Help with interior color choosing

[Insubordination]

My -79 Cutlass Cruiser is in need of an interior makeover. It has factory maroon (very red) color - a little to much red for my taste.

My long term plan is to change the color to something else, but doing an entire shift will be an ongoing project. I've been debating back and forth how to do this, and what color to pick. Since I will be doing it in stages the new color must be one that will function relatively well with maroon, and I've landed on grey - in my mind maroon and grey will match ok.

First order of interior business will be headliner and carpet. What I need help with is picking a grey interior color that I can reference when ordering color now and in the future.

I was thinking the carpet would dictate my initial choice: a grey carpet color from any g-body that will fit my -79 Cruiser. Any ideas? I've been looking at some colors but the names are often misleading and the original charts or pictures either small, faded or low resolution.

Any input welcome!

 

[565bbchevy]

I found from changing my interior from light gray to camel that many colors with the same name will be a shade off if they are different manufacturers and you won't know until you see it in person.
I started with buying my seats first and did everything from there to match that color and the carpeting was hardest to match to the color I wanted.

 

[joesregalproject]

Hey! Whats wrong with maroon?! Lol, jk. I would actually buy a used grey carpet out of a Junkyard g body or a parts guy, and used that as a reference for buying other interior parts and dyes. I did my maroon/black interior on the "close enough" method, where if it looked to far off, I didn't use it. The duplicolor dye was one example of too far off, it was too light. Everything else matched pretty well though. My car is an 87 Regal with 85 Cutlass Calais bucket seats, lower door panels from a Monte, uppers will either be dyed with SEM and re-used, or I'll get a set from the Junkyard. My headliner is black, my T-Type steering wheel is black, and my floor mats are black.

 

[565bbchevy]

I actually like maroon as an interior color, petty much anything other than black you are stuck trying to match different shades of the same color.
I don't consider the plastic parts an issue because SEM has a pretty wide range of colors to choose from.
For me I decided to make all my own upper door panels with the same material as my seats so I know they match.

 

[Insubordination]

Thanks for the replies. My very red maroon interior is just a bit to much for my senses, and since I need to do something with the headliner and gunky carpet it's time for a change.

I've been looking at Rockauto.com for carpets, and found some grey ones in later than -79 models Cruisers. I'm not too concerned about difference in shades. Having an american car in Norway ups the difficulty in getting everything right anyway. It's easy to get hold of parts but I'm rarely able to "take a look" before ordering.

So, what model year carpets fit my 79? 79-83 maybe? I need to limit my options since I get quite indecisive when faced with too many color options 🙂

 

[Insubordination]

Hey! Whats wrong with maroon?! Lol, jk. I would actually buy a used grey carpet out of a Junkyard g body or a parts guy, and used that as a reference for buying other interior parts and dyes. I did my maroon/black interior on the "close enough" method, where if it looked to far off, I didn't use it. The duplicolor dye was one example of too far off, it was too light. Everything else matched pretty well though. My car is an 87 Regal with 85 Cutlass Calais bucket seats, lower door panels from a Monte, uppers will either be dyed with SEM and re-used, or I'll get a set from the Junkyard. My headliner is black, my T-Type steering wheel is black, and my floor mats are black.

That looks quite good actually. Looks like you have darker shade of maroon, more towards brown (or maybe it's just the lighting).

 

[Blake442]

The only difference from '78-'83 are the colors, so you can pick any carpet you like.
When ordering, just make sure it's for a 4-door or wagon and not a 2-door... The only difference being a small patch of carpet that extends along the side of the rear seat and rocker. This area is consealed on the 2-doors so you may not get enough extra material to cover it.

 

[Insubordination]

Thanks Blake. That information will get me started on my grey search 🙂

 

[joesregalproject]

Hey! Whats wrong with maroon?! Lol, jk. I would actually buy a used grey carpet out of a Junkyard g body or a parts guy, and used that as a reference for buying other interior parts and dyes. I did my maroon/black interior on the "close enough" method, where if it looked to far off, I didn't use it. The duplicolor dye was one example of too far off, it was too light. Everything else matched pretty well though. My car is an 87 Regal with 85 Cutlass Calais bucket seats, lower door panels from a Monte, uppers will either be dyed with SEM and re-used, or I'll get a set from the Junkyard. My headliner is black, my T-Type steering wheel is black, and my floor mats are black.

That looks quite good actually. Looks like you have darker shade of maroon, more towards brown (or maybe it's just the lighting).

Thanks, I'm pretty happy with it. And yeah, it is a little darker, I think it may be the 'oxblood' color.

 

[Insubordination]

Allright. Two contenders:

852 silver is clearly grey
7623 medium sand also looks grey, just darker.

Anyone have some nice pictures of an interior colored 7623 medium sand? The "sand" part makes me suspicious 🙂