1970 Cadillac Superior

Mike Owens

PCS Member


PCS Wizards, these are Bessie's Firewall nameplates, besides the manufacture date, what tidbits can you see here..what is the paint number?
 
you will need to be a site supporter to post the picture. I don't have a picture of the 70 superior tag but here is a 69. the build plate only list body and sill numbers and date of manufacture the paint code would be on a separate tag that was one of the peal and stick kind. most of them have gotten lost over time. the paint numbers are superiors and there is no cross reference to them.
 

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Finally able to post picture...I assume the date is the date of manufacture. What else can you PCS Wizards tell me about the info on these two plates???
And was the paint # indicated on the black plate the white paint from GM? I assume it was painted red by Superior but where would the red paint # be?

:applause:
 
we can tell it's a early 70. with a November 13 1969. build date. the gm tag is not stamped for paint code, as the chassis was incomplete when it left the factory. the sill number is the number given to the car from superior. the back side of the parts will have that number wrote on them. it's the way the keep the right parts on the right car. the body number is believed to be the number of the car in that run.
 
1970 Superior Cadillac

Thanks, John I knew you would come through. So is there another plate somewhere that would have the original red paint # on it??? These are on the driver's side firewall by the windshield...
 
What is commonly called the data plate on the fire wall, was attached by the Fisher Body plant, and it has the codes that the body was built to. In this case, there are 2. P21 and 452. I haven't been able to locate anywhere that these code are deciphered. Comparing your data plate to other 1970 data plates might help to figure this out. If all the commercial chassis data plates for 1970 are the same, then that would indicate that those 2 numbers are Commercial Chassis designations only. Since the paint number wasn't stamped, that meant that the cowl and chassis was shipped unpainted. Since the front fenders and hood were painted on a separate line, and then mated up to the cowl and chassis, they were usually painted one of 2 colors.... Black or white. A lot of what has been learned about how the cars were shipped has come from the people that worked at Miller Meteor in Piqua Ohio.
 
there would be no way to determine what superior used on the original body except comparing. the paint code tag is the one I posted it was a typed foil tag. that was a glue on . the numbers on it are the numbers superior assigned to there color. there are no superior books left and there is no cross reference to say GM codes. so all we know for a fact on the original colors is, it is 1970 or below. usually GM. usually the same year as the car. they did have a few favorites they would offer and they did paint fleet colors on request. the best place to find a original color is under moldings. once you have a original sample it can be taken to a automotive paint supplier and the compared to color chips there. most now have the reader if you can get a big enough piece to take a reading they can match it up that way.

but even if you could find a superior paint code you could not use it to order paint to match. MM are different they used the GM code. then if I remember right S&S just put down a name they liked.
they all did that different. the only true color is black.
 
As I said early on when I joined, be patient with me, never done this pro-car thing before. As I did more searching, I found the color plate as attached. I know there was discussion on different shades of red, is Dakota Red what I want to restore Bessie to, or is there another red that will give more eye appeal?
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Color

In my opinion,I always do what pleases ME the most,looks good and hopefully not straying from the original color to much.
If your going to to do a 100% correct restoration then you will more then likely have to go with the original colors as were on the ambulance when she was new.
But as I said I like to do a slight color variation,still keeping with authenticity but making it appeal to ME.There are literally hundreds of shades of red and just as many shades of white.
Whatever you decide she will look amazing when you are finished !!
Good Luck with her!!!!....... and this is just :my2cents:....
 
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Who knows what Dakota Red is? GM used the same name for a color over many years, but without knowing the exact year of the color you wanted to use, you had a wide choice of different hues of the same color. The color name remained the same, but the code changed with the variation of hue or intensity from year to year.
 
Since the door jambs weren't painted they are most likely is the original red. You might also take the gas cap door or a fender skirt off and get down to the original paint and have it matched.
 
GM code 50 is a washed out gold color. so matching up chips is the way you need to go. if the paint store has a color reader then rub out a spot on the door jam and they can match it that way. were did you find the paint code on the 70?
 
1970 Superior Cadillac

Passenger side firewall next to hood hinge. The other two plates posted earlier were in the same location on the driver's side. I need to find a good spot of the original red, clean it up and see how that looks. I don't think she has air in the back, but the fresh air vent in the roof. After rain, she leaks around the fresh air vent. Again thanks PCS mentors for your patience and support.
 
Mike, it's all up to you. Every service that owned an ambulance painted it whatever color they wanted, so any color (really, ANY color) is possible to be used on an ambulance. And they were often repainted. There's no real "standard" red.

If I were you, I'd check with a paint shop and see just what "Dakota Red #50" looks like on a paint chip. Or look at the spot of the original color if you can find it. If you like it, then that's your color. Done. If you don't like it, look through the book and pick a color you like.

My ambulance, I had the color on the nameplate, and I wasn't sure. But the shop sanded the later color (orange) off the hood and found a decent section of the original color, "Flamengo Red", and I loved it. And that is the red color on my ambulance. It's not what you normally see (it has, to me, a little bit of blue in it), but it looks good.
 
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