I have a 69 GS350 with a looking interior and instrument panel...nice clear plastic, nice gauge faces etc.... but the lower part of the panel where it is painted that gray/silver color is fading and just takes away from the overall appearance of the interior. Anyone know what paint color that is or has restored one of these panels? Thanks, Dan
Hi Dan Are you talking about the piece that houses the Headlight switch / wiper controls / Heater controls ?? If you are.....the whole Instument bezel is one piece. Everything from right under the dash pad down to where the metal begins is all one big piece of plastic, with the piece Under the steering column a seperate piece. I did restore/repaint the one in my convert. about 6 years ago and it was NO FUN. First off, Let me say it *may* be ALOT easier to find a nice used one, like from a low mile car thats either been in a bad accident or being parted out) than it is to restore one. First - a little info about this bezel. '68 and '69 are Identical and the same piece is used in every Special, Special deluxe, Skylark, Skylark Custom, GS, and SportWagon made these two years. The only differences between years are the "stuff" that mounts to the Bezel like the Heater/climate controls and the Speedo Cluster. Look at your Bezel - Do you see the thin Chrome line that surrounds it and the smaller seperate portions ?? The way they achieved this "Chrome Reveal Look" was to chrome THE WHOLE BEZEL !!! and then paint over 99.9% of it to achieve that look !! They painted these areas flat black and a grayish silver, called, I believe Argent. If you also look at your Radio Bezel, you'll see it is the same gray/silver color. I took an Excellent condition Radio Bezel to an Auto Paint supply house and they used a scanner to "read" the color, and they mixed me up a pint of the stuff. I also purchased a pint of flat black (they recommended what exact color but it wasn't custom blended) as well as vinyl/plastic cleaner and prep checmicals to prepare it for the paint. First, I Masked off ALL of the chrome reveals using masking tape and a single edged razor blade. That alone took me about a week of evenings to get it perfectly masked. Then I masked off areas to be painted Argent, and lightly sanded with 400 grit, and then used the prep chemicals to prepare it for paint. I used a detail air brush to put down several light coats of the flat black and let that dry. Next, I masked off the freshly painted black areas and sprayed the Argent. Lastly, I used a chrome marker to touch up a few of the reveals that were dulling. I prolly spent 3 weeks on it..... .....and the results ??? Very presentable, but not stunning. Even with the computer matched color, it is still slightly off compared to the mint radio bezel. Solution ?? Paint the original (not the mint) Radio Bezel to match ou: 20/20 hindsight - I bought a MINT Instrument Bezel at the GSCA Swap meet for $35 that someday will get swapped in. The Paint and materials cost at least 4x that Hope this helps
Thanks Alan, What did you do about the raised lettering? Mine is faeded but it looks to have been a blue color? Did you do the climate control bezel? It would be much harder I guess because of the script lettering. Dan
Dan Im not sure what color the raised lettering should be....I used some of the flat black on a Q-tip and just painted them with that. The climate control detail is actually an applique on the non-air controller like a thick plastic while the A/C controller uses a kind of coverplate. Big Bux if you ever see them come up for sale NOS, while used complete controllers (with the cables) usually go for around $50 - there were a few '69x parted out in the For Sale forum the past few months.....do a search and ask around. 68 controls are totally different from the 69's even though they fit in the same hole in the bezel
