It looks to me like the top side of the front filler panel is painted argent grey like  parts

of the grill, The grey seems to be from the molding up and body color from the molding

down. I'm restoring the car to factory

appearing and would really like to get this detail correct. Any help would be greatly

appreciated.   Thanks  Stan

I have never seen one grey. They are body color.

I was looking at this the other day with Stan. A picture would help.
 The front bumper filler is split by the stainless trim. The bottom (closest to the bumper) is body colour. The portion above the trim which sits under the grille appears to be painted silver on more than one car that we looked at. Under the silver paint is the body colour. It seems that they painted the complete piece body colour then painted the top argent grey like the painted part of the grille.

 Does anyone have access to an original paint car?

I've never owned a 66,  but i think what Brad has described would be correct for sure.

here are some pics of original unrestored correct.  Yes,  body color below,  silver above

-- Edited by beaumontguru on Wednesday 24th of August 2011 10:08:34 PM

Like I said, body color. My 4 door has original paint on that filler panel top and bottom. Body color. Maybe the SD is different?

Thanks Brad for wording that perfectly. I think it might be a SD thing as

both parts cars we looked at were SD's.   Stan

Now i am confused,  I have been looking thru old pics,  it seems to be a hodge podge

Some cars are painted body color above and below,  some are body color below and silver above.

Some are SD and some are plain sedans, etc, etc,   seems to be no set rule.

Ive looked at pics of cars in junkyards, some unrestored, some restored,   Its a bit of both.

I've never really paid atention to this,  but i will be checking every 66 i see from now on

Chevelles seem to be more body color.

I wonder if it is a date of manufacture change. Early cars built one way and later cars built another?
 

My daily driver 66 malibu wagon has mostly original paint and

the upper portion of the filler panel is grey. It could be like Brad

suggested, a date of manufacture change. My 66 SD has a January

build date that I would like to compare to other cars that aren't

painted grey.

Just  a side note.   1958 chevys all have black bumper valences from the factory.  No disputing that fact.

BUT,  almost all restored 1958 chevys seem to be painted by the owners for some retarded reasoning.

So the same could be true for restored 1966s.

The only way to tell is to look at a survivor car.  Thats the great thing about survivor cars!!! they are totally correct in every way.

I took this photo from another thread. This car was on ebay a few years ago and supposed to be original paint or one repaint. If I remember correctly it is a 396 with 3 speed standard, sold new in Walkerton or Listowel, ON. You can clearly see that this one has the silver paint on the filler panel. Even if it was a repaint would somebody go to the trouble of painting the silver if it was not there initially?

Thats the same car i have pictured above.   For sure original with all the stone chips to prove it

beaumontguru wrote:

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Thats the same car i have pictured above.   For sure original with all the stone chips to prove it

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  So this car has the silver paint on the upper portion of the filler panel and it is a 396 SD. Too bad this car didn't get into the registry. Did anyone get a production date?

You mean like this!!!!!:

You're the man Dave.

SD 396 wrote:

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You're the man Dave.

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 you are 'SO' the MAN 

65sssd wrote:

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If we can't prove it one way or the other which looks better? By the way nice car.

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  I agree with Paul. There doesn't seem to be any logical commonality so what is right and what is wrong. Because there are so few original paint cars out there it is difficult to say. I scraped paint off a bumper filler off a car at Stan's that was painted red, under the red was silver, under that was red and the bottom coat was the black primer.
 I went through the registry and looked at every 66 that had a picture and personally I like the silver top colour with every body colour.

wow what a rare transmission

M13 heavy duty 3 speed

1966

Feb. 25th 1966   73617 A51   396ci L34   M   (391 black bucket)       link
#835995    Sport Deluxe 2dr hrdtp   M13  Aztec Bronze met.
feb. 22nd tag  G80 P01 P62 U16 U63    Jackson Motors Ltd.-Listowel Ontario

Sorry to go off topic but I am surprised that you didn't have this one Fred. Were you sleeping back in '06 when that was on ebay?

reminds me of this photo from the day

i had a few years when i didnt go on ebay, i had no computer and didnt really want one( for personal reasons),for the first year i was here ,i didnt have one at home(believe it or not!)

i borrowed all my friends and families,lol

68sd wrote:

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reminds me of this photo from the day

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 i see no V8 emblem on this one? 6 cyl SD car???

68sd wrote:

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reminds me of this photo from the day

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 That looks like silver paint to me on the upper part of the bumper filler. Now we just have to help Stan figure out what the the paint code is.