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What Colour Is My Z?


Rickers

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Hi fellow Z lovers,

 

I'm looking for the answer to the age old question of, "Under all this bog and paint, what colour was my car originally?". I've finally moved into my new place and have been slowly pulling the 240z apart, or rather watching it fall apart, and have come to a fork in the road. When I bought this car back in august, the previous owner (from at least 1989 until when I purchased it) told me the original colour was red and that he had repainted the engine bay red (I believe he said it was red when he got it) as he was planning on restoring it to original condition. Anyway, I've been removing the brake and other lines in the engine bay and came across what I have attached below.

 

post-105122-0-48412100-1485142109_thumb.jpg

 

This is a brake line holder/clip that appears to be safari gold in colour on the inside of the clip, there's also a few more that are the exact same. The rear passenger inner quarter also appears to be safari gold in colour and doesn't look to be a replacement panel (no picture because I'm at work and this is killing me).

 

So I guess what I'm asking is:

-Are those clips usually the colour of the body on the inside?

-Is it, and the inner quarter panel, enough justification to make the call that my vehicle was originally safari gold?

-Does my girlfriend have enough patience to stand by me during this restoration?

 

Cheers,

Rick

 

P.S '71 1051

Edited by Rickers
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Safari Gold by the look of it. It seems to be a common thing to do is paint a Safari Gold car Red at some point in it's life.

That's what I'm thinking, I just don't want to jump the gun and get excited, safari gold is my favourite Z colour ;)

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What colour is in the inside of the rear storage bins behind the rear seats? I'd be surprised if anyone would bother to repaint inside the boot area and rear stowage boxes. Also look under the dashboard.

 

It does look like Safari Gold though!

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-Does my girlfriend have enough patience to stand by me during this restoration?

 

You stand a better chance if you don't make her go to car events in the mean time. The trick is to restore your car very slowly so she doesnt notice.

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I believe the bins are in primer and I think under the dash has been repainted red when the engine bay was done. I'll double check those places when I get back from work.
 

Yessir, I also have 672 (might be 71).

Cheers

Edit:

Good idea Gav, seems as though there is reminents of safari gold in the bins, under the dash has been painted though. Attached is a picture of the QTR and a picture of the bin lid.

 

post-105122-0-73780300-1485150093_thumb.jpg

post-105122-0-66553700-1485150270_thumb.jpg

Edited by Rickers
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At the end of the day paint it the colour you want, but it is a bonus if it's the original colour. It's a shame because I don't have any records of cars close to your car in VIN sequence to see what colours they were, but late 71 is when Safari Gold was phased out, since it was such a popular colour at the time :).

 

-Does my girlfriend have enough patience to stand by me during this restoration?

If you marry her, she won't have a choice.

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I don't think it was just Safari Gold cars that got repainted red, so many have been painted red over the years, that finding an actual original "red" car is quite a treat...

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My car has about 4 different colours under the white. So far I have counted white, gold, white again and light blue, which I believe is the original colour but who knows.

 

Painting cars must have been much cheaper once upon a time because I can't even afford one paint job let alone three!

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Painting cars must have been much cheaper once upon a time because I can't even afford one paint job let alone three!

A cheap paint job doesn't cost much money, a good 1 however...

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