Paint Color Sales Names
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ChevyWorld.net
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| Paint colors often
changed from year to year with new colors being introduced
and other colors dropped. Internal to the various GM assembly
plants the colors were coded and given simple names like
red, light blue, dark blue, black, light green, etc.
The paint color was noted on the Fisher Body Number plate
with either numbers or letters depending on the particular
year. The (what is referred to as the) "sales name" was the catchy name given to a color by a given GM division that would, hopefully, appeal to their general audience. Take a given year such as 1970; what Chevrolet called "Cranberry Red" was called "Fire Red" by Buick, "Matador Red" by Oldsmobile, and "Cardinal Red" by Pontiac. Some GM divisions had color choices that were unique to their division. For example, in 1970 Pontiac had "Verdoro Green" and "Orbit Orange" that was not used by any other GM division by any sales name and Buick had "Stratomist Blue" not used by another GM division, Chevrolet had "Donnybrook Green" that was unique to Chevrolet's division. Some of the different division's colors were "reserved" for certain models in their lineup such as "Donnybrook Green" being a Corvette color, "Stratomist Blue" being a Riviera color, or "Grenadier Red" being a Toronado unique color. Just because a given color was typically reserved for one division's model line doesn't mean one couldn't order it in another model line or even across divisions - at least this was true for the Chevrolet division. General Motors had what was called a "Fleet & Special Order Department" process where one could order any Chevrolet (and probably the other divisions) in any color that was currently available - and it did not have to be a GM color. Any Ford, any Chrysler (MoPar) color could be ordered if it was available at the time. The exception was Cadillac's Firemist colors were exempt due to their coarse metallic content. Any color choice outside the color offered a given year would be ordered under its own regular production option (RPO) code; in the 70s this was RPO code ZP3 (at least for Chevrolet). Just how a given assembly plant would code this special paint on their Fisher Body Number plate (a.k.a., trim tag, cowl tag, firewall tag, etc.) varied by plant and year. Some plants would simply leave the paint code section blank, some would substitute a dash, or hyphen ( - ), character, some might use the DuPont mixing formula itself. When a plant built several GM division cars, they may even simply use the particular division's paint code.   A 1970 Chevelle from the Arlington, TX. plant painted in Oldsmobile "Sebring Yellow" (same paint color as the 1969 "Daytona Yellow" for Chevrolet) is known to have the Oldsmobile paint code of 51 on the trim tag.   Even if a plant did not build the other model of Chevrolet, it may use the paint code for the color like this 1972 Chevelle from the Arlington, TX. plant painted Corvette's Elkhart Green with the paint code 47 on its trim tag. |
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Data presented here has been gathered from various websites, knowledgeable car owners and GM's "Information Kits." I have found several differences on numerous websites, particularly in sales quantity and pricing. I have used (what I consider) the more reputable sources and Chevrolet owners for the most accurate information available. Hopefully you will find the layout and how the data are presented acceptable. |
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