[Gator67]

Getting ready to paint a 79 Y84 and wondering if there's a go-to Camel tan paint formula that matches well with Legendary vinyl, for the metal portion of the dash and the bottom of the rear window?

[Trevor78]

The metal of the dash is done is an extra flat version, you don't want any glare there. Generally, that's just the flat clear coat used, originally it was a different mix with sheen built into it.
If the door trims are a decent shade then mainly make sure the paint matches the camel tan dash instead that it borders.

['ol Pinion head]

Originally the zero gloss dash metal & rear window metal had a suede additive in the lacquer paint. That suede additive gave a slight texture to the apoearance of the flat color. Run the suede additive issue by your local paint supplier & most will look at you like you are nuts. thankfully I have a pint tucked away in black for upcoming use. Am also going through this right now for the correct '69/70 Red paint for the metal dash/rear window close outs.

On a '78-80 Firebird with Camel Tan interior, there are several slight contrasting tones to the "camel tan". This is what Big 4 means on the buildsheet. The correct mix of colors is very evident on a low mile original car, one that has been garaged all of its life. Once one matches all the plastic the same color, it looks really bad, no contrast.

As the original owner, went through this with my '80 SE Turbo in the mid 80's. Had a local traveling dealership vinyl guru paint a pair of new GM plastic rear side panels, as well as the dash, & console. Just a minor flaw on the dash & console, but I wanted perfect. The console & dash are not supposed to exactly match the shade of camel as the plastic. This vinyl repair/interior paint "guru" also went crazy & prepped & painted the front A-pillar covers, seat back shells, & the door panels the same too orangish a camel color. To say I was P!SSED w the results is an understatement!

Fortunately, I was already out beating the bushes for nice used parts & had already began buying parts, partscars & project cars. Within a year, I had picked up a low mile smacked in the rear V6 Yellow Bird with a flawless dash & console, seat backs & A-pillar covers. Never was able to find a pair of perfect flawless deluxe door panels, the Mylar on the raised beading tended to start pelting off them within a few years. Thankfully, the door panels were eventually reproduced.

[Gator67]

Interesting. I had assumed that differences in shades of Camel are more a function of different materials and sun exposure than design...I can see differences, but they're really subtle, and confounded with all the different textures. Is there info available regarding which pieces should be lighter or darker? I just finished a '70 with Sandalwood and the contrast between light and dark shades is much more obvious and easy to sort out.

[Maxthe222]

I personally re-did the interior on my 1979 Y84 as well, and it's a 62B interior. Honestly, there is no good off the shelf solution. A lot of people say SEM's Camel Tan, but it's not really a good match for any part of the interior. From factory, there was like 7 different shades in one car. The dashpad was a different colour to the glovebox. The console was a similar colour to the dash, but not exactly the same. The plastics for the T-Tops and window trim were different to the bottom LH+RH kick panels. The back metal trim piece above the package tray was different to the sail panels. It took a lot of tedious matching, but the easiest, cheapest and best matching solution is to take the trim pieces into a local paint shop and have them match the colour to a nice, uncompromised back section of the trim pieces.

[burd]

Using SEM is like a “dipped “ interior. Go to Dayton and see many dipped cars, and they think it’s like factory. Get it mixed from the paint formula. I put a saddle headliner in, a shade off, it looks factory. And the 80 camel is way lighter.

[Gator67]

Had some paint matched to some different interior pieces. Both places wanted to start with SEM's mixing system's version of dark camel (1655, GM 62 interior) and go from there. One challenge with vinyl paint is that two completely different paint shops in the area told me that they are out of SEM yellow oxide tint which apparently has been on back order for a while with no ETA. BTW, SEM's rattle can camel (15173) didn't appear to be a good match with anything. Ames sells some rattle can Camel and that matched better with some of the pieces.

On another note, I found that the Acme '79 GM Interior Color Guide shows Dark Camel Tan and Very Dark Camel Tan in flat, low gloss, semi-gloss and (for Chevette only, high gloss). Both dark and very dark were listed as for 62 code interiors.