VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 51 dash/garnish molding paint color??

Hey Folks,
Got a weird question. I have a 51 Styleline Special Sport Coupe, model 1524, body #1227. My exterior code is for Trophy Blue. According to the Eng. Features book, my car should have a light gray dash (one color for Special) and door garnish moldings.

Trouble is, my dash and moldings are painted Black Laquer. When I pulled off some of the moldings expecting to see the gray color inside or underneath, I see nothing but bare metal. Same on the Dash except for some black overspray.

Did Chevrolet use this as a special order color for say, maybe the Police models? I don't see any record of it. Or, did someone really strip everything down to bare metal and repaint it Black? Being a Special Sport Coupe, I wonder if it was a cop car? No telltale holes in the roof, but there was a hitch mounted on the rear frame. 60 years can hide a lot.

Anybody have some thoughts on this? I plan to repaint using the light gray for the dash and moldings but will keep it black if someone can convince me that was a special color.
I don't have a build sheet.


Whadddaya think, y'all??

Thanks

I assume someone stripped of all the old paint. The "backs" were not painted. The 1951 Special had a medium dark gray color and it was available in a pre-mix only. The color was almost like Shadow Gray exterior color for 1951.

I'm with Gene......someone has previoulsy stripped the mouldings to bare metal and then repainted them with black lacquer.

Thanks to Chev Nut and Junkyard Dog for the replies.
You're right--the specs say medium gray (Shadow) but I've seen a lot of so called original Sport Coupes with all light gray on the dash and moldings so I wonder if Chev had made some changes during the 1951 production run. My car was made in March in K.C..

Thanks again. Guess black was not a factory color.

Cheers,
VT mushroom.

There were no changes in the colors.
All Special models had the medium dark gray.
All Deluxe models had the top of the dash dark gray, garnish mouldings dark gray, and the steering wheel rim dark gray. The inner part of the steering wheel spoke was light gray as was the glove box door and speedometer surround. The exception would be the BelAir and convertible.
In 1952 the dark gray was available but also green and blue was available depending on the exterior colr. The 1952 Special continued with the single darker gray.

Thanks Chev nut.
Any idea where I can get the paint color numbers for the medium dark gray?

Thanks

Just checking in and noticed Chevgene said and the steering wheel rim dark gray. The inner part of the steering wheel spoke was light gray as was the glove box door and speedometer surround

Its that the other way around, wheel light gray, inner dark??

I just completed mine, still waiting on re chroming the horn ring. I have one wheel where it appears the backside of the horn ring was gray like the inner part of the steering wheel. Just the spoke part, not the ring of the horn ring. anyone????




I've even got exterior "BLING", ok headlamp rings!




PS: I got a 51 paint chip chart on ebay 12 bucks or so.

Thanks to Dads51 for the neat illustrative pics. It's important to note as others have pointed out, that his pics indicate the Deluxe Model paint scheme. The Special used a one color dash and steering wheel set up.

The giveaway is the steering wheel. My special has a 3 spoke wheel, one color no horn ring.

Nice bling too.

Cheers,

Nice job your doing on your car. I noticed the insulation you've installed, looks great. I also noticed the light green wheel, was this car two tone originally? My 51 was just done with the light green, but with a dark green top. Only option on my car from the factory, it was $10.00 It's looking great.

this chev was a light green, but my dads was a dark solid one color so thats the way i'll paint her.
the wheels are light green because its enron primer. figured i'd paint them someday when I have the tires off and can pin strip them too.

My interior is a "stock" 51 Styleline Deluxe. See pics in signature.

Is the back of the horn ring (the spokes) chromed
or chromed and then painted dark gray, like the dash?