I am trying to determine if there is any truth that 1969 Trans Am had an early and a differing late stripe color? My understanding is the stripe color is 1967 Tyrol blue. Some references to late 1969 cars having dark blue stripes. My car was built Oct 1969. However, my car had been repainted several times before I got it. I've got factory documentation for the Tyrol "early" color. No real info on where the darker stripe color rumor came from. Does anyone have any info if there were 2 color stripes on 69 ta's? .
Cole, there is no truth to the later cars using darker stripes. They were all Tyrol Blue. Sometimes rumors start when a collector, who spent big bucks getting their car restored, comes to the realization their stripes were painted the wrong color. Rather than admitting the mistake, they use the excuse, "oh, they made some like this".
Many 1969 Trans Am's were repainted and restored in the 1980's and 1990's, and there simply wasn't that much info on them at the time. Many restorers used a photo of the original 1969 Trans Am ad, which showed stripes over the spoiler, and red decals, neither of which went into production, and guessed at the color blue of the stripes. Their best guess was to chose a 1969 blue, assuming Pontiac would have used a 1969 blue (like Windward Blue), but they didn't, they used a 1967 color called Tyrol Blue.
At the Muscle Car Nationals in Chicago a couple years ago, there were several real 1969 Trans Am convertibles on display, all parked together. Interestingly, some had Cameo White paint, some had Polar White (as we know, Cameo White is correct, which has a little cream tint to it, while Polar White is pure white). Some of these cars were restored in the 1980's and 1990's, and resto shops referenced Ditzler or PPG charts, which listed Polar White as being correct for 1969 (it wasn't), so some of those super rare, million dollar cars were repainted with the incorrect white. Same goes for the stripes. There was one 1969 Trans Am ragtop there that had stripes that were much too dark. The owner thought it was correct, until he saw his car parked next to other 1969 Trans Am's. Long story short, that car is now undergoing a full re-restoration.
So I would choose Tyrol Blue for your stripes. It would great if you could post a couple pics of your Trans Am. We always like pics.
Thank you for your reply. It was very thoughtful and informative.
I found my ta in 1992 in poor condition. The car is on a body cart, recently being blasted, epoxy primed, and all metal issues addressed. With the original fenders, I found a single coat of cameo original white under the area the fender extractors covered. Most of the rest of the car had multiple layers of non factory paint. I really did not expect to find a valid Lucerne blue striped car out there, but figured I'd ask. The last Mecum there were 3 1969 TA's, 2 painted wrong. That's crazy.
There is good info under the Topic Heading "How to Login..." in the "About" section at the top of the forum page on how to post photos. You HAVE to use the "Full Reply Screen" or the "Edit" screen, NOT "Quick Reply".
2012 Mustang Boss 302 #1918, Competition Orange. FGF replacement 2006 Mustang V6 Pony, Vista Blue. Factory ordered. 2019 BMW X3 (Titled to the wife, but I'm always driving it for her. So I'm claiming it) Old projects, gone but not forgotten: 1967 FB 400, original CA car. After 22 years of work, trashed by the guy who was supposed to paint it. I had to sell it. 1980 Turbo Trans Am 1970 Mustang fastback, 351C 4Bbl, auto 1988 Mustang GT, 5 speed 1983 F-150 4x4, built 302 1994 Chevy K2500 HD 4x4, 454 TBI
As of today, there are a whole bunch of ppg-painte-matched cars that are supposed to be painted with Obnoxious Orange, but the color is closer to orbit orange. I had a guy tell me that mine was incorrect until he started comparing the remaining factory with the repaint. The guy was obviously upset; my guess is that it’s because he paid a hell of a lot more than $300 for his paint.
As for posting, “switch to full reply screen.” Just below the blurb box, select “file manager,” and go to your picture source. (It has to be smaller than 2 mb, whatever t/f a mb is.)
Andy, While you may be correct on some 69 TA's, I suspect you may not be correct on all 69 TA's.
Most of the paint on my car was removed for a paint job that never came. When I removed the fenders and the fender vents I found nicely protected original paint under the vent. Overspray is visible also. It is possible the car was repainted an original color at some time, but very unlikely given its condition and originally. Additionally, I measure the thickness of the paint under the vents and found it to be about 75 mils. It is very unlikely a shop would be able to recreate this thin a coating outside the factory prior to 1980 and leave the original primer. Anything could of happened but the attached link to the area under the vents would lead me to believe the factory painted the fenders without the vents attached and mask off an area behind the vents that was not painted.
