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1931 Cadillac colors

Started by Keith McGowan, September 19, 2008, 03:42:29 PM

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Keith McGowan

I am about to take 9 months or so off work to finish the restoration of our 1931 Cadillac V 8 Town Sedan. The chassis is painted maroon. I have 5 questions to start.
Is maroon a correct color for a 1931 chassis?
If so, what color combinations would have been used with it?
If not, what colors were used on the 1931 chassis?
What color combinations were used with the different colors?Does anyone have any 1931 Cadillac paint chips they wish to sell?
Thank you in advance for any help I get.  Keith McGowan    253-841-1126 in Washington State  oldcars@comcast.net

Warren Rauch

 I will try to give you some info I've collected ,since I have an identical car.
  From some papers that Earl W Velander (he was a club adviser on 31 Caddy ,maybe for this CluB)donated to the AACA Library.Refering to a July 1930 Cadillac color chart for 355,Title "Series 355 v8 Color Combinations-Town Sedan-31252".First there are 4 Combinations, 18(black/dark blue);19(black/med grey);29 (2 tone brown) & 21(black/med gray/dark green) with how each is painted. then under it " Fender-Chassis- Black on all the above combinations. Colored chassis and fenders on sport models"The Town sedan was a conservative body style, sport models were the open cars.
Another listing is from Rinshed -Mason(RM) a paint supplier to Cadillac. It lists Combinations 30,32,34,35,36,&37Numbers 30 &34 were both maroons. With thes combinations Rear quarters, upper panels, mouldings were Black; lower panels,window reveal were the maroon (30-garnet maroon RM #20471 (My chip is from32,but same name med Maroon); 34- Viceroy Maroon (dark almost black)); door saddle 30-cerise red,34-Flamingo Carmine; stripe  gold bronze.
Also take a look at the culb Lasalle book .They list all the color combinations  used on Lasalles for 1931. I note that only one color is listed for fender/chassis. So they must have painted the frames to match the fenders. Warren

Keith McGowan

Thank you for the information.
   I think I need to add some further information. My car is number 800302, shipped by Cadillac on Aug. 21, 1930. The roof, rear quarters and upper panels were Lama Gray, while the moulding and lower panels were Brewster Gray Dark. The fenders, wheel spokes and chassis were black. The stripe was English Vermillion.
   The person who started the restoration of this car painted the chassis maroon, the entire car black, and the wheels are powder coated gray.
   The photos show the car as I brought it home. The paint looks spectacular, without any waves or ripples. Unfortunately, the professional painter ran out of paint part way through, and got more black paint to finish the car. It is a different black. This can only be seen when the car is outside in the sun. The seller did make me aware of this before I bought the car. Since I do not care for the maroon chassis I think I will dissassemble the chassis and turn it black. The wheels I will leave gray as they are beautiful. I just need to decide what color to paint the car.  I do not know what Lama Gray and Brewster Gray Dark, or any of the other 1931 Cadillac colors look like. Can anyone help me there.     Keith

Warren Rauch

 I can give you a little more information,but I only have chips back to 1932.The combination you have is similair to number19 the exception being the roof which on 19 is black.Paint numbers from this time can rarely be mixed. Lama Gray is Duco#2445512/RM #21155(described as a medium gray);Brewster Gray Dark is Duco# 2446431/RM #21154 and English Vermillion  Duco #2884182. At this time colors were changed sometimes monthly,this combination was in the July1930 set. Warren

Keith McGowan

I have just received a brochure, thanks to Bob Hoffman,  that lists the 1931 Cadillac V 8 colors for all of the models for July 1930. It includes paint chips for all of the colors and information on how the bodies were painted, for each body style. If anyone needs help with early 1931 V 8 paint colors, please contact me and I will do what I can to help.    Keith McGowan  253-841-1126, Pacific coast time.