Color match for blue interior

I’m looking to repaint the plastic trim on my 1977 Cheyenne with blue interior. LMC only lists Colorbond-blue 37-8382. I ordered some but it’s not even close. The attached picture shows the original color in the middle. Left side is sun faded and the right side is the LMC color. has anyone found a good match?

Thanks,
Jeff

Just opened the LMC belts I ordered and they are dark blue and nothing like the original light blue belts. Was there a dark blue interior option also in 73-81? The carpet I received is the correct light blue…

Before your blast LMC or any other manufacturer about how off the color is. Remember, your truck is 45 years old. Lots of sun damage over the years. Grant it we live in the PNW and have less sunny days than cloudy days. But interiors do fade.

You can see on the door panel how different surfaces fade,





The top of the panel is almost white and cracked. The armrest is different from the door panel, and the pocket is still different from the rest. As far as I could tell these were all original to the truck. The kick panels about as light as the back edge of the panel since they were close to the seat.

The seats are yet different as well...



I would pick a blue that you like or close to what you think the original is, clean the panels, prime them, then paint them.

Not implying LMC is at fault just want an accurate match if I can find it. Hoping someone has worked to match the factory shade.

Someone has to have ran into this issue before me? How did you handle restoring a blue interior.

Colorbond has a pretty broad line up of different colors. Look at Ford and Mopar colors too. They may not be official GM colors, but there is bound to be at least one shade of blue that is close or exactly like yours. I remember one thread where a guy had to use a BMW interior color to match the factory interior color on a '65 C10.

CheemsK1500,

I had an auto paint supplier mix me a color match to the back side of a trim panel that never would have been sun fade. So I can paint but I‘m worried about the flexible parts not holding up I guess. Just seams odd all the parts are showing up this shade of blue? I’m missing something was this dark blue available at some point? I can’t find it as a option for 1977.

-Jeff

1977ShortWide said:

CheemsK1500,

I had an auto paint supplier mix me a color match to the back side of a trim panel that never would have been sun fade. So I can paint but I‘m worried about the flexible parts not holding up I guess. Just seams odd all the parts are showing up this shade of blue? I’m missing something was this dark blue available at some point? I can’t find it as a option for 1977.

-Jeff

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The hard plastics like door panels should be fine, the soft bits like the dash pad could be a little more challenging.

knowing GM being the oddball that it is, it's entirely possible that they offered two different shades of blue in the same year, and used the same codes for both. Either that or they aftermarket companies don't think there's enough light blue Interiors to bother with a correct color.

Google SEM Blue Interior paint. Might have what you're searching for? Pacific Blue?

Not sure where you are on your project ...

Have you looked at USA1 Industries ?

They have various years blue ... you should look at the years and see how they compare.

My 85 interior (Above the shoulders) is mystic ... the only mystic found is in the 79-80 range it was nearly spot on for my Headliner Pillars.

My Blue is in the 81-87 grouping. I have not purchased it yet, but think it will be just fine based on others comments.

I see a blue in the 77 - 78 grouping that may be your color .. also look in the 79-80 grouping there are two blues in there to consider.


Also based on every post I have seen concerning dying and repainting vinyl and plastic you have to use the right Prep .... search out SEM prep and products ... one type of plastic uses one activator and another type of plastic use a different and vinyl uses something different ... There is ABS and everything else plastic thus the two different activators

Good Luck and report back ...

dvdswan said:

Before your blast LMC or any other manufacturer about how off the color is. Remember, your truck is 45 years old. Lots of sun damage over the years. Grant it we live in the PNW and have less sunny days than cloudy days. But interiors do fade.

You can see on the door panel how different surfaces fade,

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

The top of the panel is almost white and cracked. The armrest is different from the door panel, and the pocket is still different from the rest. As far as I could tell these were all original to the truck. The kick panels about as light as the back edge of the panel since they were close to the seat.

The seats are yet different as well...

You must be registered for see images attach

I would pick a blue that you like or close to what you think the original is, clean the panels, prime them, then paint them.

Click to expand...

I'll go ahead and blast LMC for it, because they deserve it. The color selection they offer is absolutely terrible. There is a great variety of shades available, but they choose to offer just one, as if GM only used one shade of blue. Same goes for the other colors they offer.

Colorbond and SEM both offer a multitude of colors. There's another good brand too, but I don't recall the name right now.

bucket said:

I'll go ahead and blast LMC for it, because they deserve it. The color selection they offer is absolutely terrible. There is a great variety of shades available, but they choose to offer just one, as if GM only used one shade of blue. Same goes for the other colors they offer.

Colorbond and SEM both offer a multitude of colors. There's another good brand too, but I don't recall the name right now.

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Color selection is different from a specific color. I agree that having only one color for an interior is crappy business. But if they are calling the color blue and you're looking for a dark blue or light blue and it's a medium blue they're not going to match.

Should they offer more color? yes. Will they? who knows. But as you stated there are other options besides LMC. It's up to the consumer to chose for themselves.

1977ShortWide said:

I’m looking to repaint the plastic trim on my 1977 Cheyenne with blue interior. LMC only lists Colorbond-blue 37-8382. I ordered some but it’s not even close. The attached picture shows the original color in the middle. Left side is sun faded and the right side is the LMC color. has anyone found a good match?

Thanks,
Jeff

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AccuMatch and Duplicolor have shades of Blue, as do SEM, OER and ColorBond. The Blue ColorBond matched my Blue interior but it’s an ‘84 not 1970s.

FireTruck1984 said:

AccuMatch and Duplicolor have shades of Blue, as do SEM, OER and ColorBond. The Blue ColorBond matched my Blue interior but it’s an ‘84 not 1970s.

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Yours being an 84 and mine being an 85 What color ColorBond did you purchase and where ..
My Interior Color is 23D on my glovebox sticker.

I am planning to use the USA 1 in our year grouping but would like other options

Thanks,
Rob

rwjtexas said:

Yours being an 84 and mine being an 85 What color ColorBond did you purchase and where ..
My Interior Color is 23D on my glovebox sticker.

I am planning to use the USA 1 in our year grouping but would like other options

Thanks,
Rob

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Well, There must be variations or maybe sun fade? I used the Blue ColorBond from LMC. For me it was a perfect match, but the second Pic is also an ‘84 and its interior is a lighter shade. So I guess you have to find the one that suits your purposes.