Hey everyone,

I recently ordered reproduction plastic panels that are part of the interior. The set that includes the speaker panels by the wheel wells, the dome light, the quarter windows and the rear brake light cover. I just got them today and was unpleasantly surprised to find that the butterscotch color that I ordered was nowhere close to the original. The butterscotch vinyl parts that I ordered were the original orangeish color but the plastic panels were beige to tan in color. It is obvious that the color is painted on as the back sides are black. I got them from Datsun Spirit and they were great to deal with but this is not acceptable. I have several questions for everyone.

1) Do I return them and try to get them from another vendor? They may all use the same supplier and get the exact same thing.

2) Has anyone ordered the butterscotch panels and what were your experiences and from who did you get them.

3) Do I say "screw it" and have the body shop guy or myself repaint them a color that matches the rest of the interior.

4) If I go with number 3, where does one go to try and get a custom paint made that will work with plastic and hold up over time?

h

I know thats a lot of questions but as always, I appreciate everyones advice.

carl

I found a place that sells plastic dyes and paints. I cut a portion of the color chart and think I found the color I am looking for. I don't have the parts with me (I am at work ) To me the color 1006 looks the most like what I was expecting. Anyway, I will try to look closely tonight and see what I think.

carl

Both of my cars are factory black, but after looking at some of the pictures I am wondering if some retrobrite would help for some of these panels. I have mixed up a batch with pretty good results. Works wonders for old computer parts..

link

http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com/

http://www.psfk.com/2009/03/retrobrite-open-source-problem-solving.html

Edited February 10, 201015 yr by lbpdz

I have Butterscotch interior as well. I bought a Japanese product called Q Color in their "Caramel" for my replacement panels. At first, I wasn't too thrilled with the match as it was less orange than the original panels, but as I got to looking inside my car very closely at interior colors, there is like 4 different shades of brownish/beige/orange/caramel color.

The paint (dye) I bought matches the the boomerang and a-pillar vinyl perfectly, but the inset of the door, the plastic panels and headliner are definitely more orange (albeit in slightly different shades).

With that discovery I decided to not worry about a perfect match as one area of the car will not match another area if, for example, comparing the headliner with the plastic panels, etc. Also since the car is a resto-preservation mod project, it's so far from original anyway that it simply doesn't matter to me from a $$$ perspective to keep it all stock...close is good enough.

I say install what you got unless it's *way* off base or you're like most of us with these cars and have runaway OCD...:-)

Here's some pretty good images of my original, in excellent condition butterscotch panels and vinyl. The one exception is the rear panels that have been cut out for speakers by the PO. I would like to replace these but finding a proper color match is the only thing that has kept me from pulling the trigger.

Note that the color of the panels appears to be slightly darker and more orange than the Vinyl, at least in my case. I haven't tried the SEM color yet but it doesn't look quite right on their color chips. That Parasol PR1006 Carl posted looks pretty close but may be a little on the light side.

Edited February 11, 201015 yr by =Enigma=

Are these original colored panels colored all the way through the plastic? If so, time and light will take their toll on color. May have to spray everything one color to make everything match. We all know too well abot the runaway OCD, or the dreaded WIAI, (while I'm at it).

Bonzi Lon

The "butterscotch" is more "pumpkin" in color when new, according to Les at Classic Datsun.

Here are a couple of pictures to show the color differences. Sorry about the quality. It was last minute and I was using my phone. The panel is a nice color and is not as dark as the picture shows. It would be nice if the interior were entirely this color. Its only when you get to the second picture that you can see the difference in the color of the panel vs. the vinyl. Again, I apologize for the dark pictures. The vinyl is lighter in color as well.

carl

It's hard to tell from your pictures, since the colors are off, but the vinyl does look too dark and the plastic too light.

Here is the butterscotch interior from the 1970 brochure. They don't really show the plastic panels though.

-Mike

All great ideas. I think I am going to try to find some panels to use the retrobrite stuff on though, just to see how it works out. Could prove interesting. Anyone have a panel they want to send of some sort - otherwise it's off to see what I can find at a pick-n-pull

The Datsun dealer marketing photos used lots of photographic color filters so they are poor guides for color originality. The avocado green paint code 113 comes out much darker in the photos than it actually is for instance...

http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=32325&ppuser=14083