[nogto]

You said lemans grille. Is it possible the finish and colors are different than the gto? In 69 there were three different colors of the lemans grille depending on whether it was early or late in the model year; light gray, medium gray and black. All were trimmed with silver painted horizontal bars and highlights around the headlights. Headlight surrounds were painted black on gray grilles. Otherwise the non silver parts were unpainted plastic except the medium gray appears to be painted as well. I have examples of all three color grilles unrestored.
I restored mine as they were originally black and silver. It is difficult to find good lemans grilles and they are not reproduced. The black had to be painted because the original plastic was faded. I used rustoleum satin black. Then I masked the black and sprayed silver chrome (looks more like silver metallic than chrome). There was a bit too much overspray so I masked the silver and painted black again. PITA but it looks like what the original would be with some very minor silver overspray in spots on close inspection.

[68ragtop]

nogto, Re-reading this thread, I realize Demonic68 started it about color questions on a lemans grill. by the time I jumped in & kinda changed it to the GTO grill colors. Sorry about that....

[Greg Reid]

Also, it was about the '68 Lemans grille. Basically like the rest I believe. Argent and black. I think the only place black is needed is between the headlights. Not sure about the 'nose' area...if that's all open or there is some black there?

[68ragtop]

I have a really nice set of original lemans grills from a one owner parts car. was going to ebay them someday, but they are not at my home, so I can't grab them for photo's of comparison

[Greg Reid]

nogto's photo gives us a good opportunity to compare the two years' bumper differences. I've often wondered why they added that drop-down on the '69. Nice car by the way nogto!

[68ragtop]

So tonight I glass bead blasted my door covers As I got the black off, it unveiled that the grills were painted completely silver & then blacked out. its the opposite of the inner grills. I have since removed all the silver, so they are now bare black plastic.

So Argent silver is the color of choice for these? Any particular brand you guys have used? Should it be a satin finish?

I also need to figure out if these are made with ABS plastic as I have to repair a few of the screw holes.

[Greg Reid]

I'm thinking of renewing mine and I was just wondering myself what the correct silver/argent would be.

[tekheavy]

Pretty sure I used the same Argent siver paint for the grills as I used for my Rally II's.

[Greg Reid]

That's about what I was thinking but do you remember what you used?

[dataway]

Call me crazy ... but even as a GTO owner ...there is something about a clean and mean Lemans that is just hard to beat. Give me a Verdora Green exterior, black interior, AC, PS, PB a 3.23 rear and add a T400. Just a nice car .. and no stupid worries about making things "correct".

[68ragtop]

Later this morning I'll have to look at putting one of my original painted grills next to my spare tire & see how close the silvers are. Sure seems like they would be about the same, or at least would look good on the cars. Also I would think it should be somewhat of a satin sheen? Or am I just used to looking at sunbeat silvers? I have a nice set of original painted Lemans grills too & the silver is very flat. But, they came from a 100K mile daily driven car, so no doubt time may have changed them.

I am happy with the results of glass bead blazing all the paint off the plastic. the plastic finish is unharmed. Just need to finish repairing the cracks around a few of the mounting holes. As far as the paint, I have zero issues using a rattle can paint on these seeing they are plastic, I just don't want the paint to pull off when taping all those fins. Pretty sure for the black I am either going to use SEM trim black, or trim black Euro. both dry very fast & low build.

[4zpeed]

Originally Posted by 68ragtop

Anybody have pictures of original headlight door covers?

I have a set, pretty sure they haven't been tampered with.

I'll try to get a few pics posted this evening.


Frank

[68ragtop]

Originally Posted by dataway

Call me crazy ... but even as a GTO owner ...there is something about a clean and mean Lemans that is just hard to beat. Give me a Verdora Green exterior, black interior, AC, PS, PB a 3.23 rear and add a T400. Just a nice car .. and no stupid worries about making things "correct".

Funny & true. Yesterday as I was working on things I was realizing how much research has been slowing down my progress. Don't get me wrong, I truly enjoy the history & finding out what was original is a fun part of the hobby, but at some point it can become obsessive & I just need to make a decision & move on.

About 10 years ago I started a rotisserie restoration on a 1977 monza spyder. nut & bolt just like the GTO. But because so very few people would restore a car like that, there was no real right or wrong. OR at least very few people that knew or cared. I kept most things like they originally were, but never worried into great detail about fastener types & finishes. I left the details up to me & what I thought looked good on the car. I showed the car several times at some larger indoor shows & nobody ever once said anything about what was correct or not correct. Nobody cared & that was something I really enjoy about the car. just something you didn't; see everyday.

So there is something to be said about that. The lemans might be just a bit under the GTO in popularity, but there is for sure a little less scrutiny over the details.

On my GTO, I really do want to make the car close to original in many aspects & I know I will might get criticized for what's incorrect. Just the nature of a popular model car I suppose, but I am ok with that.

[tekheavy]

Originally Posted by Greg Reid

That's about what I was thinking but do you remember what you used?

It was Dupli-Color BFM0383 Silver Metallic. Previous number was T229.

[68ragtop]

Tekheavy, I think your comment about matching the rally II's silver should be nominated for tip of the month.

Seriously I never would have thought of that. After spraying a few cards yesterday & trying to get a close match, I did find a rattle can of rustoleum touch up silver metallic that was pretty close, maybe a touch to the brighter side at an angle but close.

So then this morning after reading your comment I took the grill next to a rally II & the color was dang near the same thing. So I pulled out my cans of paint that I had custom matched for the wheels I already restored & sprayed out another card. Sure enough, It's almost perfect! I say almost because its silver & no silvers are ever the same, but this paint mix is really, really close. Pretty happy about it.

The first pict is both parts with original paint, then the spray card. It actually looks closer than it appears in the picture. One thing that is different is the oem paint on the grill has very little metallic in it. you can only see it in direct sunlight, & even then its almost non existent.

[68ragtop]

I'll post the PPG color code & tint formula a bit later.

[4zpeed]

I second that nomination for tip of the month! Thanks Tekheavy!

Didn't get to my bumper today, I'll try again tomorrow, pretty sure the hideaway doors and grill haven't been touched.


Frank

[Gastiresandoil]

I'll weigh in only because I just finished up doing my inner grilles this weekend.

I'm at about 7.5 hours from first tape to finishing up taking the tape off. Still need to get all the chrome, alignment pins and name plate back on before mounting them in the car. About 5.5 hrs masking, 1/2 hr final mask and paint, and another 1.5 hr taking the tape off.

Disclaimer: The grilles had at some point been painted before. They were all black with the framed portion painted silver. I used the silver rally wheel paint from Inline tube I was planning on using for touching up the wheels. Almost an exact match, to what was on them already.


Here is a before pic for reference. I will add an after picture when I get it all buttoned up and back outside.

[dataway]

I've got a two page spread from a 68 Motor Trend with a good shot of the grill. Going to see how well it scans tomorrow. Might be to grainy to be of any help. Of course any color "beauty" shots from 68 brochures would be a good place to find a definitive answer to color/painting questions.

[68ragtop]

4zpeed, that would be really cool to see.

I spent the day cleaning all the paint off the grills fixing a few cracks, & finally got the flat surface in primer. Tomorrow I'll get more paint mixed up & hopefully get the silver applied this coming week. Very tedious work no doubt & I am just beginning the journey.

I heard it mentioned earlier that the notched back half of the center grill louvers should be black. Mine seem to be hit & miss, wherever paint got on them they turned silver, where the paint was light they stayed black. sure wasn't masked off. I think the fact that they stepped down helped prevent some paint from getting on that area, but sure didn't stop it.

I have a feeling that whomever designed these grills meant for the back half of the fins to stay black, but I am betting that was found to be too time consuming to accomplish in production. The paint process is baffling enough as they are now.



In this picture you can see how most of them looked before I stripped them.