VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 Paint colors 1938 Dash

Wondering if anybody knows, or where can I look for the paint colors / codes, for a 1938 Master dash? Is it two tone, or one color? I am trying to match as close as possible to the original color. I look forward to your reply or any help. Thanks in advance, Ken

Dear Ken,

I did a lot of research and experimentation when restoring my 38 coupe concerning the dash colors. I had a very nice patch of original condor grey preserved under one of the delete plates and I was able to get it "scoped" by a paint guy at one of our parts stores. The color that resulted is just a tad "brighter" than the original, but has a touch of metallic in it (as the original), and is about as close as one can get. In all honesty, I do believe it's closer than I've seen on any other 38. Here is the information on the paint can:

Dupont ChromaBase (2-stage)
Rolls Royce 1969
Code 9500435
Color: BEIGE-Effect

There is another number, but I'm not sure what it is: H9679K

The Plover Beige was even more difficult to match, I found. I tried three or four colors but finally settled on Brookwood Beige Poly (one of the original 1938 colors, which also happens to be the color of my coupe). It is also a bit "brighter" than the original and has a touch of metallic in it. Again, I think it's very close to the original and the combination is very nice. I think you'd be pleased with it. I bought my Brookwood Beige from AutoColor Library and I used single stage acrylic enamel; but you can also get it in 2 stage.

If you search for some of my early posts, you will see pictures of the dash posted on this site.

Good luck!

Jim

Ken,

I neglected to list what parts of the dash are what colors. This information is from the 1938 Construction Manual:

The interior of the 38's dash and instrument panel consists of two colors, Condor Gray and Plover Beige. According to the 38 Construction manual Condor Gray is on the following items: instrument panel (incidentally, this is metallic), presumably including all of the upper dash; instrument dials background (the pointers are ivory); instrument cluster raised rectangular bezel.

Plover Beige is on the following: recessed panel (bottom band of dash) where the hand controls (i.e., choke, throttle, etc.) are located; odometer figures (on an ivory background; the decimal wheel has ivory figures on plover beige background); steering wheel; horn button; steering column and grommet; gear shift lever and knob; hand brake lever.

Yours,

Jim

Condor Grey metallic top, Plover Beige bottom. Both well 'seasoned'.

Thank You Jim and Tiny, This gives me a good start, I may have questions in the near future. I know I can always come here and get the answers I am looking for, thanks again.

Which manual is the construction manual?

Unfortunately no one knows the formulas for Plover Beige & Condor Grey....frustrating as hell.

I took my glove box off, removed the chrome strip to expose the untouched parts, and brought it into a few auto parts stores to find the closest match, and one of the Dupont Toyota paints came very close. (you can see the actual paint on the edge of the static speedometer display shown in my thread "restoring my 38 Master Deluxe".

Another option is to go to your local big box hardware store and get paint chips with holes and find the closest color (you'll be surprised) and use that as the base, and see if anyone else can make a metallic paint in that color. Don't bother asking the people in the store...they don't know anything....

Hi,

Is it so that the interior color was the very same for all Chevs (here 1938), INDEPENDENT of exterior color?
I have seen some restored 1938 with Maroon like exterior having the same color in interior. Is this not correct interior color then?

Many people pain the dashboard in the same color as the body. That is NOT correct as far as I know.

Hi,

It seems then on all 1938's the upper part of the dashboard used Condor Grey, while Plower Beige was used on the very lower part of the dashboard and as well (but not metallic) on the steering column,shift and hand brake lever.

But, does anybody know what color was used on window garnish mouldings (and windshiled divier and back of rear view mirror) on a Master (not Master Deluxe)? Was that Condor Grey or Plower Beige or another color??

The above mentioned parts were a gray wood grain.

The manual refered to is the Engineering Manual.....available from the Filling Staton.
It mentions color names and that is all. There never was a mixing formula for interior colors. The paint was available only in pre-mixed.

Hi,

Thanks.

Concerning "gray wood grain" on 1938: Was this used both for Master and Master Deluxe, and do you know any color code for the base color of this wood grain or where I can find it?


What did you mean by, "There never was a mixing formula for interior colors. The paint was available only in pre-mixed."?

I have spent a lot of time researching the paint on the garnish moulding, back of mirror etc….it is Grayish color grain like Chevegene said and is called Primevera by finish….there is a Grain expert in Florida that has the color matches…PM me if interested…Billu38

Gene and Billu38 are correct--the color of the garnish moldings was "Primavera," a grayish/greenish base with graining applied over it. When I restored my 38 coupe, I too contacted a company in Florida (probably the same to which Billu38 refers), Grain-It Technologies, and purchased the paints and equipment to do the woodgraining. I had seen an original 38 whose woodgrain was fairly well-preserved. Grain-It's paints and woodgrain plates, etc., matched the original VERY closely; I purchased the kit and the woodgraining on my coupe turned out nicely.

I have a couple good pictures of the restored woodgrain in "Primavera" as well as my dash done in Condor Gray and Plover Beige (using the paint codes I indicated in an earlier post above). They match (in a slightly brighter version) the pictures that Tiny posted of his original dash. Unfortunately, I can't seem to be able to post them on the site, though I believe I am following the directions--not sure why I can't get them posted.

At any rate, if someone would like to see them, I can send them to someone who knows how to post pics on this site they can post them for everyone to see, or I will share them privately if you send me a PM.

Jim

For the Plover Beige (the lower dash color) try the steering tube. The base of the tube is held to the steering box by a clamp on the outside of the tube. If you remove the steering box clamp there may be a good paint sample under the clamp.

For Metallic Condor gray, the upper dash color, take the clock delete plate out by removing the screws on the inside of the glove box door. The underside of the little tabs that held the delete plate to the door should be a very good sample of the dash color. As said, add some metallic flecks to the paint.

Good luck,
Brian

Jim..you are correct…it's Grain-it Technologies here in Florida…spoke about process many times with the owner…he also does the Hershey Fall AACA meet every year…good demo booth….trouble is once you spend a bunch of money for the plates/rollers etc. and the job is done you'll never use the tools again! Jim, I haven't bought the kit yet…even tho I've been talking with him for years….now the price has at least doubled!.....PM me if you're interested in selling the rollers and plates…thx…Billu38

I redid my dash with 1968 Dodge truck Golden Tan Metallic. It turned out very nice. I will try to get some pictures today.

Billu38, if you buy jmmmn37's graining plates, etc, I would be interested in buying them from you when you are done with them!

Jmmmn37, have you considered doing the graining for other '38 owners since you already know how to get good results? This might be a good hobby income for you! I would love to see your pictures when they are available.

Billu38 and 38Chevy,

A fellow member has kindly volunteered to post some pics on the site of both the dash and the moldings. When they appear, you can see what you think of the results--but from what I've seen, the formulas posted above and the paint from Grain-It is pretty darned accurate.

When I was researching all of this, I too spoke a long time with Evan from Grain-It and he was very helpful in answering all sorts of questions. I've actually done a bit more with the wood graining since then and acquired a couple other plates. For that reason, I'm not really interested in parting with the wood graining tools at this point, but I would consider doing other 38s (especially over winter months); we can follow up on this if interested in PMs.

Jim

Hi,

I think this thread can end up beeing a very good one for those later restoring the interior of Cehevy 1938. It has helped me a lot.

The ones who restored the car I have now then did a terrible "mistake" and painted the interior in same as the body (maroon) :-(. I had anyway planned to repaint the interior.

I have been able to purchase a used (an not restored) 1938 radio&ashtray delete plate. Does anybody know if the color of such a delete plate then had the very same color as the dashbard, i.e. Condor Grey? If so, I can have it scanned in order to get the a similr color.

It seems that "Plover beige" is also very similar to the color of the knobs (chocke, throttle,..)?

SvMo,

Yes, the delete plates were theoretically the same color as the dash (Condor Gray), BUT the problem with using almost any delete plate or even original dash is that sunlight and other factors over the course of 75 years have taken a toll on the paint (this is particularly true of the instrument panel, perhaps because of the effect of the sun through the glass)--that's why many posters in this thread have spoken of finding a spot that was beneath a delete plate or some other hidden spot to find the best preserved example of the original paint. As I mentioned above, my car had a delete plate for the ashtray and when I removed it there was a nice patch of original Condor Gray--that's what I had scanned by the paint shop. If you can get Dupont paint in Norway, here is the code:

Dupont ChromaBase (2-stage)
Rolls Royce 1969
Code 9500435
Color: BEIGE-Effect

You can order Brookwood Beige from Autocolor Library (you can google them online) for colors for 1938--it is the closest thing I could find to Plover Beige.

Good luck.

JM

Hey guys, the talk about the garnish moldings being a grey is confusing to me. Below are a few pre-restoration images of the dash of my car just after I rescued if from the barn and got it home. You can see from the door moldings as well as the windshield molding that all were a dark brown. So much so that I thought that they were the same as the lower dash & ended up painting them Plover Beige. I later found the rear view mirror to still have the woodgraining intact (although very faded). I'm also posting pics of that. The upper part is lighter but not what I'd call grey. You can see down toward the bottom that it's a dark brown. I'm assuming the original paint darkens as it ages rather than 'sun fading' to a lighter color. When I removed the moldings during the restoration the 'inside' of the moldings similar in color to the outside although not weathered. They had the factory paint on them. They'd never been repainted.

Here are the pictures of my dash. The radio face plate is original. I will repaint it at some point.


I took all of the indicator lenses out of the turn signal control and painted it the same as the dash. Makes it "look like it grew there!"


Unfortunately, my dash is one of the best parts of the car right now!:-( I am anxious to get the rest of it done!

Wooooh, Chevy38, it looks VERY good!
What color codes have you used for the dash?

Thanks,SvMo. The dash color is 1968 Dodge truck Golden Tan Metallic. The dark at the bottom is a can of spray paint from the hardware store. The brand is Town & Country, and the color is Nut Brown. I was pleased with the way it turned out.

Looks great