Cabot grey. Anybody seen it before?

[mark22]

Hello, to everyone. I have a 1954 Cadillac convertible which I have been working slowly at fixing. Long story short, I didn't do my homework when in bought this car, so a lot of things needed repair. The car is white, but the trim code calls for Cabot grey and I am considering a driver quality repaint. I have dad this color is exclusive to 54 and I can't find a picture anywhere. Does anybody have a pic or any advice regarding how the original color may impact the value of this car considering it's only available for one year?
Thanks!

[Walter Youshock]

Check Auto Color Library:  http://www.tcpglobal.com/aclchip.aspx?image=1954-Cadillac-pg01.jpg

[D.Yaros]

The Cabot Gray chip displayed on the tcpglobal page sure looks pale green to me?

[Walter Youshock]

Could be.  Some of the colors called "gray" were all over the spectrum.  Look up "Dawn Gray" for 1956.  It's lavender.

[mark22]

Wow, I agree, it does look like a pale green. I was told this color was the same that was shown on the 1954 owner's manual, but that car looks darker. Also, what is the best way to repaint this car? I do not want glossy paint, correct? I want to do this correctly and preserve the authentic style paint job. Any suggestions on how to paint this car?  Thanks you so much for everybody's reply.

[4860S]

Cabot Grey is a very pale grey, it was used on 1956/1957 Australian Holdens, If you Google, Cabot Grey FE Holden pictures, you will see it.

John

[mark22]

OK guys, I am going to repaint this car back to its original Cabot grey color. It will be of driver quality. I have found quotes for 4300-7000 for a paint job which would include any rust repair. On the bottom of the car is a mild rust protective coating. Is it worth having it sandblasted and completely cleaned off? This would be a lot more expensive, but if it is getting a repaint, I might as well do it right. Any thoughts? Also, being that Cabot grey was exclusive to 1954, do you think this car might be of higher value to collectors?

Thanks again!

[Roger Zimmermann]

You cannot sandblast underbody coating: the coating get hot and trap the sand, creating a mess! Plus, sandblasting a vehicle which is complete with drive train is not recommended as the sand is going everywhere, especially into spots it should not!

[signart]

I agree w/Roger. Just scrape what is loose and whatever comes off easily. This is the only area likely to make problems, unless you are doing a frame off resto.
Cabot gray is just a name, you can't compare it to any other auto manufacturers' paint code. Go ahead and buy a pint. Auto Color Library place will mix it according to old paint codes and send a large color swatch of their actual mixture. But I would not count on that to match exactly to factory color. I would hold out hope finding an owner with an accurate example and maybe they can give you a modern paint code.

Art Woody

[mark22]

I would really like to get this undercoat off. Is there not way to do it? I was told by a classic car shop they could media blast it off. Am I missing something? Perhaps they were talking about soda vs sand? I really want to do this correctly. Also, does anybody know what the original color of the undercarriage was?

[Roger Zimmermann]

You can take it away with an heat gun or soak it with kerosene. with both methods the undercoating will get soft and you can take it away with a spatula.
No matter if the media is sand or soda: the underbody get hot and the media stick to it.
To apply some undercoating takes not a long time; to remove it, especially if it's old, is a different matter. I'm not a friend of undercoating; if it's not correctly applied, the water can get between the sheetmetal and undercoating and the floor continues to rust...

[mark22]

Wow, thank you Roger. I am so shocked as to why I am being tad this can be removed then. I am wondering if the shop is trying to pull a fast one on me….I guess I need to get more opinions.

[mark22]

Hello everyone, the time to get going on this project is near. I STILL can't find a color matching cabot gray. I have searched for the color in the Australian Holdens, but was unable to find any which listed the color. I saw pearl gray, but not Cabot gray. Does anybody have any pictures? It would be soooo helpful.

Thanks again!

[austingta]

Perhaps you can get the color formula from someone.

[6262]

Is this what you are looking for?

http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?manuf=GM&model=Cadillac&year=1954

http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/chipdisplay.cgi?year=1954&manuf=GM&smodel=Cadillac&info=&page=3

[timer2]

If you want to see the true colors, find a auto paint store that sell Dupont paints and they might have the actual book of chips that date back to '54. Using the internet to pick a color will confuse you. I looked at the chips on the internet for '54 Caddy "driftwood"  and "copper metallic" (codez14) and they look nothing like the colors in the actual book that the paint store showed, in fact, not even close. There is a website for a '55 coup painted light gray called "the gray lady" that should give you some idea as to what it may look like. Yes, it should be shinny. I see you called the rust proofing "mild", there is nothing mild about rustproofing put on by the dealer in '54. they laid it on thick and heavy and the only way, in my opinion, to properly remove it would be to take the body off the frame. here is a picture of code z14 on the car 

[D.Yaros]

This may have been provided (?), but in the event not, attached is the Dupont fomula for Cabot Gray"

This info is found at:
http://pc.dupont.com/hcl/search/imageViewer.jsp?imgurl=/hcl/data/Data/Domestic%20Cars/GM/Cadillaclasalle%201935-1955/CAD%201954/003327.jpg

[timer2]

If you pull up the website provided by the previous post and look at the "driftwood " color, it is nowhere near what was put on my car. But, the old book (that the paint store had to use for the formula mix) shows it matches very ,very well. 

[Doug L]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cadillac-DeVille-SERIES-62-CALIFORNIA-CAR-SINCE-NEW-BLACK-PLATES-1955-CADILLAC-SERIES-62-CONVERTIBLE-/390768716774?forcerrptr=true&hash=item5afba16be6&item=390768716774&pt=US_Cars_Trucks

Doug Lemon