[dataway]

Anyone know if there is a vinyl dye/paint for the darker colored dash pad on an Ivy Gold interior car? Or what that color might be?

I guess it may be a color used on another interior color option. But it's noticeably darker green than everything else in an Ivy Gold interior ... possibly the same color as the corner pieces at the base of the rear window.

[OG68]

What color did you paint the upper dash with? That should be a close match.

[dataway]

The upper dash will be painted with "Olive Dark Gold" Ditzler 43799 or the equivalent .. assuming I can find a good source for it besides NPD.

The vinyl dyes I'm seeing are Olive Dark Gold Metallic.

I'd love to find the dash pad paint in an Original Equipment Reproductions color .. that stuff is vastly superior to the SEM and Martin Senor offerings.

[dataway]

Just ordered the SEM stuff from NPD .. one dye, one lacquer in the 4884 Olive Dark Gold.

Hope it turns out ok ... I've got real spotty quality from the paint mixers at NPD.

Searched and searched at Original Equipment Reproductions .. but they just have the Ivy Gold (the only place that calls it Ivy Gold) ... sure wish they had more colors their stuff is incredible ... expensive at $32 a can, but just outstanding coverage and color. If they aren't mixing their own paint I sure wish I knew who their supplier was. I know SEM supplies most places with their mixing and filling equipment. The OER product seems completely different though ... like two coats and you are done. Different labeling too .. not the same stick on labels over SEM base you see most places selling.

[dataway]

Well .. kind of another swing and miss.

The 4884 is adequate for the upper metal dash, still somewhat lighter than it should be .. and this Semour paint .. jeez, not the best in the world.

The 4884 dye is no where close again. Much lighter than the dash pad.

I'm starting to realize that these vinyl colors are very hit and miss ... there are no real paint codes for the vinyl because in most cases GM used the proper color vinyl, they didn't paint it. So any "dye" color has been mixed up in an attempt to match the original upholstery ... with varying levels of success.

I don't think there is any proper paint code for the upper padded dash for an Ivy Gold Pontiac because no such paint ever existed .. it was just a vinyl color. SMS probably has some tucked away somewhere.

So I'm going to have to just buy various GM greens until I find something closer. I see that 1970 GTOs had a dark green very similar to my dash pad color.

The color match is much worse that it appears in this picture.

[gtobird]

It certainly doesn't match. I have an Ivy Gold interior from my 68 Bird and the dash pad looks like the left side of yours. Something to consider is that some colors will darken with age. I don't know if Green is one of those colors or not. About 12 years ago I visited SMS in Canby, Oregon as I wanted to convert my interior to the original GM red and they had the factory original NOS leftover comfortweave and madrid grain vinyl in stock. Not cheap, but what a source. When the owner showed me the madrid grain vinyl, I noticed that it was a bit darker than I liked as a match for the comfortweave. He told me that some red vinyl does indeed darken over time. In the end I chose a slightly different shade of madrid grain that looked closer to what I wanted. Anyway, you might try giving them a call for advice since you already know about them. https://smsautofabrics.com

Regards,
Old Joe

[dataway]

The dash is in too nice a shape to recover, only one small crack but the top side is burnt somewhat from the sun. Going to do some more research to see if I can nail down something close ... if not I'll try to remove that paint I started and install it as is ... luckily I didn't use adhesion promotor for that spot

[dataway]

Going to try this

https://www.classicindustries.com/product/pp835.html

Says it was used on 68 Firebirds, looks very close. Well ... not to my photo, but what I remember the dash originally looked like ... and I'm assuming they juiced up the color in their photo like most of the sites do. Another $50 gamble ... yep, it's expensive stuff ... $32 plus shipping. But their Ivy Gold is amazing, so I'll give it a try.

[dataway]

Waited excitedly for a week .... received a Nova side marker gasket instead of paint. I just have the worst luck with "restoration" parts

[dataway]

Hehe ... I'm the only one reading my thread

Well ... that last attempt was wrong too .. way too Green.

My last try ... ordered some Dark Ivy Gold Metallic .... says it's another 68 Firebird color, swatch looks close on screen ... since my interior is Ivy Gold and the dash pad is the darkest color in the interior ... maybe it will be right. Otherwise I'm going with standard Ivy Gold, would look nice, but wouldn't be right.

Interesting dilemma, I'm curious how many 68 trim codes had a dash pad that was a different color than the door panels, seats, console ... well, everything else in the interior. What were the dash pads on white and parchment interiors .. black? I have a feeling the dash pad is darker because Ivy Gold is pretty light colored and shiny, would almost surely cause reflection problems from the pad. Could be why it's so hard to find, if the only place it was used was on Ivy Gold 68's, on one component, there wouldn't be much demand for it.

OG68 was nice enough to look up the dash pad in the MPC .. it shows only six dash pad colors used in 68 on Tempests ... the only one that would be remotely close was called "gold".

[mgarblik]

Ivy gold is really tough to match. My Firebird had a custom Ivy Gold Interior and it was a convertible so there was some fading. By the time I was done with the interior, it was unfortunately 3-4 shades of Ivy Gold. The plastic, soft materials, carpet, dash, and metal were unfortunately various slightly different shades of Ivy Gold. I was never 100% happy with it . I hope you have better luck.

[OG68]

I think all of the pads were darker due to new regulations regarding glare.

[dataway]

SO FAR ... I'm not too bad off, headliner and sail panels are the wrong color because ... covid Out of stock everywhere .. but can be changed later.

That's what I was thinking about the pads too .. regular IVY gold, as seen in mgarblik's photos is pretty bright and shiny.

[dataway]

Got it right this time.

So if anyone needs it, the SEM C-VP4887 Dark Ivy Gold Metallic is what I am assuming is the proper color ... hard to tell considering the age of the dash, but very close, much closer than anything else I have tried.

The application only lists 68 Firebird for Pontiacs, I'm guessing it may have been used in multiple locations on the Firebird compared to just the dash pad on Tempests.

[dataway]

Extremely happy with this paint. Wonder if SEM listens if someone told them the 68 GTO needs to be added to their application list ... would have saved me months and about $150 worth of buying random colors

Some pics of the pad temporarily hung on the dash, one showing how it combines with the proper upper dash metal paint.

Color looks right, and is exactly how I remember it.

[Old Goat 67]

Really nice Dataway!