What is "Special Paint"?

[CharlieBo]

Everything on spid seems normal except "Special Paint". What makes the paint special?

[jocko]

Special Paint RPO just indicates that the truck wasn't originally painted in one of the offered paint colors or schemes for that particular vehicle. It often meant it was painted in a fleet color for a business - or it could have been an original owner preference for a non-truck color (usually from the same model year).

Can you post a picture of the truck? Any idea if still wearing its original paint?

[54blackhornet]

This is a Special Paint 71 C/20. Burlington Northern Railroad ordered it for a yard vehicle for the Central Washington area. It was sold from an auction in 1988 to a neighbor of mine. I bought it in 2003. 52K , 307 4sp No Spin. It’s a beast without power steering.

[old51sedan]

I had a 1954 chevy sedan delivery and on the ID plate on the cowl the paint code said SPECIAL in big letters. It was built for the county and was originally what we call county orange. A buddy of mine still has it.

[72c20customcamper]

My 72 is special paint it was painted Placer Gold which is a car color . The exterior sans the bed inside was repainted Ochre the bed firewall and interior is still Placer Gold

[CharlieBo]

Here's the best place I found for pic of different colors. The light blue was second coat.

[RenoKeene]

In this case the owner Charlie Hughes ordered this one Black Cherry which was a car color in 70'

[RichardJ]

Military, government, road dept, utility companies would have their own colors. I.E. Special Paint.

[CharlieBo]

Im from Jacksonville and Oxbow Rd is on the westside. Small world.

[Steeveedee]

Originally Posted by RenoKeene

In this case the owner Charlie Hughes ordered this one Black Cherry which was a car color in 70'

I worked for a Chevy dealer back then, and I would have called that "Marlboro Maroon", but it turns out that in '70 there really was a "Black Cherry" color. We never sold one that color, but then we were a small dealer, selling about 1k cars a year.

[jumpsoffrock]

I would love to see a build sheet of one with Special paint, wouldn't it say the cost?

Gotta love the old days when, if you were to want something not on the menu, all you had to do is ask.
lol

[special-K]

Originally Posted by jumpsoffrock

I would love to see a build sheet of one with Special paint, wouldn't it say the cost?

Gotta love the old days when, if you were to want something not on the menu, all you had to do is ask.
lol

Yep, gotta love, and miss, that!

I had a '69 C/20 Stepside that was special paint, 250/Powerglide. Only options were AM and gauges. It must have been for a business but it never had markings on it. It's a mystery to me. It was a light grey and all 5 wheels were painted, from factory, a deep red with chalk markings on the barrels. I think the tires on it were still original. Maybe it was ordered for a business that never took it

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by jumpsoffrock

I would love to see a build sheet of one with Special paint, wouldn't it say the cost?

Gotta love the old days when, if you were to want something not on the menu, all you had to do is ask.
lol

Build sheet does not contain the cost, but the window sticker would (I think you knew that).

Normally it was a nominal fee like $50.

K

[Keith Seymore]

Here is the special paint ordering process, for Pontiac Motor Division:


• The customer (or dealership) determines what color is desired.

• An "All Series Special Equipment" order form is filled out.

The information required for a special-paint-request on this form is:
• Lower Color Paint No.
• Upper Color Paint No.
• Make of Car; Year Paint Used.
I am guessing that obtaining the correct paint no. would be left up to the ordering salesman/dealership paint department.

In the '60s and early '70s, before colored plastic/fiberglass trim parts became common, any color paint could be ordered, as long as the dealer could supply the paint formula no. on the S.O. form. After the mid-'70s when the crash-bumper fillers became common place, special order colors were phased out except for large fleet orders. Or, in the case of '68 GTO, you would have to get the chrome front bumper rather than the color matched endura bumper.

Several codes were used on the Fisher Body trim tag to indicate a special-order paint. Codes varied between the years and between Fisher Body plants. Some of the codes used were:
1= Standard GM paint, not a Pontiac color
2= Special Pontiac color. Sometimes offered a half-year color.
3= Cadillac FireFrost color. This paint was not normally allowed on a Pontiac build because of the special processes required to apply this type of paint.
4= Body in primer
SPEC or ** would indicate a paint color from a source outside GM (Ford, Chryco, AMC, John Deere, International Harvester, etc.) Colors could also be ordered to match school or business colors. As long as a formula no. could be identified by the dealership just about any color hue could be specified.

• The order was then routed through the Pontiac Zone office, which then routed it on to the Central Office.

• Central Office then entered a request to the paint supplier, usually PPG/Ditzler, for the appropriate paint.

• The paint supplier shipped a quantity of paint to the appropriate assembly plant.

• The special-order build was scheduled and coordinated between the Fisher plant and GMAD or Pontiac assembly.

• Build was delivered to dealership with a quart of touch up paint in trunk.


I have also seen a double "&&" (double ampersand) to designate special paint, on a Pontiac plant cowl data tag.

Most assembly plants have/had a special paint system, separate from the main line, where smaller paint pots could be loaded with low production volume colors, which would minimize the amount of waste when flushing the system. Typically these were done for fleet and special equipment runs (Grand Trunk RR, RCMP, Bell Telephone, etc). We also have had some plants were the special colors were run through the paint repair line rather than the main assembly process.

K

[72c20customcamper]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Build sheet does not contain the cost, but the window sticker would (I think you knew that).

Normally it was a nominal fee like $50.

K

Kieth is right no price on build sheet this is my 72s build sheet

[chewychevy67]

Originally Posted by RenoKeene

In this case the owner Charlie Hughes ordered this one Black Cherry which was a car color in 70'

That truck was painted the 67 roof style. Could that have been ordered in 68 up? I love those colors together.

[jumpsoffrock]

Keith and Mark, thanks for learnin' me something.
That was a fairly cheap option!

[Already Gone]

I swore for years there were no Coral Ice Pink Chevys,as was GMC Special Color, and lo and behold some one finally bought the truck and yes a Real Coral Ice Pink Chevy.

[68bowtie]

^^^ wow