And now we have color on one of the '63 coupes

[SolidLifters]

I've owned it since the 80's and it was stripped to bare glass and totally disassembled in mid 70's, never to see the road again. Maybe this is the year.

I've never changed the color on one of my cars, but I came very close to painting this one Riverside Red since I don't care much for the saddle tan. The fact that it's got THE ORIGINAL drivetrain (340 horse) made keeping the original color the sensible choice. (and yes, the hood fits, no hinges now, just laying there shimmed up high to get the edges covered well)

A friend told me once that ALL Corvettes were supposed to be red but that GM had made some assembly line errors over the years.

 

[67vet]

Your 63 SWC Corvette looks beautiful.
The color looks great. I imagine it will look even better completed and driven.

 

[Toms007]

Saddle Tan may not be flashy, but you've certainly made it look good there. Keep us posted on the progress.

 

[jjmish]

saddle saddle?

what brand paint and what code/ weight/ volume formula was used.

color looks very close to my old dupont lacquer

saddle tan grows on you

leather seats?

 

[SolidLifters]

It's Dupont, mixed at the bodyshop, but I don't know the numbers although I can probably get 'em.

We had a really good original paint place under the rear window rubbers when they were removed and the color smeared on it by hand was almost perfect.

Interestingly the bodyshop mix was a dead match, but the local Dupont jobber's mix was WAY too coppery looking. When the shop sent his mix down they said they had bad toner in the store and it caused the mix match. I've got about a gallon and a half of free paint that's way too far off to put on anything original and way too ugly to use on anything custom.:ugh

 

[crowvet]

I personally think that color is awesome. Not seen to often and every other one you see is red. I think you made the right choice, I did not like Elkhart Blue either when I painted mine. It will grow on you, I LIKE it.

 

[SolidLifters]

Unfortunately there were a lot of midyear colors I don't care for, and '69's too for that matter. I was never a great fan of Elkhart. One of my friends did an Elkhart '67 435 car that I helped with and got a Duntov in about 1990 (or whatever year the Nat'l Convention was in Anahiem) and like you said the car looked better after it was painted than in the original paint which had turned flat. I've got a Lyndale '67 myself, and the Prez. of our local car club has a Lyndale '67 L79 coupe that he bought new and I like this color even less.

Of my '69's 2 are Riverside Gold which isn't much to get excited over either and another is white, which I've NEVER cared for white cars of any type. Other 2 are Lemans Blue, which is a GREAT color and Fathom Green which is good too. Except for a '60 I don't own a red Corvette, which is a shame since it's my favorite color.

I hope I can learn to like the Saddle Tan on the '63. I absolutely hated the Riverside Gold on the 2 '69's when I first painted them, but think they're okay now after 25 years of livin' with it. I guess I'm wunna' those people that thinks high perf cars are supposed to be red on red or black on black.

 

[catbert]

Love your car - I'm a big fan of the 340 small block!

 

[west ridge]

+++++

 

[SolidLifters]

Personally not a tan or gold color person. One of my 63 coupes is red / red while the other is daytona blue / blue. The red one went back to red. When the blue one is done it won't be dark blue. My big block 66 coupe is black / black. Not a black color person either so it may end up a new flashy Lexus / Cadillac color. In my mind it don't have to be factory correct. Just something that is pleasing and looks sharp. Let the next fussy owner skiff and shoot it the " born color ".
How did you end up with so many cars ? You don't drive the thing ( dodge ) in the next stall.... do you ? Never owned one but drove them for work. After those and a couple fords... a return to chevrolets was refreshing.

The Dodge car in the next stall was something the bodyshop had in for repairs at the time. The only Dodge I've ever owned is a '96 Viper GTS that's only got 4200 miles and hasn't been out of the garage in 3 or 4 yrs. As far as the ending up with so many, most of my cars were bought when cars were cheap. My first old Corvette was a '63 red/red coupe that I bought in 1975 for 2000 bucks. I sold it about 10 yrs later as a disassembled project, but the buyer still has it and made it a show car. I always liked big block cars, probably because of the hot rodder in me and the fact that I couldn't afford one when they were current in the 60's. Fortunately the gas crisis of the 70's made 'em dirt cheap and I bought up quite a few of 'em when everybody seemed to only want smallblock stuff. Unfortunately I've still got more projects than I'll ever finish in my liftetime and my 2 grown kids don't care anything about cars, so I've hopefully got a few years to decide what to do with 'em. Even though it's been 2 1/2 yrs since this picture was taken and posted here the tan coupe still isn't finished. But................... it's closer than it was then.

 

[west ridge]

++++

 

[22229stingray81]

Man, I'd love to see a picture of your "collection"....


-Tatortot

 

[Tom Bryant]

The first '63 coupe I saw in the local showroom back when they came out was a saddle tan 340 horse. A friend had a saddle tan fuelie also. I have always liked the the color. I think I have you beat though. I stripped my '59 in '71 and it still isn't painted.

Tom

 

[west ridge]

[++++