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The paint scheme on a car can be very individualistic. Now that we have all the metal work [2]done on Project Swinger [3], our ’71 Nova, it’s time to start deciding how we would like to paint the car. Our goal for the car is to create the ultimate pro-touring car. With this goal in mind, we want to do Swinger justice with its exterior paint.
[4]We have considered laying down a slick gunmetal [5] gray paint on Swinger. Not only would this paint scheme match the gunmetal Forgeline wheels that are on the car, it would also make the Nova look sleek and aggressive.
Although gray isn’t exactly a vibrant color, if we used a candy paint, we could give the paint job just enough of a pop to make it unique. But will gunmetal gray really do our Nova justice?
When we got Swinger, it came slathered in bright yellow paint. While we’re not sure if the yellow paint was the original color of the car, it is very true to the era.
Whether it’s the same yellow that’s already on a few pieces of Swinger or a different shade, we could take the car back to its beginnings and paint it a sunny hue. This would make room for the use of metallic paints.
[6]While a single color on Swinger could be nice, rocking a matte black hood could give Swinger a unique look. Racing stripes in a contrasting color could also be applied over the yellow paint for a classic look.
While bright yellow paint is true to the early ‘70s, it might be too bright for what we are looking for. Pro-touring cars are meant to have the traditional muscle car stance and body but with improvements. Bright yellow might be too much of a blast from the past.
There is something to be said about a “sleeper”- a car that stereotypically looks like a pile but dominates when it comes to ruling the road. While sleepers are usually very pretty, leaving your car as a sleeper allows all the attention to be drawn to what the car is really made of. We want Swinger to get attention but don’t need it to get attention for its paint job.
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A stock color, something rather drab, or even a matte color could aid us in creating a sleeper. But this begs the question if Swinger would be a true pro-touring car then. Pro-touring is about a look, one of which the sleeper look doesn’t really fit into. However, this could be our chance to actually stand out while trying to lay low.
[8]Image: SAAC [9]
Here at powerTV, we aren’t opposed to ideas that are a bit out-there. Need I remind you, we are considering chalkboard paint for Project Blank Slate, our ‘69 Camaro? For Swinger, we could follow suit and paint our Nova in something a bit out of the ordinary.
While I would personally cry if we went with this, my first instinct for a strange paint job is camouflage. I bet some of you are thinking I’ve got to be kidding, right? While it may be blasphemous to paint a classic muscle car in camo, something kind of crazy could really work on the car- it’s just deciding how crazy we’d want to go that’s going to be the difficult part.
We are obviously undecided on the best paint scheme for Project Swinger. We look forward to toying with more ideas and figuring out the perfect paint job for our pro-touring beauty. No matter how we decide to paint Swinger, it is sure to gain attention in its own right.