1968 Chevy C10 base front end color questions

[1968 baby blue C10]

Hello, hoping you guys could help me out. What was the factory front end colors for base model 1968 C10s? My top, including A pillars are white. My grille, grille inserts, and headlight bezels are all silver. And appear to have not been repainted. But I’m not sure about the grille itself. The bumper however has been repainted. It is silver with the lip on top painted black. I know the black definitely isn't factory. What I really want to know is a silver bumper and nose factory or should it be white? As of right now I am planning on painting them both flat white and roughing it up a little to match the rest of the truck. Any opinions?
Any help would be appreciated. I added a poll because I’m having a little trouble deciding for myself.

[1968 baby blue C10]

Pictures for reference.

[Orange67]

Good looking truck! Wish I could help with the colors, with these trucks it seems almost anything was possible.

[1968 baby blue C10]

@Orange67 Thanks man. And yeah exactly. I even read somewhere that it even depended what time in the year it was made, and what factory it came from for front end colors. It still has the dealer bumper on the rear but there isn’t a speck of paint for me to even be able to tell if it was white haha.

[Shinysideup]

I also dont know how it was originally but believe white is the way to go

[Dustmaker65]

Not sure exactly either...but off white or argent silver are the factory used colors. I am sure the guys on here can tell you for sure. Nice looking truck!

[1968 baby blue C10]

Thanks guys. I’m leaning more and more towards the white nose. I’ve already got some flat white paint that I got on sale and I’m going to see how close it matches the top. If it’s close enough I’ll just use it instead of paying extra for factory color out in a rattle can.

[Jim Boy]

I bought my 68 with 39,000 miles on it. It was baby blue with white grill,front and rear bumpers. The grill centres or cutouts or ovals whatever you call them(2) were black. I'd post a picture but don't know how, price you pay when old eh!

[1968 baby blue C10]

Originally Posted by Jim Boy

I bought my 68 with 39,000 miles on it. It was baby blue with white grill,front and rear bumpers. The grill centres or cutouts or ovals whatever you call them(2) were black. I'd post a picture but don't know how, price you pay when old eh!

Thanks for the info. I’ve never seen one with black grill inserts. Is the top on yours white? Mine currently has 75,000 miles on it. It was somebody’s farm truck. There was a inch of dirt in the glove box when I got it haha.

Oh and to post a picture, above the box you type in to reply there is a paper clip emblem. You click on it and it will give you the option to choose files(pictures) to upload. Once you choose the ones you want then you click upload down and to the right. When you’re done just click close this window at the bottom. Then just post your reply as usual.

[toms68cst]

The grill color of the base 68 is a bit of an enigma. Some base 68's had silver grill/no hood-eyebrow trim and some got painted white with hood-eyebrow chrome trim. I have some pictures on my computer that I will try to find. The nose on your truck looks like it was painted from the factory with the silver nose - no trim. The color of the bumper should be silver as I recall.

I think the grill inserts on the white noses should be flat black. Not sure about the silver noses. If the nose was painted white, so was the front bumper unless it was equipped with the chrome bumper option or a CST.

[1968 baby blue C10]

Originally Posted by toms68cst

The grill color of the base 68 is a bit of an enigma. Some base 68's had silver grill/no hood-eyebrow trim and some got painted white with hood-eyebrow chrome trim. I have some pictures on my computer that I will try to find. The nose on your truck looks like it was painted from the factory with the silver nose - no trim. The color of the bumper should be silver as I recall.

I think the grill inserts on the white noses should be flat black. Not sure about the silver noses. If the nose was painted white, so was the front bumper unless it was equipped with the chrome bumper option or a CST.

Thanks for all the info. It really does seem to be an enigma. A lot of what I’ve seen seems like the trucks with white tops had white noses. But only consistently if the A pillars were painted white also. It seems kind of rare to even find a picture of a truck with a silver grill. There’s so many options it seems no choice is wrong haha.

[Jim Boy]

All blue no white top

[burb71]

I think Custom,and CST models had white grills and the lower models had silver grills.
The 1968 show room brochure would help out here, but I cant find my copy right now

[1968 baby blue C10]

Originally Posted by burb71

I think Custom,and CST models had white grills and the lower models had silver grills.
The 1968 show room brochure would help out here, but I cant find my copy right now

That would be extremely helpful if you can find it. I would appreciate it. I’ve seen original paint trucks without even any side trim with white tops and grills though. No trim should be the very base model right?

[hewittca]

I was looking through some of the development and concept photos I've posted and there really seems to be no strict guidelines for color combos. For instance, here's a common promotional photo showing a truck that matches the setup on yours, as in it has white roof and silver nose/bumpers. The grill inserts also appear to be silver.



Some trucks had white roof and white nose. The white nose trucks had black grill inserts.



Then there's the 50th anniversary trucks that had white roof, white nose, and white along the bottom.



Some trucks just had a white nose (my truck is an example)



And some trucks had just a silver nose. Here's one rolling off the production line. Can't get any more definitive than that!



Of course, then all these trucks had options like side trim, eyebrow trim, chrome bumpers. My point is, you could probably find an original example of any combo you want. So if it's originality that you're after, just choose the combo that you like best. Afterall, you could technically order them from Chevrolet in any combo you wanted anyway!

[1968 baby blue C10]

@hewittca Thanks a lot man. Those are really helpful. You pretty much summed it up in saying any combo was possible from everything I’ve seen. Freakin awesome truck by the way. That color combo is awesome.
I’m really completely new to these trucks. I just really got into them after getting mine this year. I appreciate everyone’s help.
Now I’m torn between keeping it possibly what it originally was and just painting over the black on the bumper. Or redoing it all in white. Maybe I’ll start a poll to help me decide.

[hewittca]

Thanks! At one point I was debating painting my nose silver to match the wheels, but I ended up painting the wheels white to match the nose instead! It's one of those things where I like all combos pretty much equally so it's hard to decide which to go with. In my case, I fell back on what was original to my truck and left it white. For your truck, I would vote to leave it original and fix the bumper. It is somewhat of an odd combo with the white roof and silver nose, but it's original that's for sure.

[1968 baby blue C10]

Originally Posted by hewittca

Thanks! At one point I was debating painting my nose silver to match the wheels, but I ended up painting the wheels white to match the nose instead! It's one of those things where I like all combos pretty much equally so it's hard to decide which to go with. In my case, I fell back on what was original to my truck and left it white. For your truck, I would vote to leave it original and fix the bumper. It is somewhat of an odd combo with the white roof and silver nose, but it's original that's for sure.

I’m the same exact way. It’s impossible to make these trucks not look good with any factory combo. So it’s tough for me too. It’ll be hard for me to decide but it being sort of a odd combo and original for sure makes me lean toward just fixing the bumper.
Speaking of oddness or rarity. Do you know any way to find out how rare a options combo is? Mine being a 307, Muncie SM465, and a 12 bolt, 4.10 or 4.11 rear end. I was wond ring how rare that is. Maybe I should just start another thread though.

[toms68cst]

Personally, I'm a stickler for originality.

It seems to me that your '68 truck is a little unusual in that it's a two-tone white cab top with a silver nose. It seems most two-tone trucks have white noses with chrome trim. Is the blue/white paint combo listed on your glove-box sticker? It's also unusual to see side trim without the hood lip and fender front trim. I always suspected the front nose chrome trim and side trim were not necessarily tied together.

If you are confident that's the original paint scheme, I'd go with that. I'd be interested to see a picture of your glove box option list. That would help verify some things.

[hewittca]

Originally Posted by 1968 baby blue C10

Do you know any way to find out how rare a options combo is? Mine being a 307, Muncie SM465, and a 12 bolt, 4.10 or 4.11 rear end. I was wond ring how rare that is. Maybe I should just start another thread though.

I know you can look up numbers for certain options, but I don't think there really is a way to see how rare a specific combo is. Rarity is always heavily debated around here for good reason too I think. If you're looking at the options a specific truck had, pretty much every truck is 1 of 1 because they all seem to be different in some way.

[1968 baby blue C10]

@toms68cst
I am the same way. The reason I was leaning towards painting it white was I thought it was what it would’ve been original. I believe you’re right about the front trim and side trim not being tied together. hewittca’s is the opposite. He has eyebrow trim but no side trim. Which I don’t remember seeing before.
Here is a photo of the glove box. It is definitely the original colors.

[1968 baby blue C10]

@hewittca Yeah I can definitely see how every one could be a one off. I was mainly just wondering about the driveline combo. It seems like an odd combo to me.

[demian5]

Too many white ones.

[toms68cst]

It looks like the original configuration was as we suspected. Silver nose-White top. Its
a fairly unusual combo.

It's a tough call IMO. If you do go white nose, I'd go with the correct chrome grill trim too.

Go with what you like. A correct white nose with chrome trim on that truck would look great along with the white top and side trim. The original configuration with the silver nose would look great too.

[projectking]

Toms68 My Red ‘67 cst has side trim an no leading edge/eyebrow trim with a white roof and nose.