Hello,

I will be repainting my 68 Dart 270 soon. The original color is Medium Green Poly, which is not very complementary on this car, so I'm going to change it.

Has anyone seen these cars in a candy-apple red exterior with a green interior?
The seats and doorpanels are somewhat of a light green, with the dash and the door-metal being a very dark green.

I'm afraid I'll end up with a Christmas tree if I'm not careful!

Any thoughts on this combination?

(BTW- It's a 4 door, so I'm not terribly worried about destroying a classic with the color change).

Thanks!

-Mac

Careful-careful-careful. X-treem, "in yer face" colors like Kandy Apple Red are fun for a little while, but like loud exhausts, they quickly get old, even if you start out liking them. I agree that many of the '68 greens aren't necessarily colors I'd pick out from scratch, but they all look great on an old Dart if the paint's in nice condition. Conversely, just about any color looks awful if the paint's not nice. Changing the color of a car should only be done after serious thought. It takes a LOT more effort, time and money to do so and have it come out looking nice than it does to repaint in the original color (or a similar one -- you do have a fair amount of leeway as long as you stay in the same general color family). Go beyond that leeway, though, and you're looking at big bucks to do the job right. Unchanged doorframes, trunk and underhood areas, and metal interior panels just scream "HALFÃ…SSED JOB!" and look schlock.

If you're bound and determined to change the color, there are a lot of options besides a clashing, jarring, "Eeek!" combination like red-over-green. The problem with doing that is that no matter how carefully you pull the car all apart to cover over all the green paint (and you will have to dissect it piece from piece or else it will look really schlock), it will always look like a repaint.

The nicest cars are the ones that look as though the paint could be original. Doesn't have to be the original color, by any means; it can be very different, in fact. There are lots of exterior colors that go well with a green interior. All sorts of different greens, tans, whites, beiges, golds, yellows...heck, even Chrysler's own "Plum Crazy" metallic purple looks good with a green interior. So does '70-'71 "Sassy Grass Green", not to mention "Sublime" and "Curious Yellow", which were all bright "high impact" colors from the psychedelic age. But any kind of red jest ain't never gonna look right, and Kandy Apple Anything is gonna make your car look...well, go visit your nearest well-stocked newsstand. Take a look in the car magazine section. Notice how the Kandy Apple Red cars are invariably shown with somebody's almost-naked, thoroughly-disreputable-looking sister draped sleazily across the hood, on the covers of magazines catering to, er, certain demographics? Suffice to say, Kandy Apple Red or something like it will tend to evoke more of a "Gee, what a shame, that must've been a nice car" response than a "Wow, neat" response.

Light yellow w/green was a very popular exterior/interior color combo on Darts, and looks excellent. And of course the '67-'76 cars lend themselves well to a two-tone treatment split at the base of the A/B/C pillars. '78 Chevrolet dark green over '78 Chevrolet light green is a nice combo.

Suggest you take a trip to your local auto body and paint supply store (check your yellow pages) and ask to leaf through their paint chips. There are LOTS AND LOTS of different colors to choose from. Thousands, literally. Metallics, nonmetallics, you name it.

As far as "only a 4-door", hey, watchit! Some of us prefer 4-doors!

Finally, of course, it's your car, and your money.

I think Dan called this one pretty well.

I'd like candy apple red, but it's gonna look gnasty next to anything that you leave green, including the dash.

It's your car, but the christmas tree effect will be at it's best with the red on green.

Maybe you can find a nice white or red interior to swap out of another 4 door.

_________________
1980 Aspen 225 super six

My car used to be a dowdy burgundy,,,,ho hum.


Now its red. Red cars are faster. Vinyl dye can fix green seats.....paint can fix door panels

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

I fink so, brain, but maroon = dark red. You just went from one kind of red to another.

Add me to the few who prefer original appearing colors.

When I painted my '73 truck, the paint store was trying to talk me into a modern metalic base-clear coat, but I settled on a stock pastel acrylic enamel in a '77 color. I don't regret if for a moment. I love the look.

There's a really nice deep metallic green that Subaru used on Legacies and Outbacks for 2000-2003 (and maybe a couple other years), called "Timberline Green Pearl". I saw a '67 Valiant not long ago that had been done in that colour (keeping the original green interior), and it looked very sharp.

That silver wouldn't clash with a green interior. Not quite as sporty as red, but still a big step away from green.

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1980 Aspen 225 super six

True. As far as "sporty" colors, well, it reminds me of an old "funny 'cause it's true" joke:

Two bulls are standing atop a bluff, looking out on a grassy valley where a herd of cows are grazing.

The young bull says to the old bull: "Let's run down this hill and screw one of those heiffers down there!"

The old bull responds: "Let's walk down, and screw all of them."

Quiet-colored cars are a lot harder for cops to see.

I actually like that color green if it is the same color I am thinking of.I have seen it on a road runner,teamed up with some gloss black rims,no hub caps and chrome lug nuts.Looks sharp.


JZ

I'm another one who, in most cases, prefers original type colors. My 65 GT convert was that 881 yellow color with a black interior - it's gonna stay that way. My 65 Dart wagon is plain ol' white with the 2 tone blue interior - a granny-mobile if I ever saw one. After the motors swapped to a 340, the more granny-mobile it looks, the better for me. My 65 Valiant convert and Barracuda are both painted that bronzish color with the saddle interior - looks pretty good to me. On the other hand a friend of mine obtained a 70 GTX with the original colors being a beige body, black vinyl top and green interior, all confirmed by the build sheet. He changed the exterior color to white, kept the black vinyl top and changed the interior to black. It was a lot of work (and money)

I like original-type colors, too, but I also like colors that few manufacturers would have the guts to put on a car these days. Metallic olive green, neon green, flourescent orange, metallic indigo, etc. Here's a really crappy artist's rendering (looks like a botched spraycan job) of what neon green would look like on my '68 Dart:

I'm seriously thinking about going with a color like that (House of Kolor Neon green?) If I go to that extreme, I'd like to go with some Minilite wheels eventually, too:

http://www.minilitewheels.com/

Can you dig it? All on a four-door dart.

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'68 Dodge Dart 4dr Sedan

...is the deep metallic yellow-green used on '97-'98 Jeep Cherokees.

I'm also going to be doing a full color change. The car is a red but without any interior at the moment. The car will have to be completely stripped and alot of body work done. I'm leaning towards a charcoal/silver combination. Thoughts?

is on late '90s Mopars such as this minivan:



I'm rather partial to that sort of color as you can see from my Lancer and my 164.