[tom406]

Okay, this is a good discussion and I feel qualified to add some more input.

SILVER-Ok, its not super rare to find an original silver car, but many have been repainted (like the black cherry car above), and silver is not a color that ages well in sunlight, so there aren't too many original paint cars to compare to. I think Cortez Silver is a dullish, dark silver. There's a loaded Cortez Silver Z/28 here in the Pacific NW, done by my friend in a modern, brighter silver, that is flat out stunning, and draws a crowd wherever it goes. We also got 35K for it before the market really took off. The color is brighter, but it still looks period correct, no mica chips or color changing nonsense. I would repaint a silver car this color in a heartbeat, especially with black or red trim. The other cool thing is that its not a love it or hate it color like Hugger Orange. Some may like it less than others, but nobody seems to really dislike it, this is key when you're selling to spouses who have to agree on the car. My silver comment was also given in the broad sense, where you don't see many early 60's Chevs or Mustangs in silver, but they look great-and different from the rest. I know there's more late 60's/early 70's Chevs in that, but we don't have the glut of silver Z's you guys speak of.

Some cars NEED a color change. Frost Green and the various light green, ivy gold variations that exist are almost unsellable in musclecars. If its also a column shift automatic, start finding floor shifts and better colors. White cars are tough, I personally like many of them, but MANY people don't. Turning a white car black is almost never a value reducer. If the body is straight enough, black is almost always a good resale with little downside.

As for "original paint" versus redoing...you have to use your judgement. I LOVE original paint cars. But I've seen beaten and scratched cars with horrid, touched up paint, that the owners crow about being original; however, if an average Joe looks at the car and says, "it needs paint", then it does. Sadly, often when you redo your "pretty good" original paint and "pretty nice" vinyl top, your "pretty decent" original interior is going to look like hell, and your "nice for factory chrome" bumpers will need a trip to the platers, and so on, and so on, and so on. Also your nice "survivor" suddenly becomes a "partial restoration" after that nice paint job is done, implying it now needs the finishing I stated above.