C3 Fiberglass Color?

[Sheldon S.]

Can someone help clarify the fiberglass color on 69-72 cars. Mine is a late(april 29, 71) car and the rear fenders, rear top surround, valance panels are all grey. Inner parts of the body are black and the doors are grey. The front end has been repaired twice and am not sure if any original parts other than inner fenders are still there. half of one fender may be original and it is black. Of what I can find most outer panels of the car are grey and the inner peices are black and front end unknown. Is this normal and if so when did they start changing the color of the panels? I want to order a new reproduction front end but am not sure whether to get a black or a grey. Am leaning towards the grey. Any comments? Can someone explain why and when the color changed on the panels.
Thanks in advance
Sheldon

[Warren F.]

Re: C3 Fiberglass Color?

Sheldon:

My '71 coupe has a trim tag build date of April 20. The body is still original Classic white with no replacement panels or repairs. The front end is grey with some black glass inner panels.

[Wayne W.]

Re: C3 Fiberglass Color?

That`s a rather colorfull question. 68-69 generally had black or very dark polyester panels. Later 69s had the new type genite glass doors which is more smooth and is light gray. The new gray stuff was gradually put into production until 74 when the last black polyester panel (The 73 rear deck) was replaced with the 74. During this time, starting with 71 rear quarters, the newest type SMC panel was introduced and fed into production. So, depending on the car, a 71 could have had a mixture, but mostly gray.