Getting my car ready for paint and deciding on a color to paint it. I've narrowed it down to three colors and would like your opinion. The colors are; (1) Original Green #312, (2) Silver, (3) Porsche "Guards Red". I know it's a personal choice and each color gives the car a different look ie; #1 Green gives the car the classic look, #2 Silver gives the car a modern look and #3 Red gives the car a sporty look. Too many choices But, I could go with either color

BTW, anyone happen to know the mfg and name of the wheels on the Silver Spider?



'73 Spider - M. Egan]





[Silver Spider - Found on web]



[Red Spider - Chris' Spider]

IMHO - silver is way too bland. Red is nice, but might attract too much attention from the radar boys. I really like the green. You're right it is a very classic look.

the dark green is really nice and gives a very vintage sports car look

Wheels on the Silver car look like Ronals fitted to the Alfa GTV of the late 70s.



http://www.csn.ul.ie/~keith/gtv/

For me it's easy.

Green's the only way to go. Classic and Classy!

Even if my own car is red, I really like the classy green color. What color is your interior? Green would be particularly nice in combination with a tan or saddle interior. Silver is not my cup of tea, too cold and modern for me.

The wheels are Ronal A1, see http://home.planet.nl/~koper193/ronal.html. Looks a bit like the wheels on the Volumex model, which have 8 holes instead of 12. The Volumex type wheels can be bought from Spider-point here in Europe, see http://www.spider-point.com/alben/show_ ... d=591&nr=8.

courtenay wrote:IMHO - silver is way too bland. Red is nice, but might attract too much attention from the radar boys. I really like the green. You're right it is a very classic look.

Hey Mine is silver...but with the blue interior, am planning on reupholstered in red sometime in the near millennium. The silver and red look really schmick. Sometimes being a bit bland is a good thing in the eyes of the law
I like to think the Exterior need to contrast the interior correctly. I think it as a whole package, we all know the red ones go faster, but I like the flat blood red with the biscuit or tan interior.
The original colours are always a good option, I think Fiat got a lot of the colours right in the first place.
If you look at the racing tradition, the Germans were silver, Italians red and the brits had the British racing green....
Find a 3 sided coin and take a flip.
If you ask me...go the silver cause I have one...

I think the wheels are off the Spider Volumex

Hmmm.... perhaps have three fiats... its only a matter of time before you end up with two
I'm painting the 72 a "bottle green" or real close to it #317
What year is your car? I like the green or burgundy on the older cars, and I do have the cops swivel their heads when I drive by in the red car
Chris

narfire wrote:Hmmm.... perhaps have three fiats... its only a matter of time before you end up with two
I'm painting the 72 a "bottle green" or real close to it #317
What year is your car? I like the green or burgundy on the older cars, and I do have the cops swivel their heads when I drive by in the red car
Chris

My car is a '74 Calif Spider that came with those monster over-riders. I got an early 1-piece for the front and a 2-piece for the rear to replace them - they're at the shop being re-chromed. The original color is #312 Green as M. Egan's shown in the first photo in the post.

Below are a few pics of mine before sending it to the shop. From the pics it doesn't look like it's in that bad of shape, but up close it really was. The body had a bunch of nicks, scratches and dents along the sides, hood and rear panel. The right rear quarter panel was the worst part of the car. The car was basically bondo-free except the right rear quarter panel which my body guy told me had 1/2" of bondo on it! He since stripped it all off, took out the dent correctly and the panel now has a very thin layer of bondo. All body work has been done with the first coat of heavy primer for blocking. He started blocking the car with 80 grit then 150. The car will be re-primed and blocked with 320 then a sealer applied, paint and 3-coats of clear. He said to wait about 2-3 weeks or longer and then he'll buff the car out. At the bottom of the last photo is a link to more before and present photos (in the shop).










FOR MORE PICS CLICK THE LINK - https://picasaweb.google.com/srleong/FiatForumPics#

The interior looks great. The carpet is from...? I'll be needing to do the carpet in mine.
Chris

right off the bat i thought red... red ..red... then saw the pics.... that green is nice but the silver one is HOT... wow i really like it

my vote is silver

Hey 81SPIDERMATT
Is that my Silver spider you are calling hot???? I hope so....I thought the other one had a poxy looking door mirror, but do like everything else about it including rims

the guards red is a pretty red, but red cars aren't my thing. besides, they're cop magnets.

the bottle green is a lovely color, and it is the original color of the car. but to me, the darker colors tend to hide the spider's lines. for example, the hood bumps are (to me) kind of hard to see, but they pop right out on the silver car.

i tend to like the lighter colors.

but that's me. it's your car, and you have to live with the color. you also have to pick it

narfire wrote:The interior looks great. The carpet is from...? I'll be needing to do the carpet in mine.
Chris

The carpets are still the original one's. The car only has 50K on it.

My 2 centavos:

I am getting my 1980 Spider ready for paint (6 weeks away). I spend the last year considering paint jobs, looking at a zillion pics on the web. That green is really nice . But I decided on Metallic Silver Pewter acrylic urathane from the Restoration Shop (sold on Ebay). The paint just arrived yesterday and I havn't opened it yet. As for the interior I am going with burgandy. And the roof is going to be burgandy or black, not sure yet.

Good luck with your paint jib.