Help with 67 Grille

[A.Bursell]

Hello,

My 67 came originally with white bumpers, white grille, while headlight surrounds, etc. I am cleaning and polishing up the original paint (which I want to keep), and I have this vision of dressing the truck up a little. Not restoring it, just dressing it a little and having a nice driver. I want to add a little shiny to it -- bumpers, etc.

Anyway, I pulled off the grill surrounds and much to my surprise, the inner pieces are riveted on, and are white. I suppose I thought that they would come off as well and be body color underneath, but that is obviously not the case. I wanted to put chrome surrounds on, but now I'm not sure what to do. Looking around I see that it probably should be body color on those inner pieces. BUT, I don't want to paint body color as it would be the only new paint on the truck.

What about black? Could I get away with painting the inner pieces a satin black and then put the chrome grille surrounds on? Would it look ok?

Hiccups like this sometimes make me want to just abandon things and stick with white, but I know I will be happy once it's done. So, let's see what kind of opinions you have, and maybe some pictures??

Adam

[A.Bursell]

Replying to my own thread, but I just saw a member's build thread where it looks like the inners are painted an aluminum/silver color. I like the looks of it. Let's add that to the list of possibilities too, though I don't want it to look too nice, it might feel out of place on this truck.



Adam

[David67]

What color is your truck?

[A.Bursell]

Originally Posted by David67

What color is your truck?

I should have included that!

It's light green. Same/similar color to the one shown above. Here is a picture:


2 by A.Bursell, on Flickr

Here are the inner pieces I am talking about for reference (they are riveted on the truck!):


Grille1 by A.Bursell, on Flickr

Also, if I do paint them, I will have to decide whether to drill ou the rivets and paint off the truck or just mask and paint on the truck. Thoughts?

Adam

[A.Bursell]

I suppose I could always leave them white too. Might not set the grille off as much, but maybe it would balance out with the white letters on the tailgate?

Adam

[VWBeamer]

I would mask them and spray with aluminum color spray paint.

[haminator]

How about a charcol or cast iron color? Its not white or black and not silver. If you go silver which would look good too go with SILVER not aluminum.

[David67]

I love that color. Yeah the white might still look good. I love on the Holley shop truck how it has a chrome bumper and it goes nicely with everything else white.

[VWBeamer]

Originally Posted by haminator

How about a charcol or cast iron color? Its not white or black and not silver. If you go silver which would look good too go with SILVER not aluminum.

Aluminum is silver...

[haminator]

Originally Posted by VWBeamer

Aluminum is silver...

Those grill peices will not look very good painted "aluminum" color. Its not the same as silver. I'll keep my other coments to my self.

[A.Bursell]

I like the way the silver/aluminum looks in the picture above but I would be a little nervous with silver/aluminum because I know there are some differences--some more metallic and some more gray. I really just want it to blend in. I don't want it to look like I did something to it. I would have to find the right color.

Black would be easy. Just a satin type black and it would be done.

Does anyone think laying the new chrome trim on top of the white inserts would look out of place or awkward? I know I could just try it and see, but...

Adam

[David67]

You could ask the owner of the truck you posted for maybe more pics and details regarding the silver if you wanna go that route. I think black would look good too. I've seen trucks where the inner pieces are painted black even when that's not the body color and it looks good. If you're getting the chrome trim rings for sure you could always leave the white initially and see how it looks, but I think it might look funny without anything else being white up front.

[thelonerife]

I would use Krylon dull aluminum. It looks just like the color in the pic. Mask it off and paint. Then add the new pieces.

[67chevy1series]

if your putting the trim chrome, then i would paint the grille inserts the same or close to the same color green. silver or an "aluminum" color woudlnt look right to me, ive had my truck black with a different color inside and its just not right...

[A.Bursell]

Originally Posted by David67

You could ask the owner of the truck you posted for maybe more pics and details regarding the silver if you wanna go that route. I think black would look good too. I've seen trucks where the inner pieces are painted black even when that's not the body color and it looks good. If you're getting the chrome trim rings for sure you could always leave the white initially and see how it looks, but I think it might look funny without anything else being white up front.

I asked him, but it was done before he bought the truck. Not sure how much info I will be able to get. It's easiest to try white of course. I suppose I can try it and then decide. I think silver/aluminum color may add some depth to the grille and looks nice, wondering if black makes it stand out more.

Originally Posted by thelonerife

I would use Krylon dull aluminum. It looks just like the color in the pic. Mask it off and paint. Then add the new pieces.

That sounds promising. It actually doesn't look too bad to drill out 5 rivets on each, along with a bolt, and I believe they would come off and be much easier to paint. Have you used the dull aluminum before? Any pictures?

Originally Posted by 67chevy1series

if your putting the trim chrome, then i would paint the grille inserts the same or close to the same color green. silver or an "aluminum" color woudlnt look right to me, ive had my truck black with a different color inside and its just not right...

I thought it would be green initially, I was surprised to find these pieces are part ofd the grill and not installed on top of body color pieces. I'm hesitant to paint them because nothing else on the truck is painted (all original), and I don't want it to look out of place.

Adam