLOR
#
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NAME
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PPG#
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502
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IVORY
WHITE
|
8408
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|
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503
511
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GRAY
SILVER GRAY MET.
|
33026
32536
|
|
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505
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THUNDER
BLACK
|
9769
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|
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524
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HUSTLER
RED (prev Pagoda)
|
79913
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525
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CHERRY
RED
|
71535
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531
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BEIGE
GRAY MET.
(SILVER BRONZE MET.)
|
39953
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|
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562
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TURQUOISE
|
19924
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|
|
563
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SORA
BLUE
|
13165
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|
567
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NISSAN
BLUE
|
12520
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|
|
655
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OFF
WHITE
|
8794
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|
|
664
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SPANISH
RED
|
71812
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|
|
665
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YELLOW
|
81768
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|
|
666
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SILVER
GREY MET.
|
32831
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WHICH
COLORS WHICH YEARS?
Available
records only show useage by calendar year, not model
year so you have to guess by your vin which year your
car was actually produced in. Keeping in mind that we
believe some of Nissan's paint records to be
inaccurate (compared to what we've seen) making
definitive statements on pre-68 cars can be difficult.
Some colors may have been used only at the beginning
of the model year which would have been some months
before the calendar year expired. If you still have
your original paint sticker on the cowl, let us know
your vin and the paint number, we'll update this
information. I have yet to see any Nissan sales
brochure for any year's roadster production that lists
the colors for that year, or a separate paint chart
from Nissan for a given year. These were available for
some of the older models. Of course, this isn't hard
to accept when you realize that Nissan didn't bother
to take new pictures of its cars from 67-70, deciding
instead to have someone "doctor" the old photos, with
somewhat humorous results.
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63-65
1500
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502
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503
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505
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524
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562
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563
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567
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.
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65-67
1600
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502
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505
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511
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525
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531
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563
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.
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67
1/2 1600/2000*
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*Some
evidence suggests that the colors for 65-67 and for
68-70 overlapped for a time on the 67 1/2 models.
Other information suggests that only the "68-70"
colors were used on 67 1/2s, which are the only
colors that I have seen.
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502
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505
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511
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525
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531
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563
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655
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664
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665
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666
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.
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68-70
1600/2000
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505
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531
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563
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655
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664
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665
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666
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RETURN
TO TOP
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