This is another version of the CC Effect: start shooting lots of CCs, and folks start passing you on the right. It first happened to CC’s Mr. Edward Mann in the famous Bathtub Nash Incident. Then I had a rash of them. And now it’s afflicting our Cohort posters; William Rubano posted his encounter with a Nova that he called “Band Aid colored”. Having had Crayons as a kid, it says “flesh” to me. Either way, here it comes…
And there it goes. I’m assuming this is an original color, and undoubtedly one or more of you will chime in with its marketing-speak name. This isn’t the first time I come to you in hopes of pinning down the color of a Nova of this vintage. The last time there were quite a few creative answers. Let’s see what we come up with this time.
Looks to be the same color as CARMINE’s Chevrolet Caprice:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/my-curbside-classic-1980-chevrolet-caprice-classic-it’s-the-new-chevrolet/
Naw….my Caprice is gold over cream, this is more of a serial killer reddish tan or holdup man copper formerly metallic.
The color will vary depending on eyewitness descriptions….
I’m going to hazard a guess that that is a 1978 Nova in Saffron, code #73.
I thought it might be a ’78 as well, having had one eons ago.
I cannot tell you the name of it, but I recognize it as a one-year-only 1975 GM paint color. It was copper when it was new. A good friend in high school’s father had a 75 Olds Custom Cruiser this color with a sort of medium brown interior.
Pretty much every color of GM lacquer failed to hold up well under constant exposure to the elements, but this copper shade weathered particularly badly. Every one I ever saw (and it was not a really popular color) faded badly within the first few years (taking on a pinkish tint), then eventually lost its gloss too. Too bad, I thought it was a pretty attractive color when new. (Of course, my avatar lets on that I have a thing for copper cars.)
A little more checking says it was called Light Saddle by Chevy, Canyon Copper by Olds, Copper Mist by Pontiac and Golden Tan by Buick. Whether it was the durability problem or its lack of popularity, the color was gone in 1976.
A badly faded Light Saddle sounds good to me. I don’t know when the trend to copper colors started, but one of the most memorable was the shade ‘Turbine Bronze’ used on the 1964 Chrysler Turbine car.
Although the car was never produced for general sale, the ‘Turbine Bronze’ was available in the Chrysler catalog for most models. I wonder if it faded as badly as the similar GM colors.
I definitely remember that colour on GM cars in the late 70s. Someone I knew owned a full-sized Pontiac in that colour. With no vinyl roof. This example has faded, and oxidized considerably. I also remember seeing it on the Phoenix and Novas. Perhaps an Astre. It wasn’t a popular colour. But was quite vibrant at the time. Given the wide palette of colours on cars that were common at the time, it didn’t look quite as garish as it does today on this sample. This Nova is a like a 30 year flashback… haven’t seen a Nova in that colour, in that passage of time.
In Atlanta they might call that “peach”
we have one pretty similar in our town:
photo didn’t attach, trying again…..
oh for crying out loud…… just have a imgur link then. http://i.imgur.com/mcrobR4.jpg http://i.imgur.com/Pt6iHCb.jpg
That could likely be a very faded 1977 color called “Mandarin”. We had a ’77 Cutlass Supreme in that color. Yuck.
Shaved cat?
One front Chevy truck style push bumper… attached to the back. Just when I thought I’d seen it all!
Not Caucasian Coral?
Nekkid
Primer red with a clearcoat on top of it?
I do believe that color is called “Theft Deterrent”
Or it could also be “Date Deterrent”.
That EJW #### plate is from the Summer of 2008; specifically August. For a 1970s vehicle in New York this Nova is nearly in mint condition, I remember looking at a running 76 Nova Hatchback for sale back in 2007 in Ithaca that was rustier and more of a basket case than this one so I passed up on it. Those Blue and White Empire Plates do look nice on this car (any vehicle for that matter), but the Gold and Blue Empire Plates would really enhance the retro (aka gone to seed 1970s) feel of these photos and blend in more with the other colors. That is one of the better looking New York roads I have seen.
However, this Nova could be a transplant to the Northeast and do not sound surprised. So far this decade I have seen a Reliant/Aries, at least one 1982-1987 Cavalier/Sunbird, a few first generation Tempos, and other 1980s vehicles brought to New York from more car friendly parts of the country. There are other vehicles as well, but too many to list.
it looks very similar to a paint colour Holden used in the mid seventies called Cyclamen. It was best described as a pinky brown or brownish pink.
Either way it was awful.
I bought a door in that colour stuck it on a HQ I shot it racing grey to match the rest of the car.
GM used a color called Cyclamen. It was a mish-mosh of blues and greens. Used on mid to late 90’s,early 2000’s Camaro and Firebird. It was kind of a poor mans “flip-flop” paint. It changed hues depending on the angle of your sight and the light source.
I remember that on Firebirds back when I sold Pontiacs.
Eczema.
Yogho ! Yogho ! Erdbeer/Himbeer
One comment regarding the 1975 to 1979 Novas and GM X-Bodies… I was always surprised at the number of exposed chrome fasteners visible on the front and rear bumpers. You can see eight of them on the front here. It gives the bumper a raw, unfinished look, like the plastic rub strip that should cover it, fell off. Even on brand new cars. I know bumper rub strips were often an option back then, but the X-Bodies really needed them to hide the fasteners and clean up the front and back end looks. I know the exposed fasteners were fairly common back then, but they seemed especially noticeable on the X-Bodies, given how many there were.
I’ve seen that one some of the 80’s Caprice’s too. I could never understand why the ’77-’79’s were designed with them so well hidden (with or without the strip they looked good)but after ’80 they stuck out like a sore thumb, front and back.
I believe that colour is known officially as “Camouflage-Among-The-Autumn-Leaves-Brown”, but is more colloquially known as “Hunter’s-Best-Friend”. The marketing slogan at the time was “Sick of sitting in a damp hide to hunt and shoot? Now, thanks to GM’s know-how can-do, you can hunt and shoot from the convenience of your naturally camouflaged Nova! The longer you keep it the more camouflaged it gets! Novaflage, available at a dealer near you!!”.
Spray Tan?
Not pink enough for Pepto Bismo, So I’ll go with Oxi Orange
I’d say a very faded Buckskin paint code 63. It can’t be from 1975 because this is either a 76 or 77 base Nova. Notice the grille and lack of bow tie emblems on the park lamps. I’m guessing 77. It can’t be Saffron. Look up the old Donovan song “Mello Yellow”. Yep that would be a shade of yellow. Cadillac used a lot of yellows called Saffron. Here’s a link. What do you think? http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?type=sample&paint=37056&ditzler=2970&syear=1977&smanuf=GM&smodel=Nova&sname=Buckskin
My only other guess would be one of the oranges that were available.
I’m still kinda leaning toward paint code ’78’. Olds called it “Mandarin” and Chevy called it…..”orange”. I didn’t realize CC had a pic of a Mandarin ’77 Olds (exactly like the one I used to occasionally drive)…
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classics-1977-cutlass-supreme-and-brougham-coupes-ccccc-part-8-coupe-supremacy/
More important than the color, this might be the only Nova of its generation that tracks straight. What a find that would be.
I say it’s faded Burnt Orange (paint code 66).
You’re probably right.
HEY PAUL — these things have an exterior hood release (under-bumper; pull towards you) and the cowl tag is located on the firewall by the brake booster — look on line 2 towards the right, just inboard of the “PNT” emboss.
The two-digit paint code will reveal the answer….just in case you spot this thing when it’s not on the run 😛
JB: Yeah; next time I find myself in New York, I’ll keep an eye out for it. I’m sure I’ll find it, eh? 😉
Oh sheeat. Genius here had evidently stayed up a little too late!
Hard to tell by how faded it is, but it does look to be some sort of a copperish orange color, such as the burnt orange of 1976.
I had the copper color on my ’74 Nova, and it was that acrylic lacquer paint that didn’t hold up too well and would fade, and get chalky, especially after a few years of sun exposure.
When I got it, it was 1983, and the car by then was nearly a decade old. I’d wax the car good, and within 3 months, it’d be fading and getting chalky, if not sooner. It was a pain to keep decent despite the age.
I also had a ’78 Nova, but it had that soft yellow, known as bright yellow (51) paint, though I don’t recall it getting chalky, just dull from exposure, though by 1985, the color wasn’t as pretty a shade.
It was fitted out much like this yellow Camaro from the same year, except the wheels were argent colored, and had the base tan vinyl interior with the base bench seat with the split seatbacks (being the 2 door, sadly, not the hatch version). It was lightly optioned out with AC, AM/8-track stereo and not much else outside of the 305 V8 and column automatic.
Some of these pre-clearcoat, older paint finishes respond very well to rubbing polish and/or rubbing compound. By removing the oxidized layer of paint on the surface.
Baby Sh!t Brown.
I had one. It’s called Buckskin Metalic. Mine was a 1977 Nova hatchback with bench seat, 3 speed factory floor shift, 305 cu. in., rally wheels and AM 8 track.