Datsun
Roadster Information from Rallye Enterprises,
Ltd.
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The
color's got to be something YOU like. YOU are going to
have to pay for it, wash it; wax it and LOOK AT IT. To
heck with everyone else. Cars like the roadster are
culture, whether or not they are bone stock white or
screaming, eye watering metalflake yellow. When
we used to have a walk-in counter in the 70's I always
thought about putting in two doors and divide the waiting
room, like the animal clinics have for dogs and cats;
except in my case it would have been one door for the
"keep it original" people and the other door for the
"keep the shell everything else goes" people. People in
between would be on their own! I
don't want to be thought of as a fence sitter, just wide
minded! I like both groups of people but they sometimes
didn't like each other! I like seeing roadsters that are
correct down to the 5.60 tires with correct whitewalls. I
also like the other extreme. My favorite was a car that
had the rear axle and IRS system off of an XKE I think.
The entire rear axle assembly with all the linkage pieces
was chrome. The front body had been welded together into
a one seamless piece that flipped forward, like a Triumph
GT6. I never found out what drivetrain ended up in
it. The
original colors that were used on the roadster were for
the most part very mild. (except "Cherry Red" on the
early cars!) It was a very expensive car to own in Japan
at the time and I think they wanted the car's paint color
to reflect its hoped-to-be "status". As far as staying
with an original color, if you like it, great, but I
wouldn't expect any financial benefit from it at this
point. Someday maybe...when it's time to put the car in a
museum. In the meantime...in my humble opinion...YOU ONLY
LIVE ONCE, SO
ORIGINAL
COLORS
(LHD
cars) With
these color samples below I have tried to make something
that is more representative of what the colors would look
like if the sample was bigger. A true "chip" chart will
look different. I took a picture of a chip chart,
compared the digital images to the chart, adjusted them
so they looked close, and comparing the result to actual
paint samples found they did not give an accurate "feel"
of the color. I
went through most of our car inventory, peeling off never
removed smog stickers and paint stickers to find original
"kept from the light and air" paint samples. Even so,
paint can change color just from age, but it's as close
as we can get without actually mixing the paint. After
taking closeup digital pics and then comparing the
monitor's presentation of the color to the sample
(usually a small piece of the car's cowl) we again
adjusted our colors to be as close as possible. These
colors look completely different from sunlight to shade
to artificial light. Different computer monitors and/or
operating systems can represent each color differently as
well. The lighter grays look like silver, the darker one
is just gray. Unfortunately, due to an unacknowledged
paint problem, all of these grays began looking like gray
primer within just a short time. Many roadsters were
repainted very early in their lives. This
chart represents what we believe to be correct. Although
exported SP310s and SPL310s supposedly were painted in
the Turquoise and the Nissan Blue, I have never found one
I could prove was original. It's possible that they were
only on RHD cars. We keep hoping that one of these days
someone will turn up accurate sales records from Nissan
showing how many of each color where shipped/sold
everywhere or even what vin numbers were painted what
colors. If any reliable information lands on our doorstep
we'll pass it on. As we began this journey when the cars
were relatively fresh and have always had a bit of an
information fetish, we've kept notes on a lot of these
tidbits, however, information from any of you REAL
oldtimers is ALWAYS WELCOME! PAINT
NOTES:
We are also providing the current PPG formulation numbers
where possible. (In case your paint store doesn't have an
old enough book) Some colors have been used by Nissan
before under different paint numbers. One paint number,
531 was even used in the 80's for a different color!
(Vail White). Color #410 Pagoda Red, was used on the 312
and other vehicles. The same formulation red was used on
the roadster as #524 and called Hustler Red. Cherry Red
was issued under #525, but previously was #415 (same PPG
formulation#) Turquoise #562 is the same formulation as
Turquoise 170 from earlier years. RETURN
TO TOP COLOR COLOR
# NAME PPG# 502 IVORY
WHITE 8408 503 GRAY 33026 505 THUNDER
BLACK 9769 524 HUSTLER
RED (prev Pagoda) 79913 525 CHERRY
RED 71535 531 BEIGE
GRAY MET. 39953 562 TURQUOISE 19924 563 SORA
BLUE 13165 567 NISSAN
BLUE 12520 655 OFF
WHITE 8794 664 SPANISH
RED 71812 665 YELLOW 81768 666 SILVER
GREY MET. 32831 63-65
1500 502 503 505 524 562 563 567 . 65-67
1600 502 505 511 525 531 563 . 67
1/2 1600/2000* *Some
evidence suggests that the colors for 65-67 and for
68-70 overlapped for a time on the 67 1/2 models.
Other information suggests that only the "68-70"
colors were used on 67 1/2s, which are the only
colors that I have seen. 502 505 511 525 531 563 655 664 665 666 . 68-70
1600/2000 505 531 563 655 664 665 666 Paint
chip chart for Datsuns in general for 1968-69
HERE.
Quite
a few people over the years have asked us what color they
should paint their car. Most were inquiries pertaining to
questions on the original colors. Some people just
couldn't make up their minds and wanted me to do it for
them. (That's a good way to lose a friend!) I thought I'd
put out my generalized answer so all of you can
agree/disagree, snicker, be shocked, be offended, have a
good laugh, or most important...take a look at your own
roadster and see if it could use some sprucing up!
Sorry
I couldn't do any earth tones (gold, silver, copper) and
there are a few hundred other great colors out there
also. Check what was on the MGB in the early 70's.
Nice...almost all of them. And that rootbeer on the 74
Buick. Just doing this section makes me want to stop
working on this website and go play in my own
garage!
The
purpose of a "chip-chart" is just to order touchup paint
and to identify your color if the original tag is gone.
Looking at a small piece of color in a book will not tell
you what the color will look like on your car. If you are
really considering going with a certain color, original
or not, and cannot find a car that has recently been
painted that color; you should consider having your body
shop purchase a minimum quantity of the color and paint
at least a one square foot of metal that they've probably
got lying around. It's best to use a chunk of something
that has both curves and flat spots; and look at it in
all types of light. Keep in mind that unless the care in
preparation and painting is the same as you are going to
require on your car the paint will not look the same. The
color may be the same, but the "look" of the paint will
be different. (That's why even BEIGE looks great on a
Mercedes!)
511
SILVER GRAY MET.
32536
(SILVER BRONZE MET.)
Available
records only show useage by calendar year, not model year
so you have to guess by your vin which year your car was
actually produced in. Keeping in mind that we believe
some of Nissan's paint records to be inaccurate (compared
to what we've seen) making definitive statements on
pre-68 cars can be difficult. Some colors may have been
used only at the beginning of the model year which would
have been some months before the calendar year expired.
If you still have your original paint sticker on the
cowl, let us know your vin and the paint number, we'll
update this information. I have yet to see any Nissan
sales brochure for any year's roadster production that
lists the colors for that year, or a separate paint chart
from Nissan for a given year. These were available for
some of the older models. Of course, this isn't hard to
accept when you realize that Nissan didn't bother to take
new pictures of its cars from 67-70, deciding instead to
have someone "doctor" the old photos, with somewhat
humorous results.
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