Would a factory code 71, Lemans blue 69 Chevelle with original engine & drivetrain in 90% stock condition be de-valued by painting it Monaco (hugger) orange? The car is NOT being built for re-sale, but as we all know, someday the car will be sold.

Would a different color from the original code hurt it in a judged show? (such as chevellabration)

There are so many Lemans blue 69 Chevelles out there these days, factory orange would stand out a little more, wouldn't it? It's got a Parchement interior and will have a white stripe no matter what color it turns out to be.

I had a 69 SS that was Monaco orange with a parchment interior years ago..I thought it was a cool color combo.
I say go for for it..I don't think it would matter on what the car is worth IMHO and experience.

As far as "judging", The wrong color is the wrong color.
As far as "ascetically" pleasing, No matter what you do, Some will like it and some won't, But as long as you like it, WHAT ELSE MATTERS!!!!!!!
My 69 is code 52 Garnet red. When I bought it, It was silver. At the start of the rebuild, The plan was to paint it blue. After removing the A-pillar covers and seeing the original "unfaded" color, I'm considering going original. Either way, It will be what I want.

Jimmy

JUDGING?? Well, sadly.. not many venues that even bother looking at the trim tag for color or otherwise!! MOST shows, don't even care if it is a 138 or 136 in 138 skin... and especially Chevelle-abration where there is no formal judging.. just guys walking around voting for what they like, correctness is not usually what is being looked at at CB.

That said, I wouldn't worry about the JUDGING part at all... BUT, the value or depreciation of a color change on an otherwise numbers matching car can be affected... how much? I don't think there is a Formula.. just guys like me.. GUESSING and if anyone tells you differently.. they are wrong. How much a Color change, even to a Factory Color for the model year will affect future re-sale is truly up to any one particular buyer.. If I were the buyer.. I would either pass or definitely pay less.. because that is what I like.. Originality or restorations to original LIKE status....

No Good answers here.. but if pressed.. I'd say Don't... ;)

Mike

A color change will devalue the car only in the eyes of 'purists'.....no one else will care as long as it's a factory OEM color for that year. Like Mike says, how much of a devaluation is just a guess.....but if I had to guess, I'd say $5K max.

tough choice. I'm getting mine ready for paint now too. Mine is also code 71, but I have black interior. I decided to stick with the original color for two reasons.One, it's original and two, I happen to really like Lemans Blue. I'm not sure what I would do if mine was a color I really didn't care for such as white. I would probably go black on black !!

Mine is coded as Granada Gold with a gold interior. A 15 year old resto had painted it white, as a front clip from a white Chevelle was used to replace some dented up sheet metal. I liked it white, and am not fond of the original gold on gold. When I had it repainted, it stayed white. It isn't original, tho, so take it FWIW.
John

Since it's one of the "good" original colors, I personally would keep it blue...

IMHO, Orange on a factory Lemans Blue car would possibly hurt the value a little bit... however Orange on a factory gold, brown, green or other "unpopular" color car could HELP its value (unless its an L78 car or something rare)

Ultimately, it's your car and you're the one that has to look at it every day... pick your favorite and don't look back. :)

Well, from the looks of your poll 1/3 says go for it and 2/3 say keep it blue. Now it's up to you

Lamans Blue is a cool color. BUT, I think if you want hugger orange, just paint it that color. Who gives a rats ass if it's original. Squirt that bad boy orange and enjoy!

Jimmy as we have discussed these 69 SS projects, yours and mine, we have faced so many similar things. Deciding on a color change is one of them. As mine is for sale now and done up to paint the new owner can make the decision but I would stay with the original Cortez Silver. I think you should stay with the original color.

Orange is a like or not like color. Not much middle ground.

With the original color you will never have to explain why you painted it otherwise.

In this market I think the more correct and quality built the better the chance to sell it for anything close to value.

Good Luck.

I am one who likes original colors on a car, especially if they are true documented SS. As far as how much it will devalue the formula is very simple. It will devalue as much as it will take to get it repainted the original color. For a color change with no bodywork you are looking at a minimum of $5k+. Eventhough some colors are more desireable than others original colors seem to fit the car better. I am a fanatic of Fanthom Blue, Black Cherry, and triple black colors. Many times, it has crossed my mind to paint my Forest Green Chevelle one of these colors, as they are more desireable than Fanthom Green. With all the documentation I have it will be a di-service to the value of my Chevelle to paint it another color, not to mention some cash at the time of sale. LeMans Blue is a beautiful color with white interior. So I voted keep it original color.

The way you have listed your questions for the poll, is a bit of a compromise when voting.

I voted for keeping it blue. It doesn't mean it is a bad idea to change the color if the owner wants to do that. I could have voted for painting it blue because it is the most popular color, but I don't know which is the most popular color.

My point is, some people could vote for either of the first 2 choices which will take away from each questions possible total.

Since the car is mostly original, I would keep it that way.

Jimmy paint it the way you will be happy with it, you are the one driving it.:yes:
I like the Lemans Blue and the Hugger Orange.
You can always get an extra paint code trim tag made for it I guess.
I am sure other people have done it because they did not like the color of the car it was born with?

From a person that really wanted and was looking for a Monaco orange 69 , before I bought what I have ..... keep it Blue.;)

Paint the way you like it!

I did, was green with white stripes, did cortex silver with black stripes and get nothing but compliments.

Good Luck

Thanks for input guys. I kinda guessed how the poll would turn out and I agree with everyone. No, really I do! If everyone thought the same, we'd all be driving the same cars!

Here's my story:

I have always known what color I wanted in a certain car and it's been really easy, until now. Also, I have always advised others of painting their classic cars in the color they came from the factory in.

I have a code 71 LeMans blue 69 Chevelle, a 12,000 original mile car that was a one owner for 34 years. I know the original owner and have many old pictures of the car. It has the original engine. LeMans blue is probably my favorite color of all time too. I've owned a 69 SS Chevelle and 69 Z-28 and painted them LeMans blue. get this; The 69 SS car was a code 72 orange car and I painted it blue! Yet, I went out and bought 2 gallons of Monaco Orange paint today. Why?

First of all I'm at a crossroads with this car. I've owned it for a year now and have worked on it since this spring EVERY day until my garage burned down last week. I saved the un-insured car, but my shop and tools are gone. I was seriously considering giving up on the car this past week and yesterday decided I will finish this car if it kills me.

A long time ago, like 39 years ago, the first Chevelle I ever saw was a 69 Orange SS with a dealer installed 427 and it was, without a doubt, a mind altering experience to see that car pulling up to the stop sign one hundred fifty feet away from my house and lift the front wheels off the ground. I never knew such cars existed until then, when I was about 8 or 9 years old and became totally enthralled with that car and what it made so special. It was a neighbor's car, owned by two brothers that worked a few blocks away at a grocery store. They would drive it up there sometimes, even though it had no plates or inspection sticker.

They raced it every weekend you could in southwestern Pennsylvania at Keystone raceway and other tracks within a day's drive, like Englishtown, York, etc. I followed it until it quit racing in 1978. Grumpy Jenkins, Jere Stahl, Dave Wince, Yenko Chevrolet and many others had a hand in making this car an SS/A class champion and I saw some of it first hand, especially the 'tuning' part of it ;)

So, my choosing a color is emotionally driven. I want an orange 69 SS, I've always wanted one so I'm building one that I will keep forever and I'm not selling it unless my world falls completely apart. Every other car I've ever bought was with the intention to enjoy for a while, then part with. That stragedy does not apply to this car.

Here's the Super Sunkist in street trim, (although it was never registered for the street)
http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/uploads/740/supersunkist.jpg

This is a really hard decision for me. Even though I have the paint, they'll mix up anything I want........... I can always paint it again someday if I tire of it I suppose. Painting a straight car is easy, right?

Or, should I leave it like this??????
http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/uploads/740/69blue.jpg

I was thinking LB until you posted the pics. Now I say HO. That HO car has "the look". Did you have insurance to cover your tools? I hope so.

I say go for the Monaco Orange, but my opinion might be a little biased..

http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/1033/aces1969200711me6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/1033/aces1969200711me6.e47f7ff07e.jpg (http://g.imageshack.us/g.php?h=503&i=aces1969200711me6.jpg)