I’ve been trying to find the color code (exterior) on my car, not sure if its among the RPO’s or not, and can’t see any labels in the door jams, and VIN decoder result didn’t reveal anything either

The car has been repainted for sure, no eyeshadow under headlights and I’m missing the Z28 emblems, but I believe the color might be Bright Red 81U

Any inputs or opinions appreciated as I plan to buy some touch up paint and want the right one

 

This page is from 1995 Service Manual that breaks down the Service Parts Identification Label you posted. In your case the paint code for 81U should be U 3567

 

Thanks so much for sharing this useful info!
So far I've been unable to decode what color U 3567 is, all the exterior color RPO's I have found have two digit numbers followed by "U", but I likely need to investigate more to get a full picture.

When I had the car up on a lift recently, I spotted some dark blue-ish metallic paint on the bottom edge on one of the the rear fenders that could have been remains of the original paint, and looking among available exterior colors for 96, that could be Quasar Blue Metallic or possibly Dark Purple Metallic.

However my main objective right now is finding the correct touch up paint for the red color the car currently is in, so what I was fishing a bit on in this thread was the likelihood it has been painted in Bright Red looking from the pictures, totally understand no one can say for sure but those who have seen several bright red cars in real life might be able judge and have an opinion.

I was also thinking on turning to a paint shop that have the kind of scan tool that can read the color on the car, and then make the right blend, probably costly but also the best way to get it spot on as it compensates for the slow color change caused by the sun and age.

 

I should have taken the time to decode a few other RPO's in your picture of the Service Parts ID Label when I posted above. The RPO's 10Q and 10U indicate the exterior and molding colors were for a white car. It would appear the car's color has been changed from when it left the factory. If that is the case, the paint code listed on the SPID label would be useless.

 

That ought to solve the mystery, as you say 10Q and 10U clearly indicates Arctic White as the exterior color.

Do you mean that it could have been a special paint order when you say changed color when leaving factory?

 

No, I believe if there had been a special code, it would have listed higher on the SPID Label. Check the first Service Manual Page posted above. I'm referring to the "C" reference in that illustration.

 

Got ya, and as C is empty in my case that rules out any special paint order

Sorry for the late response, different time zones messes up the communication a bit

 

My older brother lives in Germany, so I was aware there is about 7 hours difference in time. After looking at your SPID label, it has no RPO "EXP" showing it was to be exported. That and the US "Federal Emission RPO "FE9" seems to indicate the car was built for delivery in the US, so it must have been shipped overseas by a previous owner. I also found that if the car was ordered with special paint, it would have had an RPO "D82" listed.

 

Yep, your brother and I are in the same time zone

Definitely an US import (at 2001) as it has a miles odo/speedo, and the red turn signal lenses back that would have been orange if sold new in Europe, they have however added some separate orange turn signal lamps at the rear and on the front fenders to meet the legal demands here after the import.

The miles odo has messed up the milage history on the car as at some of the yearly traffic safety inspections they likely have recorded it as it was kilometers, while others been more alert and converted from miles to kilometers. This together with the fact it was imported, made it harder to sell and got down the price.

The odo currently stands on 34250 miles which obviously is low for a car from 1996, but looking at the wear, especially the driver’s seat and the windshield, I have hard to believe its has run more than 75000 miles.
Not sure how hard it would be to reverse the odo on a car like this...?


The paint job has been done without the proper preparation as it easy to scratch it, but car overall seems has been messed with very little which is big plus.

 

A car that was sold in the US and has a quick color change and the odometer has been messed with? All you need now is to find out the computer VIN does not match the body VIN and you will have checked all the boxes of a stolen car. Course I am not sure you would need to swap the PCMs cause you could just by pass the extra key security.

The blue underneath may indicate some kind of reclaimed car that was totaled. Changing colors of a car, so it is hard to tell it was done, can be pricy. There is a lot of labor in painting the door jams and under the hood. It can take 80+ hours extra unless the person does it every day. Why do all that work and not prep the car or use cheap paint? I guess it could have been a DYI that pulled a lot of the interior, weather seals, doors, and stiped the stuff off the inner fender and firewall. They would still need to understand back taping and a few other professional level techniques. Without back taping you would have lines in the paint where you switched from painting the interior to exterior. Unless you pulled the hood the hatch and doors and painted everything at once.

I am sure your car is fine I just like puzzles. Maybe a younger body-man/painter with a low budget did his own car. The speedo cluster was changed because the original failed, you got me with blue paint under a car that was white and then turned red. Here is the states most salesmen call red, "sell me red". On a sports car they sold fast back in the day. It was common to change to red. Heck my 67 in my sig was blue originally but it did go through a restoration. In fact they painted too much. They painted the dash right under the windshield red when it should have been black.