Hello. Thanks to some good advice I have received from the people on this forum recently, my wife and I have pretty much decided how to paint our Town Sedan,
The maroon chassis will be turned into a black chassis. The upper part of the body will be medium gray, the lower body will be dark gray, and the fenders and splash aprons will be black. These are the cars original colors.
My questions for now are:
1. Should the firewall be black or one of the body colors?
2. What color should the trunk, sheet metal under the trunk, and the trunk rack be?
That is all for now. I am sure there will be more to follow. Thank you all for your help. Keith
On your number (2), I can offer the attached photos. The first is of a sedan that I think is
in original, never refinished, paint. I think this is Spring 1931 Boatswain Blue with Black fender
set. Note the color of the trunk versus the color of the rack.
The other photo is off the cover of a Self-Starter Annual. It's a restored car in a scheme
somewhat like the one you're thinking of, except the wheels, trunk, roof and rear quarters
are probably black. I don't necessarily endorse the trunk being the color of the fender set but
it may have been common.
I took a look at the firewall on my 31 Town Sedan , it is black. I'm sure it has never been repainted, but the body is painted black top, classic blue lower. So it does match the top color too. The rack and gas tank cover are black to match the fenders.My car is missing the original trunk. I have bought 2 all metal trunks ,that I now believe are 1930.They look like the picture in Tom Halls post. Does any one know if only the composit type was used in 1931, or were both types used. By the way neither one of the metal trunks is black. Warren
Keith,
Firewall for '30 and'31 is black on all V-8 no matter what the exterior color is. It ends at or
so you will, under the hood lace
This body style had a fitted trunk from the factory,as afr as I know, not the common accesoiry trunk most seen , this can be added btw,
should show a nice picture ,two trunks.
These factory fitted trunks are seen in original factory pictures. in the color of the fenders,
that is not to say it wasn't body color,I can't telll for certain, but I have never seen one pictured this way.
Accessoiry trunks almost never appear in factory pictures,I didn't come upon one until Today,from what I've seen on restored cars, both ways are done
The trunk rack and I think you mean the gastank cover, are also fender color.
Glad to learn you decided on this color sceme. Johan
Here's more support for the trunk being the color of the fenders, although it is
only an artist's impression.
The factory photo of a Town Sedan in the McCall reference book (p. 159) also shows
the trunk in the same color as the fender set. Same for the La Salle Town Sedan
(p. 161).
Before refinishing the car, it would be wise to buy the authenticity manual on this
class of cars.
The trunk and gas tank cover on my 31 LaSalle convertible coupe is Black, matching the fenders. I think its factory orignal as the build-sheet on my car indicates a trunk was equipped with the car. Interesting, with the truck lid up, there is a "Buick" script label on the inside top portion of the trunk and the front of the trunk also hinges partially down. Maybe the Buick Division supplied these very nice trunks to some of the other GM Divisions??
John,
your car may have originally been equipped with a trunk but I doubt the Buick trunk is it.