1983Chimaera

I have a 1988 LB9 hardtop IROC-Z, originally Bright Red and has a gray interior. The car was given a horrible white Earl Scheib paint job by the previous owner. No care was take to mask the car properly, nor was the body sanded or prepped in any way apparently as huge sections have flaked off over the years. The body is straight thankfully, even after a front end fender bender. Now comes the fun part;

I had thought to paint the car GM Atomic Orange, and had already stripped and painted the engine compartment that color. It's ready for the engine now, but I don't want to drop it in until I've settled on a final color. I would rather NOT redo the engine compartment again, so I'm asking for opinions here.

I've thought about painting it black, since I really like the look of a black third gen, and this one is straight bodied enough to do it. If so, can I leave the engine compartment Atomic Orange if I do rally stripes in that color (same style as on my 83 Z/28)? Or should I again strip and repaint the engine compartment to make it black as well? I personally like the idea of the AO engine compartment, as black painted ones kinda "swallow up" detail. I don't think the car in black would look right with the AO engine compartment but without the rally stripes, but I also don't know how the stripes would look with the IROC badging. I will probably have custom Atomic Orange IROC door decals made to match if I go this route. I may or may not do the lower body striping, if I do they would be AO as well.

If I go Atomic Orange for the car, what color decals should I use? Black, white, silver?

The third option is to again strip the engine compartment and go back to the original Bright Red. This is my least favored option, as 1. I'm not a huge fan of red cars to begin with, 2. The only part of the car that is still Bright Red is the doorsills, hood, and exposed interior (underside of hatch, etc), and 3. It's the most common color they were produced in so not really "rare" enough to make it any more desireable. Really the only saving grace to this route is I wouldn't have to paint doorsills and such, but that seems a minor inconvenience at worst.

Below is the car as it sits now;



Here's the engine compartment in Atomic Orange (dusty from sitting over the winter). The strut tower caster/camber plates, K-member, steering gear, lower subframe and all hardware have been painted gloss black.



The next question is depending on which final color I go with, what color should I paint the engine? I generally avoid painting engines black, mainly because it makes any fluid leaks that much harder to see and trace. I also am not a fan of orange, especially in this case if the engine compartment is going to stay AO. I thought perhaps silver? The other option would be GM Engine Blue, the same I used on my 327. Again, I'm thinking what wouldn't outright clash with the engine compartment or exterior.

So that's it. If anyone has a suggestion for a different color entirely let me know. Things to keep in mind;

1. I want to stick with single stage paint, and avoid clearcoats. So no pearl suggestions, please.

2. I know silver looks incredible on these cars, but I also know silver cars are invisible in poor weather. Silver metalflake also tends to deteriorate more quickly than other colors in this climate.

3. My wife hates white cars. Otherwise I would paint it back to all white, put a giant "Apple" decal on the back window, and custom "iROC-Z" decals on the door and sell it to the first idiotic hipster that came along.

4. This is going to be an at-home, DIY job, so the simpler the better. I"m not looking for multi-color schemes, clever graphics, or anything more complicated than can be done in a single weekend with help from friends. Down the line it will get a professional paint job where I can take the car to a shop and have the entire process (hopefully) done correctly. For now I'm piecing this thing back together in my spare time with scrounged parts and extremely limited budget. I'm putting paint on it to prevent corrosion, not win awards.

UltRoadWarrior9

How 'bout a copper or bronze? Like that firewall... Don't see to many of those.

1983Chimaera

The Atomic Orange is already pretty much a copper. I need to re-take that firewall pic, once the dust is removed it brightens up a LOT. I personally don't feel it would clash with the black body, especially with rally stripes, but I want to gauge opinion as well. As for bronze, too much of an 80's color for me (and not big into browns in general).