Were they all blue? (door panels)

[N2TRUX]

For those of you following my door panel delima, I may have had a stroke of good fortune today.

I am jumping ahead, so let me back up. I took my busted @ss door panel to my buddy Mark and gave him the sad puppy look. He is a really nice guy, and felt sorry for my dumb butt, and helped me repair the broken panel.

We (actually he) made a small patch, cleaned and scuffed the area, and used clear silicone to bond everything together. It wasn't perfect, but it would work for the show next weekend.

Today, I got up early and went to the Delmar Swap meet looking for a jack, and new door panels. I just knew there was no way I would find used ones, but some of the aftermarket dealers are usually there. Maybe they would have a set.

About half way through the meet, having looked at 10-15 doors, I see a set of 77 doors. They are easy to spot because 77 was the only year with the baby poop yellow insert in the trim.

I lean them over to look at the back, and can't believe my eyes. They have door panels, (most others didn't), they are in good shape, AND they are Carmine red! WOW! God didn't punish me for going to the swap meet instead of church.

Thank you Lord! I will be there next Sunday, I promise...oh wait, that's Super Chevy Sunday...the Sunday after for sure.

I inspect the panels closely, and find a scratch in one. My heart sank, then I realized I was looking over the top of the door, so it was upside down and backwards. This wasn't the drivers side that was scratched, it was the passenger side. I was still in business.

I asked the guy what he wanted for them? 40 bucks! Well, that is better than paying LMC 179.00 for re-pops, but it was a bit high considering the one was scratched. He said 40 bucks for both "doors". I said all I wanted was the panels. NOPE, 40 bucks take it or leave it. So I walked away.

I came back a couple of times to run off other lookers. After walking the entire meet to make sure there were no more I finally returned to beat the guy down to 30 bucks.

When I pulled the panels off, I discovered a family of fire ants had made a home in the doors, so I got bit up pretty good. When I finally got through down the Texas p!ss ant dance, I noticed the back of the panels were blue. ????

There is no reason to think that these panels have ever been replaced. This is the second set I have found that were once blue, and dyed carmine red. Someone else mentioned seeing the same thing too.

So what's the story? Did GM get a smoking deal on blue door panels? Where the 77 panels produced at the Smurf panel factory? Anyone know what up with this????