1954 Interior/Exterior Color Combination

[Tony R.]

My father purchased a '54 in 1963. In the late sixties/early seventies he did a refresh (motor and transmission refresh, carpet and seat covers on the interior, repaint exterior). I am undertaking a restoration now. The interior is beige, the top is beige, and the exterior is white. From what I have gleaned from Nolan Adams' book and the current NCRS TIM and Judging Guide, this is not a factory combination. However, my father says that the interior was beige/brown when he bought it and so he re-did it that way. We don't really have any photos to document what happened back then.

What I suspect happened is that it had a red interior, that the red interior faded to a dark brown over time, my dad thought it was brown, and he replaced it with a brown/beige interior. The reasons I have this theory are listed below.

-Steering column (under hood) is red
-Red paint found under the current white paint on the lip under the fuel tank cover between the tank and the seats
-A restorer who focuses on early corvettes told me that the red interiors can fade to a dark brown

What gives me some pause is that I wouldn't think a red interior would fade to brown by the time my dad bought it, at which point the car was only about 10 years old. However, it is a convertible, I suppose.

NCRS community - Is this a reasonable theory or am I missing something? Could I have a rare combination? Thoughts/pointers/other details for me to check?

Thank you in advance!!

[Tony R.]

Re: 1954 Interior/Exterior Color Combination

Here is a better shot of the fuel tank area that shows the lip between the seats and the fuel tank area and how there seems to be some red paint under the white paint.

Also, I have no reason so far to believe that the exterior was ever anything other than white. However, when I get to paint removal sometime in the future, we will know for sure.

Thanks.

[Bob R.]

Re: 1954 Interior/Exterior Color Combination

Just about anything could have happened in the first 10 years of a cars life. Maybe the car originally had a Pennant Blue exterior and tan interior. I've seen un-restored 53 and 54 cars with a red interior and they did not fade enough to make you think they were originally tan or brown. Pennant Blue is the only exterior color that had a tan interior. The red paint you see might be the red primer which was used.

[Randy G.]

Re: 1954 Interior/Exterior Color Combination

I've never seen any original red dash cars fade to brown. I suspect someone took some liberties a long time ago. When I stripped the dash on my Pennant Blue 54 because someone repainted it the incorrect tan color to match the seats, the original bronze was under several layers of thick sandable primer.

[Chris S.]

Re: 1954 Interior/Exterior Color Combination

The red fades to brown
The carpet and seats look brown from exposure
If you remove them and flip them over you will see they are red
Several I have taken apart look very brown.
If the column is red and there is a paint line found on top of the doors, under the windshield, etc....I am pretty sure the car was Polo white with a red interior.