C R G CRG Reports Exterior Engine 1967 Model ID
Numbers Decode General Info Interior Transmission 1968 Model ID
Drivetrain Decode Options Underhood Chassis 1969 Model ID

Exterior Related

©1998-2008, Camaro Research Group
Edited by and
Version: Wednesday, 19-Mar-2008 10:12:12 EDT

Note: for a list of Exterior colors by year and other exterior color details, including special paint designation, RPO and window sticker codes, and related stripes and tops, see the Exterior Colors section of the Numbers/Decoding page.

  1. Camaro Color Usage
  2. Shared Corvette and Camaro Colors
  3. 1969 Camaro Hugger Orange
  4. Z28 Trunk Lid Striping
  5. SS Hood Ornaments
  6. Black-out Paint Applications
  7. 1969 Grille Colors and Usage
 

Camaro Color Usage

This is one of the most frequently asked questions, but there are no known official production numbers on colors from GM. CRG does know that color use was tracked at the division (Chevrolet) level, but the most popular color overall within Chevrolet (dominated by full-size car and truck sales) was not necessarily the most popular within a specific model line like Camaro.

However, the CRG database for 1967-69 Camaros is now large enough to generate some estimates on color usage by percentage of total production. ( Interior color usage estimates are also available.)

As a disclaimer, the current CRG database is not a uniform population - there are seasonal, model-type, and geographic biases in the data. That said, the CRG database is the best available source for estimating paint use, and the results are fundamentally sound.

The data has been corrected for the bias in the database towards 1967 and 1969 Pace cars. Special paint cars are included in the estimates. Data has been rounded to the nearest 0.5 percent.

1967-69 Camaro Color Use Estimates
(As of March 2008)

          1967                      1968                      1969
  ---------------------     ---------------------     -----------------------
                     Use                       Use                         Use
 Color         Code  (%)   Color          Code (%)   Color          Code   (%)
 ------------------- ----  ------------------- ----  -------------------   ---
 Tuxedo Black      A  3.0  Tuxedo Black      A  1.5  Tuxedo Black     10   2.0%
 Ermine White      C 10.0  Ermine White      C  9.0  Butternut Yellow 40   1.0
 Nantucket Blue    D  5.0  Grotto Blue       D  6.0  Dover White      50   7.5
 Deepwater Blue    E  3.5  Fathom Blue       E  1.0  Dusk Blue        51   4.0
 Marina Blue       F 10.5  Island Teal       F  2.5  Garnet Red       52   7.0
 Granada Gold      G 12.0  Ash Gold          G  9.5  Glacier Blue     53   4.0
 Mountain Green    H  3.5  Grecian Green     H  3.0  Azure Turquoise  55   2.0
 ---                       Rallye Green      J  4.5  Fathom Green     57  10.5
 Emerald Turquoise K  3.5  Tripoli Turquoise K  3.5  Frost Green      59   8.0
 Tahoe Turquoise   L  4.5  Teal Blue         L  2.0  Burnished Brown  61   2.5
 Royal Plum        M  3.0  ---                       Champagne        63   0.5
 Madeira Maroon    N  4.5  Cordovan Maroon   N  3.0  Olympic Gold     65   5.0
 ---                       Corvette Bronze   O  7.0  Burgundy         67   2.0
 ---                       Seafrost Green    P  3.0  Cortez Silver    69   7.0
 Bolero Red        R 16.5  Matador Red       R 12.0  LeMans Blue      71  11.5
 Sierra Fawn       S  2.0  ---                       Hugger Orange    72  12.0
 Capri Cream       T  4.0  Palomino Ivory    T  1.0  Daytona Yellow   76   7.0
 ---                       LeMans Blue       U 11.0  Rallye Green     79   5.0
 ---                       Sequoia Green     V  2.5
 Butternut Yellow  Y 14.0  Butternut Yellow  Y  8.0
                           British Green     Z  7.0 

 Special Paint     O  0.5  Special Paint     -  2.5  Special Paint     -   1.5

                                                     Two Tone              1.0 

 

Shared Corvette and Camaro Colors

Corvette enthusiasts often like to emphasize that their colors are unique. While many Corvette colors often are unique, in the first-generation Camaro years there was some sharing with Camaro.

In 1967, these were Tuxedo Black, Ermine White, and Marina Blue.

In 1968, two colors, Tuxedo Black and Cordovan Maroon, started the year common to both Camaro and Corvette. In January 1968, three additional Corvette colors were added to Camaro, with specific marketing attention given to the fact that they were Corvette colors applied to Camaro. These three were Corvette Bronze, LeMans Blue, and British Green. (In addition to these three, Rallye Green was another mid-season Camaro color addition. Together they replaced Fathom Blue, Grecian Green, Palomino Ivory, and Tuxedo Black for the remainder of 1968.) As a result, Corvette shared a total of five colors with Camaro in 1968.

In 1969, there were eight colors shared: Tuxedo Black, Fathom Green, Burgundy, Cortez, Silver, LeMans Blue, Hugger Orange (known on the Corvette as Monaco Orange), and Daytona Yellow.

 

1969 Camaro Hugger Orange

"The Hugger" was the marketing nickname for the '69 Camaro, appearing in magazine ads and commercials. It was in reference to the cars handling characteristics (it hugs corners... so it's the hugger!), which are needy by today's standards, but for the period it was one of the best handling American cars you could buy. GM advertising used the hugger promotion to offer special colors: hugger orange paint and an orange and houndstooth interior. Of course, the '69 Indy Pace Car had hugger orange stripes.

For Pontiac, the color went by different name, Carousel Red. For Corvette, it was called Monaco Orange.

 

Z28 Trunk Lid Striping

If the spoiler was installed at the factory:
  1. The paint stripes go over the spoiler, and end at the bottom of the spoiler (and therefore not on the back lip of the trunk lid)
  2. The Camaro trunk lid emblem was moved forward, up the trunk lid, from station 125.00 to station 121.73, a distance of 3.27 inches, and the Z stripe was masked (1967-68 only) around the emblem.
If the spoiler was installed by the dealer:
  1. The stripes were painted on the trunk lid at the factory and thus, without a spoiler, run all the way through to the lip of the lid. The dealer installed spoiler was attached over the factory stripes and then the dealer painted the spoiler to match.
  2. The dealer often did not relocate the Camaro emblem.
 

SS Hood Ornaments

At model introduction in September, 1966, the SS Camaro used a special SS hood that included chromed trim that mimicked the appearance of finned oil coolers. At this time the only SS was the SS-350 model, and the badges on the car read "SS-350". When the SS-396 was introduced in January 1967, the badges were changed for all SS models to read "SS". The SS-396 could be distinguished from the SS-350 by the engine emblems. In addition, there is a blacked-out tailpan on SS-396 cars (except black-painted cars and special models like the 1969 Pace cars). Both 350 and 396 models in 1967 used the finned hood emblem for the entire model year.

For the 1968 model year, the chromed hood trim for SS396 changed from the simulated finned cooler to a set of simulated carburetor velocity stacks. The early 1968 model year SS350 continued to receive the 1967-style finned hood trim, but the SS350 trim transitioned to the velocity stack trim as the year progressed. The simulated velocity stack continued for the 1969 model year with all SS cars using this same hood trim. Related to this, the part number for the 1968-69 hood is different than 1967, with the only noticable difference being the drains used with the velocity stack trim.

 

Black-out Paint Applications

Certain first-generation Camaro models had semi-gloss black-out paint applied to the body to influence the appearance. There were two types, a "ground-effect" black-out applied to the rocker-panel/body-sill area for certain exterior trim options, and a blacked-out tailpan applied to SS-396 cars.

Body sill black-out paint was applied to Z22 (RS) cars in 1967 and 1968, and to Z21 (style trim), Z22 (RS), and COPO 9560/9561 cars in 1969. But there were several body colors that were simply just too dark for this paint scheme to be effective, and for these colors (more below) the body sill black-out paint was omitted. Additionally, the body sill black-out was omitted for special models like the 1969 Z11 Indy Pace Car convertible trim package and the 1969 Z10 coupe trim package. A Chevrolet Product Bulletin dated 2-4-69 describes the Z11 (Pace Car trim package) package and includes this instruction: "Body sill to be painted white instead of black." Although no instructions have been found for the Z10 coupe, it would be natural for this same philosophy to have been followed.

There was also a paint color exception for the SS-396 tailpan black-out, but it was limited to black vehicles. In other words, only black (and special models like Z11 and Z10) SS-396 cars did not receive the (semi-gloss) blacked-out tailpans.

The 1967 and 1969 body sill paint codes that did not receive black-out paint (supported by GM documentation - except see note on 1969 #10 Tuxedo Black) are:

1967 and 1969 Body Sill Color Exceptions
    1967                        1969
    ----                        ----
    AA Tuxedo Black             10 Tuxedo Black*
    EE Deepwater (Dark) Blue    51 Dusk (Dark) Blue
    LL Tahoe Turquoise          57 Fathom (Dark) Green
    MM Royal Plum               61 Burnished (Dark) Brown
    NN Madeira Maroon           67 Burgundy (Maroon)
        
    --------
    * We have not found GM documentation
      for the 1969 Tuxedo Black body sill
      exception.  However we believe it
      followed the pattern of previous years,
      and original 1969 cars bear this out.

GM documentation specifically listing the excepted body sill colors for 1968 has not yet been found, however, the CRG believes the excepted colors were the following:

1968 Body Sill Color Exceptions
  AA Tuxedo Black       (discontinued Jan 68)
  EE Fathom (Dark) Blue (discontinued Jan 68)
  NN Cordovan Maroon
  VV Sequoia Green
  ZZ British Green      (new as of Jan 68)

 

1969 Grille Colors and Usage

The following two tables illustrate the rather complicated use of grille styles and colors for 1969. As noted below, Tuxedo Black cars are the exceptions for grille color; all black cars received silver grilles.

1969 Camaro Grille Color
     
                   Grille Color
   Model         non-RS |   RS
   ------------  ----------------
   SS            black* | black*
   Z28           silver | black*
   All else**    silver | black*
   --------------------------------
   * except Tuxedo Black exterior, which
     all received silver grilles
   ** incl COPO

1969 Grille Part Numbers *
                 Color
   Model     black   silver
   ------  -------- --------
   Non-RS   3957062  3957044
   RS       3938641  3949759

   -------------------------
   *1969 P&A30 Chassis Manual   

 



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