What color should the VIN plate be on my 1968 Cutlass S? PO painted the dash and he painted right over the VIN plate. Grrrr. I'm removing the paint, but I don't know what color I'm looking for.

Thanks,

 

Far as I know they were always matte black

 

I agree with Alan. All the vin tags I've seen were Matte Black or rust brown() no matter what color the dash was. I've had some pretty rusty vin tags, so they must not have put much paint on them. John

 

I agree.

I think during assembly they came by and gave a spray of flat black along the inside of the firewall where the dashboard was going to meet the bottom of the windshield, as there is no trim that fits in there, and the gap between the dash pad and the windshield would otherwise show body color.

In later cars (starting around '78), they eliminated this step with "frits," those blackout edges built into certain windows and windshields.

- Eric

 

On my car the proper color for the gap between the windshield and the dash pad is flat dark gold. If my interior was blue that area would be flat dark blue. White and black interiors got the flat black. I was curious if the VIN plate should be flat dark gold or if it should be another color.

 

Ok, the painted area you are talking about was color coded as you say to match the interior of the car. Whatever color the trim like "A pillar" interior molding etc was, was the color of the metal on the front dash. This was normal for GM production on all models.

The plastic surround for the VIN is color coded the same as the metal dash.

The VIN plate (riveted in place) itself is the thing we were describing as matte black. I've seen lots of cars and even checked their VINs just for fun. The ones I've seen restored as 'concourse correct' have the same matte black as others that have survived the years. My car has a totally unmolested in this area, and the VIN is matte black - with some dust I haven't been able to remove because of the awkwardness of the VIN to the windshield.

 

Thanks Allan. Not that I'm doing a concours restoration, but are the rivets that hold the VIN in place painted? I'm just curious as it seems they must have painted the dash, then installed the already flat black VIN. Unless they went to the trouble of painting the VIN black and then masking it off before painting the dash.

 

Okay, that's funny, because every Olds I have ever owned has had a black or white interior .

- Eric

 

Really good question that I don't know the answer to YET. One of these days soon I'll be going to help dismantle a 72 Cutlass S that is pretty much original inside. Once we have the windshield out, we can pull the trim that covers the rivets for the VIN. I suspect you're right about them being pre-painted and then riveted in afterwards. You'll never see the rivets with the VIN trim plate in place.

I looked this stuff up in the Assembly manual. The trim plates are color coded and there's reference to a chart for colors. The VIN tag itself is riveted from below, not on top. Then the trim plate snaps into place over top.