Dave, sorry for the delay in getting back to you. We had a 50 foot high tree come down in our yard so have been busy dealing with that. Here is a picture of my 68 Beaumont`s firewall. It still has the original dash markings on it from the factory and it is a semi gloss black. The car was a original Calgary car. Here are a few pictures. George

4SPEED427 wrote:

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 This picture is of a 68 wagon that came from a wrecking yard in Lethbridge about 20 years ago. This one certainly would not have had a change in firewall colour prior to this picture and it's body colour if that helps at all.

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 And here's a shot of an unrestored, original paint 68 Beaumont with 74,000 miles. Certainly the firewall is original and it's a green car.

I have observed many, like many here on the site. A lot can transpire to a "third hand Chevy" over the course of weeks if not decades.

It is also an interesting topic, just like the 1-speed vs. 2-speed wiper setups on the 65's.

A few things I can add as evidence:

A 46k mile Oshawa-built '68 Impala Custom coupe, 307 Powerglide. I've seen a bunch of these over the years, starting with 1968.

Here's a 20 year old print screen. Note upgrade with Vintage Air added:

Here's a 1968 Pontiac 2+2 with a factory L36 / M20. Owner added open-element air cleaner & chrome valve covers with Tonawanda decals (which were replaced or covered with 427 decals for production Pontiac installs).  And hey, isn't that alternator mounting for a long water pump (1969-on)?

1968 base 731-series Beaumont 2-door post with a blue valve cover on a basically stock 250 (note 1968 only air cleaner) & updated braking (unless you want to believe a 250 Powerglide el-strippo would have expensive factory 4-piston disks). Mind you it was just a tic box away.

A 2004 restoration photo of an unmolested 1968 Oshawa-built Chevelle SS396. All good except the missing smog pump (a problem for victims of over zealous MOE inspectors at any Southern Ontario cruise). Owners literally threw the smog stuff out when new way back when.

This one is a factory L35 4-speed disk brake car.

Now vacuum reservoir colour or finish on 67 / 68 models is a study unto itself... But that's another story.

My car is an early 68 (built in September 67). Is it logical to say the move from enamel to lacquer happened AFTER that ?

My car appears to have a black firewall and splatter trunk.

Regards, Scott (LandShark ...)

Great information. Looks like my trunk had splatter paint and it came with the black firewall.  Couldnt find a number in front of the two letter paint code. The trim tag lists paint as QQ. 

Sorry. This one you can actually read. Lol. 

This breakdown would indicate my car was built in Oshawa near the end of December 1967

If the group here, whom I would consider to be among the most knowledgeable of Canadian Pontiacs (and GM of Canada brands) can't come to a consensus, then it sounds like you could paint it either way and not be wrong. 

Perhaps the car itself will tell you - be a detective, think about how it would have been built, carefully scrape layers or look behind things that don't look like they've been off since the car was built.  Or places that a previous owner wouldn't have bothered to paint over.  The clues will probably tell the story.  IMHO.

Here is my freshly painted Butternut Yellow, with original firewall paint.... perhaps the colour of firewall depends on colour of the car?? A Butternut firewall would get fairly dirty and look crappy, hence the black me thinks.