Interior dye
- Thread starter Texasmonte
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The factory "correct' way might be an interior w/several different shades of a particular color code. That doesn't make it 'better'; it makes it the way it was.
That mismatch was as good as expected @ the time because manufacturers weren't going to pony-up the $$ for anything that would have actually been better. 'Close enough' was good enough to sell cars for the manufacturers investment.
I don't purchase & tweak cars to make them look as good as the OEM's 'good enough'. I care enough to design/re-work things that match/flow better than 1978-88's era OEM standards of the time.
If you don't like that & turn your nose up to it? It's just an added bonus 😎👍
That mismatch was as good as expected @ the time because manufacturers weren't going to pony-up the $$ for anything that would have actually been better. 'Close enough' was good enough to sell cars for the manufacturers investment.
I don't purchase & tweak cars to make them look as good as the OEM's 'good enough'. I care enough to design/re-work things that match/flow better than 1978-88's era OEM standards of the time.
If you don't like that & turn your nose up to it? It's just an added bonus 😎👍
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I always paint my interior pieces lime green first and then paint the final color over that so if it gets scratched and someone sees the lime green showing through and think it's the original color and they say thank goodness you painted over that.
Original OEM is original OEM.
Whatever it took to keep costs down was better for the OEM's (& still is) as long as it's close enough. But closer matched pieces look better. Then & now.
Obviously a 'full concours', point type, graded restoration would require legit original parts. But I & many others here from this site that own/drive these cars for the enjoyment of just having them won't ever have to be concerned with that end of the spectrum.
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NOS g-body interior parts were unobtainium even 30 years ago... if you find any they are molded dark blue and that molded blue color doesn't match the 1980-82 Dark Blue, 1983-84 Royal blue or the 1985-88 Dark blue... the console parts you do happen to find in colors were painted from the factory originaly with exception to the vinyl pads which NOS were only offered in black for. I have a sage green NOS dash and an NOS black dash and have seen an NOS blue one come up but that's it, 3 NOS dashes in the past 20 years...
About the only colored NOS parts you can find that weren't blue were arm rests, probably seen 3 in the past 20 years ever come up, steering wheels and seat belts... I've seen probably 3 NOS 442 upper door panels ever come up and a few monte NOS ones... these cars weren't viewed to be collectors that much when new like the Trans Ams were.
About the only colored NOS parts you can find that weren't blue were arm rests, probably seen 3 in the past 20 years ever come up, steering wheels and seat belts... I've seen probably 3 NOS 442 upper door panels ever come up and a few monte NOS ones... these cars weren't viewed to be collectors that much when new like the Trans Ams were.
These are g bodies, not million dollar cars. Late second gen f bodies aren’t high dollar cars either. Not worth spending big bucks on NOS parts for the interior. Majority of cars in this group are driver quality any way.
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