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History / OriginalityGot a question about 1982-1992 Camaro or Firebird history? Have a question about original parts, options, RPO codes, when something was available, or how to document your car? Those questions, answers, and much more!
I don't have the codes, but my buddy is restoring a 1983 Z28. It's all orginal except the lower spoilers were body color. The body color is white with blue interior. His body shop guy swears the color codes state the lower spoilers were blue in color with matching blue wheels.
I don't recall seeing a lower blue color. Does anyone know if his guy is true.
Attached is a picture of one of the wheels and lower spoiler in the blue color. He does plan to add the correct stripes along the bottom.
That's just ... pardon my expressing my opinion, but ... utt bucking fugly. Hideous. Heinous. Grievous. And not very attractive besides.
Only ground effects colors I can recall were silver & gold. Most were silver; only gold ones I remember were with black, and that metallic brown, and occasionally white.
The color painted on the spoiler in the pic looks like GM Light Blue code WA8238. That color was available in 1983 on the Camaro. I am not sure if it was available as a lower spoiler color but you could get a whole car in that color.
I didn't see anything from 1982-1984 on the ground effects colors in any of the three archives. I do have this photo of a 1983 cross fire Camaro, 1982 or 1983 only, with the charcoal ground effects.
Thanks for the response guys....he intends to retain the blue color for now. I only recall gold/silver/charcoal around the Z28s from 82-87. The later RS models had some other interesting colors like Red/Purple/Teal as i recall. Those never appealed to me nor the RS model in general. Always liked the Z28s and owned 3 of them.
I don't recall seeing any charcoal spoilers on 83s; seems like that appeared in 84. But I could be wrong. OTOH, if it was a Crossfire car only option, then I wouldn't have been paying any attention anyway.
I didn't see anything from 1982-1984 on the ground effects colors in any of the three archives. I do have this photo of a 1983 cross fire Camaro, 1982 or 1983 only, with the charcoal ground effects.
Hey Scott, Look on page 14 of the pdf archive at this link on the “equipment summary” page it shows the 83 Z28 as standard with gold or silver accents.
Also the photos you attached looks like an 84 car an not 83. There is no side or rear bumper pic to indicate it is a crossfire car and that looks like the standard hood without the flaps for the crossfire.
I have never seen a charcoal 83 car. I agree with Sofakingdom 84 was the first year for charcoal.
I will also add that in the 84 gm archive kit on page 8 of this PDF it shows if you ordered a silver car you got charcoal lowers. No indication of charcoal anywhere in the 83 guide. https://www.gmheritagecenter.com/doc...let-Camaro.pdf
GM was doing some crazy stuff in the 80's so saying anything is definite is hard. Here is an all original with 53k. Paint code WA8238...
Does not look all original if it has black GTA wheels. Let’s see an rpo code sticker on this car to see the paint codes. This pic shows nothing but a pic of a ground effect on an unknown car.
Ok. I enlarged the photo to see that it has the standard hood flaps, so my picture proves nothing other than these were good looking cars from the front!!!
I could've sworn that charcoal was available in '83, but I have no evidence of it anywhere.
Regardless, light blue was not available any year on the ground effects of a Z28.
Ok. I enlarged the photo to see that it has the standard hood flaps, so my picture proves nothing other than these were good looking cars from the front!!!
I could've sworn that charcoal was available in '83, but I have no evidence of it anywhere.
Regardless, light blue was not available any year on the ground effects of a Z28.
it is a great photo! Agreed, no light blue on ground effects ever.
I wonder if those "blue" ground effects are actually a silver mix gone wrong? I remember that I gave the paint code to a paint store to mix some up for my '83's ground effects and they came out kind of bluish. I then cross referenced some off the shelf rattle can Duplicolor and the color was perfect.
Does not look all original if it has black GTA wheels. Let’s see an rpo code sticker on this car to see the paint codes. This pic shows nothing but a pic of a ground effect on an unknown car.
here are the paint codes...hope they come out clear...what do you guys think?
I could've sworn that charcoal was available in '83, but I have no evidence of it anywhere.[/QUOTE]
I know it's hearsay without a pic, but I had a neighbor back in the late 80s that had a silver/charcoal 83 CFI car. It really sticks out in my mind because I thought it was a really unusual combination at the time. I'm old enough to have seen and made a mental note of just about every third gen I ever saw from the beginning, and I saw that car every day for 18 months.
I was buying 83 Z28s in 83, (well, 82, actually...) but I was ignoring the CFI ones because they SUCKED. For that matter, so did the LG4 ones. I kept my money in my pocket until I could get a L69 one, since there was already buzz on the streets that GM was planning a 200!!!!! HP 305 soon. They didn't miss it by much, in the event.
The 82 pace car looked SO BAD-A$$, it literally knocked my underwear inside-out. I remember to this day the first time I saw one. I was driving home from work in early Sept 81 on Getwell Rd (recently renamed from Shotwell after they built a VA hospital on it) in Memphis. Hot as hell afternoon. I damn near filled the cup on the spot. I HAD TO have one. Until, that is, I drove one. All the ones near me, maybe all period, were CFI; and my 1st experience with that was in a rent-a-hooptie not too long before that, wherein I rented a Citation or some such bog. 2.5L, TBI. It ran "good"; cranked right up, always smooth and well-behaved, good mileage, more or less "OK" power for that kind of car in that day; but NO WHOOMA WHOOMA whatsoever, not even for that steaming bucket of monkey plop 4-cyl that they came with. Ran like a tractor. Doesn't matter how much HP the tag says one of those has, it's not going to win a race with a muscle car. Then what to my wondering eyes should appear inside that GORGEOUS pace car at the stealership, but EXACTLY TWICE the same thing: 5.0L, 2 TBIs. And that's EXACTLY what it ran like, was 2 Citations, except heavier. I cannot emphasize enough, the Camaro ran EXACTLY the same as the Citation. (Celebrity? Corsica? there were a bunch of utterly forgettable turds back then) Total lack of excitement, sport, thrill, ... woulda made a great grocery cart setup though. One of the cardinal disappointments in my constantly and altogether disappointing "life". (or rather, what I have had all these years instead of a "life") Like I said, I kept my money in my pocket. And likewise, quit paying any attention whatsoever to any car that said "Cross Fire Injection" on the rocker panels.
Oh well, I digress... I don't recall seeing anything but silver & gold on any car I can remember back in the day. But that doesn't mean that there weren't charcoal ones, only, that if there were, I can't remember em.
Obviously by seeing these photos, the ground effects and wheels were done in a mod shop. I previously owned an 85 back in the day and I knew everything there was about these cars and actually lived down the street from a Chevy dealership that I used to stop and look at the Camaros walking home from school. Finally when I turned age and got my license, I bought my first Camaro, It wasn't a Z28 but it was mine. Without going on further, between 82-87 that I walked by that dealership, I never seen this combo..EVER. Which again, leads me to believe it was a mod job. This however doesn't mean it was never produced but something I have never seen.
I can tell you beyond all shadows of doubt that Chevrolet never created a 1982-1992 light blue ground effects car that was sold to the public. The only options were silver, gold and charcoal when the cars were two-toned.
If you look at the pic in post 11, you can see the black/silver/grey stripe kit. Had the GFX actually been blue, the strip kit woulda been blue too. On any car You have a main color and an accent color. It's a design thing. MY 89 Iroc is all red paint, gold accents. (wheels/decals). On early Z28's, the first color was the main body, and the GFX and stripe kit always match. You'd never have white body, blue GFX, silver (neutral) accent stripes. Never. Fashion police would have your a$$.
I had a neighbor down the street from me and he had a silver crossfire Z28 with charcoal ground effects and charcoal wheels. As a kid I would walk to the chevy dealer near my house to look at the new cars and I remember a red one also with the charcoal ground effects and wheels. Not a very common combination.
Here is a 1985 I believe those charcoal GFX/wheels were available till 1987.
so the end of the paint story...he had the blue repainted back to the Silver color with matching wheels. I think it turned out well. Thanks guys for the information which backed up my claim. Here are a few pictures of the car when he picked it up last week. It's a 84, nothing special code-wise, BUT is all original so that counts for something.
The more I look at it, the more I'm convinced someone screwed up the silver mix at a previous repaint.
Looking through the 1983 PPG GM paint chips makes me wonder how many times an incorrect steel blue was used when a car was painted by code, rather than by matching.
That's MUCH better. Still doesn't look "perfect", but MUCH better nonetheless.
I agree....the paint still looks 'dark' to me...i believe the silver used back then was a lighter shade of silver. Oh well, it does look good. Looking forward to driving it next weekend.
so the end of the paint story...he had the blue repainted back to the Silver color with matching wheels. I think it turned out well. Thanks guys for the information which backed up my claim. Here are a few pictures of the car when he picked it up last week. It's a 84, nothing special code-wise, BUT is all original so that counts for something.
so the end of the paint story...he had the blue repainted back to the Silver color with matching wheels. I think it turned out well. Thanks guys for the information which backed up my claim. Here are a few pictures of the car when he picked it up last week. It's a 84, nothing special code-wise, BUT is all original so that counts for something.
The colors look a little off in that photo. Specifically, notice how the sky is yellow, and the ground is white... The blue stripes trick the eyes to make the argent look bluish. If you isolate the gfx they're silver.
The blue stripes really trick your eye into thinking the silver is blue as well. This car is on eBay right now, and clearly has silver wheels and ground effects. But, get it at the right angle, and this happens..... This is the only picture on their ad where it looks like the wheels and ground effects have a blue tint. Just tricks your eyes for some reason...
02-14-2018, 07:52 AM
it is a great photo! Agreed, no light blue on ground effects ever. 
Looking through the 1983 PPG GM paint chips makes me wonder how many times an incorrect steel blue was used when a car was painted by code, rather than by matching. 
That's just what I thought when I saw it. 
