My car is Starlight Black with a Cameo White top; I saw a 1969 Impala on the web with that same scheme and they were guessing that such a color scheme must have been Canada-only, implying you couldn't get that in a US Impala.
That struck me as an odd thought - there weren't color restrictions at all were there? If I wanted a Warwick blue car with a Matador Red top with a green interior was there anything to stop me?
Not sure about GM but I do know Chrysler back then would allow any colour combo. I can't remember which model it was but an old time told me about a car that was ordered in '69 Green with orange interior. Chrysler did call the dealer to confirm however and the car was built.
A little more recent: Back in 2000 when I worked at a Chevy dealer a guy tried to order a new Corvette in Millennium Yellow with Torch Red interior. GM initially said no however after they got something like a dozen requests for this combo they went ahead and built them all in a row. I saw the car when it arrived and it made my eyes bleed! Surely a collectible today though.
In '93 gm Would Not build me a Black pick up with Blue Interior even though all the parts were on the line.Just didn't want to put the colours together!!!
... If I wanted a Warwick blue car with a Matador Red top with a green interior was there anything to stop me?
Yes. You would need to sign off on a color override before the order for the above combo would be accepted. There were however more 2-tone combos offered in Canada than in the U.S. on the '69 Chevrolets though. I have seen Cortez Silver with Burgundy roof on a Canadian '69 Biscayne 2-door & also the reciprocal (seen on a '69 2+2). I have also seen Dover White with Burgundy roof on a Canadian '69 Impala Custom Coupe.
I have also seen a bunch of those obscure 2-tones on 1967 Chevelles & Beaumonts from the factory. On a list of 50 cars that I received from GM back in the 80s for my '67 Chevelle, there were four 2-tone Chevelles that rolled down the line near my car, and none were in the approved U.S. combos. There was a Provincial White body with Tuxedo Black roof Malibu sport coupe with blue interior plus the reciprocal on an otherwise no-option Chevelle 300 sedan; a Bolero Red with white Malibu sport coupe, and also a Marina Blue with white 300 sedan. I have seen numerous other documented combos on '67 Chevelles & Beaumonts. Yellow with black, Mountain Green with Verde Green (Cdn exclusive dk green) roof, Verde Green with black roof, Capri Cream with Granada Gold roof and others as well. Canadian cars also offered black painted roofs as late as 1971 from what I have observed over the years.
Shown here is a '67 Canadian Pontiac 2+2 wearing the original colours from the factory, Emerald Turquoise with Red interior. That one would have been a trim and colour override.
I have also seen other overrides; several Butternut Yellow cars with medium blue interior, plus a Tahoe Turquoise Beaumont with medium blue interior (since the Canadian Chevelles & Beaumonts didn't offer medium turquoise interior that year).
As for color restrictions, remember that GM had the School of Color & Design. They labored over combinations that would look good together. Yes, back in '67 you could order an Emerald Turquoise Camaro with yellow interior in the U.S., or the reciprocal. Those combos didn't clash or look as bad as you would expect. G.M. wouldn't put together a combination that clashed, UNLESS the order was submitted with the customer's signature taking responsibility & acceptance for the result.
-- Edited by CdnGMfan on Thursday 15th of March 2018 11:02:21 PM
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67 Chevelle Malibu Sport Coupe, Oshawa-built 250 PG never disturbed.
In garage, 296 cid inline six & TH350...
Cam, Toronto.
I don't judge a man by how far he's fallen, but by how far back he bounces - Patton
Shown here is a '67 Canadian Pontiac 2+2 wearing the original colours from the factory, Emerald Turquoise with Red interior. That one would have been a trim and colour override.
This is the car that came to my mind ... I actually like the strange colour combo. There are other pictures of it on this site. 1 of 1.
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Prince Edward Island
'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.
Great, thanks! Can anyone tell me if, in 1961, you could get a black car with a white top and a blue interior? I think Parisienne, but model doesn't matter much, just curious if that combo could have been had in 1961 in a Canadian Pontiac.
The 1969 US Colors and Interior Binder has a double color chip folder, it has the all colors sorted in both upper and lower and lists the possible combinations for two tones with any given color as an upper or lower color. For example it says that Champagne was available as a lower color with either a starlight black or cameo white but champagne was not available as an upper color with any lower color. This must have been a suggestion only since Ive seen two buildsheets of 69 GTOs that had champagne top color.
This same binder also has swatches of all the trim materials offered and it lists the compatible lower paint colors for each color of each trim offered.
It also lists the possible lower paint colors available with each convertible or Cordova top color.
My Dad only bought 3 new cars in his lifetime, and at least one of those was used! But they all had one thing in common: black with a blue interior. And if two-tone, a white top.
When I was born he had a 1961 Parisienne Bubbletop, pictured below (yes, that's me). Then he had my 1969 black one, and when I got that car as a new driver in '84 he bought his life-long dream car, a new black Lincoln Towncar (with blue interior, special ordered). He wanted to delete the pinstripe and they wouldn't let him, so he ordered a black stripe on a black car, but they caught that and changed it to blue. It was a sharp car!
That leads to the family legend of my 69. My Dad wanted a black Parisienne with a white top and a blue interior, just like the outgoing 61. But at the dealership they couldn't get one, couldn't find one, couldn't even order one, so they pulled a Warwick blue Laurentian off the lot and did a full color change from blue to black on the lower half (I think my Dad's uncle ran the body shop at the dealership, which helped).
I was told or assumed variously that it was too late in the model year to order a '69 and that Dad didn't like the 70s, plus my grandpa had a 70 Catalina already and didn't want the same car. So there were various explanations for why they had to customize one off the lot. My Dad passed away in 1996 and my mom's recollection of why Dad ordered a particular color option on a car 50 years ago aren't as crisp as my investigation demands!
While it might have been too late in the year, and the other facts might have been true also, but I think it's as simple as this: you couldn't order a black car with a white top and a blue interior in 1969 no matter how hard you tried!
Is that correct? My supposition is the the white-over-black with blue trim was available in 1961 but not 1969. I just don't have a way to check 1961 easily!
-- Edited by davepl on Sunday 18th of March 2018 10:33:25 AM
-- Edited by davepl on Sunday 18th of March 2018 10:38:49 AM
Is there a list of "approved" combinations somewhere? I don't recall ever seeing one, which is what prompted the question.
Therein lies the rub. I would love to see the Canadian order sheet. I know that the GM Heritage Center has great Chevrolet SAE spec documentation in .PDF format available for free download, but it covers the U.S. specs only.
As for a special order colour combo, as long as it was a firm order and the customer signed off to guarantee acceptance, they would have built it after key players signed off. They would not build a non-approved combination if they didn't have a signed contract. No dealer wanted to be stuck with an unsalable combination, and GM had better color sense than to throw together any combination you could dream up. You did mention something about being too late to order a '69 when your late father tried to order his '69. That is totally believable. I remember when dad tried to order a '74 Chevrolet late into the 1974 production, they informed him that orders had been cut off as they had enough to carry production through until build-out.
That is a GREAT picture of you with the 1961 Parisienne!
To try to find anything that supports the Canadian colour schemes, the closest so far is from the following 1966 list I had seen of specific color rules for 1966 U.S. Pontiacs. Finally I found it again. It seems like the rules for the majority of acceptable color combos on the Canadian '67s could have been taken for the 1966 list shown below:
Assuming the restrictions are the same as the Chev line (and I don't know that) then you could do what they did (blue car with white top and blue interior) or you could take a black car with a blue interior and add a white top and moldings. That's probably the simplest, and easier than doing trunk and jambs and so on. But I was like six months old at the time and they didn't ask me!
-- Edited by davepl on Sunday 18th of March 2018 04:09:49 PM
We all have to remember that anything that was said by a dealer was suspect at best. Most dealers would say whatever it took to get you to buy a car then and there on the spot.
I remember my second new car, a 1996 Bonneville SE (basic model) but with the Supercharged engine. I wanted to order one but going to the dealers was painful:
...First dealer says the don't offer that combo, when I show him in the book that they do he suddenly says that it was discontinued mid-year (also a lie), why? he wanted me to buy the SSEI sitting in the showroom.
...second dealer had one but it was missing two options I wanted badly (H rated tires to avoid the 108mph cut-off!) and autoleveller to get the nicer looking lower rear springs. I asked him to order one for me... he says they no longer offer the supercharged engine in the SE (lie). I show him he's wrong, like the last guy he then tries to say its been discontinued but I push and low and behold it is still order-able! Thinking I'm getting somewhere but then he says the two other options I want are no longer available (Lie) but they could make a really good deal on the car in the showroom...
...third dealer (who had no supercharged bonnevilles of any sort in stock tries to talk me out of the supercharged engine because they are "very big trouble", big surprise he then tries to push me into a regular engine SSE that he has!
...forth dealer, I go see the owner and hand him the exact options and colors I want him to order. I tell him if he wants to order it, give me a price by fax. I tell him I will not even consider any other car and if he tries to offer anything else I will never deal with him again. Low and behold, he finds the exact car in Toronto and a week later I'm driving my new car.
Poetic justice, all 4 of those dealers no longer exist.
The very first new car I ever bought was a 1997 BMW 528i, which was incidentally a great car. But I knew what color and options I wanted, but they said none were available in the national inventory, none were inbound on the ship. A custom order would take six months. Better to take the one from dealer stock, of course!
So I went home and searched the Internet and found the EXACT car I wanted at a competing dealership within 10 miles.
