New suburban guy, hope to buy one soon

[LordDevlin]

Hello,

I have been a member of this overall message board for a few years as I have a 59 fleetside, and recently i have started looking for a 67-72 suburban.

I have some questions that I am hoping to have answered. I have done some searching but havent found firm answers.

First one, some of the suburbans I see for sale look to have an original 'flat' type paint job. Is this factory flat, or has the paint simply gone like that over time? It doesn't necessarily simply look like aged paint, but an actual flat/matte finish. Can anyone fill me in on this please?

Thank you.

[HO455]

Simply the paint getting oxidized and losing its luster for factory paint. GM didn't have any flat finishes for the exterior.

[Beach-Burban]

Originally Posted by LordDevlin

Hello,

I have been a member of this overall message board for a few years as I have a 59 fleetside, and recently i have started looking for a 67-72 suburban.

I have some questions that I am hoping to have answered. I have done some searching but havent found firm answers.

First one, some of the suburbans I see for sale look to have an original 'flat' type paint job. Is this factory flat, or has the paint simply gone like that over time? It doesn't necessarily simply look like aged paint, but an actual flat/matte finish. Can anyone fill me in on this please?

Thank you.

LordDevlin...like HO455 said, most likely oxidized paint. Being 65 years old and not having much money as a teenager, all of my cars had that "flat" look because clear-coat wasn't a thing back then. We used to use kerosene to "try" to bring the luster back to the original paint, but that rarely made much of a difference in the shine...only the color...and actually removed paint along with the oxidation!

The "nostalgic" memory of that is why I'm considering using a satin clear-coat over the Wheatland Yellow body of my Suburban, but still use a gloss clear-coat on the white roof and white lower body band. The original owner had a gloss clear-coat sprayed over the entire body after having some body work done to the passenger side, but as that was over 30 years ago, the clear-coat has deteriorated and needs to be sanded off, otherwise I might have tried to save the original paint and keep that dull patina look. Mine has too much old "Bondo" style body work done to the passenger side (only the passenger side was repainted; the other 75% is original paint), so a complete stripping is called for, but I think the combination of a satin body color with the gloss roof will be a "nod" towards my youth...I hope I'm right! Good luck with your search but be careful...paint can look great in a photo but not so good up close!!!

Woody

[pwdcougar]

I'd recommend looking for one that needs as little rust repair as possible (unless you like that sort of thing) Suburban repop body panels kind of suck and need a ton of tweaking. Ask me how I know!

Paul

[LordDevlin]

Ok, so lets take this one here. I don't see any fender badge holes, but he says he thinks its original paint. Thoughts?

I have attached some photos of the body, as well as the interior colour which does appear to be factory original. Would this colour combo have been a thing?

[HO455]

Not being a expert (on anything really ) I would say definitely a repaint. GM always put badges on their vehicles. It's those marketing guys trying to justify their paychecks.
The green on green is a factory color scheme.

Can you post a photo of the SPID? That will tell the story of the original paint scheme.

[Bigdav160]

Medium Olive will fade to silver like that. It should look like your dash.

I'll have to look for pictures of my former "bronze beast". It didn't have side molding and I don't remember fender emblems.

[too much stuff]

Originally Posted by LordDevlin

Ok, so lets take this one here. I don't see any fender badge holes, but he says he thinks its original paint. Thoughts?

I have attached some photos of the body, as well as the interior colour which does appear to be factory original. Would this colour combo have been a thing?

I would say that has had a repaint at some point.

[LT7A]

I see a change in the shade of the paint from the front passenger door to the second door. It is evident on the upper part of the main door skin.