What is the correct color for the front grill and rear tail light panel? Is there anything over the counter that is close to the original? Three years of restoring and counting. Thanks Keith

Taken from Wick Humbles "How to restore your Datsun Z car".

The front grille is; matte grey-black.

The rear finisher or tail light panel says: The original paint is a silver-grey "match scratcher" finish.

Also, I've heard of people using satin black on the front grill.

Hope this helps. Hopefully someone else knows of something that you can get over the counter.

There is paint available over the counter that is "close" to the right color, made by Duplicolor. But, if you are doing a real "restoration" you would want the "correct color" mixed to the Nissan Motors receipe. THAT is available through Classic Datsun Motorsports in Southern California.

www.classicdatsun.com

Some early grills were also silver gray, the same as the rear panels.

I think mine was under the black paint when i stripped and restored it. but that was ove a year ago now, and i cant remember exactly.

I have had pretty good success (IMHO) approximating the original shade and finish using the following:

Dupli-Color High Performance Wheel Coating – HWP102

Rust-Oleum Painter’s Touch Multi-Purpose Paint – 1902 Matte Clear

Hi DatsunZguy, was that combo of paint that you have there for the earlier steel colored grills or for the later black grills? It looks black to me, but it is hard to tell. Thanks, I am planning to repaint my grill because there is some over-spray from the re-paint, but I am trying to figure out the most cost effective and accurate color to do the job.

Thanks,

Ben

p.s. I just looked in your gallery and the grill looks black to me. Tell me if it is grey at all because I believe mine is and since my car is a 74' and your is a 72' I would think they would both be silver-gray as mr. Camo mentioned.

I think the most important point is that the finish be a flat or matte shade regardless of if you use grey or black.

I agree on the use of Duplicolor paints in these areas.

Hey Ben (v12horse),

The combination of paint I used is a very close match to the original steel grey or anthracite finish.

Here’s another photo, but this time it’s of the rear panel. To my knowledge the rear panel on my 72 has never been re-painted. As such, the grey is much darker and better preserved where it was covered by the license plate.

I painted my license plate light using the paints in my earlier post/photo and mounted it back on the panel for comparison.

It’s kind of hard to tell given the lighting in my garage and flash on my camera, but the license plate light matches very closely to the preserved portion of my rear panel. At least that what my eyes are telling me. :classic:

That looks very nice.

Thanks DatsunZguy. That looks great! Just out of curiosity, wehre did you buy the two paint cans?

Thanks!

The wheel paint was purchased at my local AutoZone and the matte clear at Ace Hardware.

I purchased some of the Duplicolor Graphite wheel paint. It looks great, but it is a metallic finish. I think the finish is suppose to be a flat or matte. The color is near perfect. Someone else said Plastic Coat brand Cast Iron is real close. I will try this and post results before I call Classic Datsun.