Almost paint time -- opinions welcome

Huey

True Classic
My '87 is about ready for paint. It is factory black with black/red interior. I already bought the black paint but I also have some pretty red (almost orange) paint from another project. I'm thinking of doing a two-tone with red only on the hood, tops of fenders, and following the body line up to the targa top.

Here is a rough (very rough) picture of what I'm thinking.

2018-03-23_19-01-19.jpg


Here are my questions.
  1. What are your opinions on doing this? I like it, although it will be more work.
  2. Would I need to paint the front trunk red or is it okay to leave black?
 
Although I'm a big fan of black Xs, your proposed scheme is pretty nice looking too, better than the factory two tone layout.
 
Interesting 2 tone. More often than not, I'm not a fan of 2 tone, but I like this. Count this as a thumbs up vote & hope you're not offended if I copy you whenever paint time comes for my 85.
 
Interesting 2 tone. More often than not, I'm not a fan of 2 tone, but I like this. Count this as a thumbs up vote & hope you're not offended if I copy you whenever paint time comes for my 85.

I would never take offense.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm not usually a fan of two-tone and I'm certainly not a fan of back & red combo but once I mocked it up, I like it. I had a friend in high school and we both had X's. Mine was a '75 painted all red (was originally brown.) His was a later model ('77 I think) and had an interesting black/red two-tone paint job, sort of like this.

It would give it a nice custom flair without altering too much from stock. That's why I want to leave the front trunk area black, it would make it easier to change to all-black stock in the future if anyone was so inclined.
 
It is an interesting two-tone, any ideas about the targa top? Also any pics of what shade of red you want to use?
 
Huey,

Paint it all black!!! Just kidding. I spent a lot of time creating this GIF animation years ago and saw a chance to use it again!!! ;)
Spray_paint4.GIF

I think your proposed paint scheme would look pretty nice. Your thoughts on painting the frunk tub black also make a lot of sense to me. Go for it and good luck!
 
I do tend to stick to factory scheme... but honestly who cares. I think it is looking good. In 2 tone paint scheme the inner parts (trunks, engine bay) are in the bottom colour. EDIT: Oups! I was wrong. I found pics of both the early 2 tones and late 2 tones, and in both case, the inners (trunk, engine bay, frunk) are in the TOP color.

So I would go for black in the rear and red in the front.
 
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Here what I did to my factory black '82 recently. The color is Chrysler pearl charcoal. I had the targa wrapped.
 

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Your intended color lines are very close to mine with the lighter and darker colors reversed. Are anyone else’s out there following those paint lines vs the OEM style?

Also be weary of using different paints. Sometimes they don’t lay on each other very well or unless you allow for maximum cure time I believe.
 

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I do not have pictures, but IIRC Russ Courtnall got a blue and red car with an interesting history and the same lines. I think it was a former race car. Don't know if he's still hanging around in forums.
 
Yes, those are the lines I intend to follow. The only difference is I was going to continue the front all the way down so the headlight buckets are one solid color. Thanks for sharing that photo, it gives me a great idea of what it will look like.

The two paints are exactly the same, just different colors. It's the same brand paint I've used on many projects, including my '59 Willys Jeep. In fact, it is the original red for my Jeep that I will use for the red.

Jeep.jpg
 
Although black makes al.ost any car look great...it is a BIG PIA for upkeep...ask me how I know...lol...had a black challenger and now I have a black Z71...its always work to keep them looking clean...I'd just use the orange u got and maybe use the black for accents
 
Paint colors are a personal thing, so you should do whatever you like best. Have you considered the factory two-tone scheme with the dividing line just above the side inset?

Paul

s-l300.jpg
 
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