SO I have been buying parts and saving up to do some van work this spring/summer. One of the things I am planning on is having some body work done and getting a paint job. Originally I was going to go all black, but now I am second guessing that. Debating between black, red or blue. Figured I would see what you guys like. Post what you like, or don't like, and why. For reference, here is the van. The interior is a mix of blue and black. The plan is to replace the blue carpet with black as well as changing out the door panels to a brushed diamond plate. There still would be small amounts of exposed blue on the inside of the doors:


Red would be something along these lines. Black accents....grill, rims etc


The blue I would go with is the same as my Taurus.



Or I could go all black. Originally I was thinking a Satin black or Gloss black with Satin accents....but now I may just go all gloss.

 

Black is HARD to get looking good--you need ultra straight bodywork and a uniform gloss. Shows dirt immediately. Van will be an oven inside after sitting in the sun (I had a black van once). A bad black paint job looks terrible. If you are paying for a paint job, by the way, expect it to cost thousands...

Satin black is interesting and would be more forgiving, but I can't help but think it would polish out in areas where you clean bird poop off. What if you lightly scrape a tree branch and want to rub a section out? I have seen whole vehicles sprayed in urethane bed liner and that would be really tough in a good way but would be a big mess if you had to replace or repair any body parts.

White is absolutely the easiest color to put on and is most forgiving with imperfect body work, but looks bad if you have any rust issues. But EZ to paint a panel if you damage one. Stays cooler inside the van.

I would stay with a shade of blue, leaning toward a lighter tone but not so much that it looks baby blue. Alternatively a gray or silver would be nice but laying metallic paint on has its issues also.

Jeep/Dodge are doing a dark gray non-metallic (bruiser gray?) that would be a bit more forgiving than black, but not a lot more forgiving. Looks kind of tough and would be easy to match if you had to repaint a panel due to being non-metallic. Or a lighter gray non-metallic might be interesting.

Red with a blue interior would be kind of dumb IMO.

Good luck,
George

 

I kinda like the red exterior, but I had thought that the little bit of blue that would be left inside would look goofy. I know I could piant the interior exposed blue too, but this is my DD. Don't want to spend a ton, just want to make it decent looking for the next 200k+ miles. Not going white. I have already started converting the inside panels to black whenever I have to remove them for something. I have the trim about 90% done.

 

The darker the color, the more the van will be hot inside, and the more any compromised body work will show. The days of the $29.95 Earl Scheib paint job are no longer here...and they charged extra if you wanted your windows and tires masked off

Or if you do a dark color, consider two-toning it with a silver roof maybe?

I'm assuming you are somewhere other than the salt belt given the clean body on that van, but 200k more miles is probably optimistic and will sure burn a lot of gas

 

I live in northern Indiana, so heat isn't quite as big of an issue. When I lived in south Texas I never purchased a dark colored car due to heat issues. A different color roof might be an option. I also insulate with a lot of reflectix etc to try and minimize heat in the cabin.

They do salt the roads up here in the winter, but I try and take precautions. I have had the van undercoated. I also spend a bit of time at the car wash trying to clean out the wheel wells etc to try and minimize rust.

The van is an IDI Diesel with about 200K miles on it. With routine maintenance it should go 400k+ miles. If I am driving it that much longer I figure I might as well fix it up a little. Plus I go to Church with a guy who owns a body shop, so he gives me friendly pricing.......definitely not free, but good for the quality I get.

 

"Undercoating" can be a car killer. A thin material like Ziebart rustproofing (wax based) or oil/petroleum jelly based material sprayed into body cavities (Crown(?) as they use in Canada) can keep outer body panels from rotting. The biggest enemy in terms of rust-through is gonna be the salt and water inside your doors and fenders and you won't see any signs until it's already got cancer.

Traditional "undercoating" is asphalt or rubber based junk sprayed on the bottom of a vehicle, and over time, the stuff gets tiny cracks in it that hold salt and water which eat away your frame and lower body. It makes everything look nice and black, but usually in the end a vehicle is worse off if it is the traditional thick undercoat stuff. And undercoating does nothing to head off body cancer.

I've lived in Michigan for my whole life and have lost a lot of vehicles to rust.

Good luck. A friend in the body shop biz is a good thing to have. Labor is the biggest cost in any paint work and if he gives you a break, that's a good thing. But talk to him about rust issues in your area and do what you can to head them off. Your van is probably way too old for spraying waxy rustproofing into, but some of the oil based stuff might help.

George

 

I took it to Ziebart when I first got it. They couldn't warranty it, but they gave it the full treatment.

I have been looking at some of the products like Crown to spray on every fall before winter. Never gonna completely make it Rust proof, but just trying to keep it nice to drive for an extended period of time. Only way to keep it from rusting would be to garage it all winter.

 

Good on you. Ziebarting is rustproofing, not undercoating. What they spray on the bottom is just a heavier version of their waxy stuff, or at least it used to be, and that would not crack and become a water/salt trap. Shortly after I started driving in 1970 and tried to "fix" rust, I vowed to buy only Ziebarted cars, and had everything I owned rustproofed for many years if it wasn't already done.

I have a '91 BMW 318is that I've owned since 1994 and it saw a little bit of winter driving from 94-2000 (I had vans and used them as winter vehicles for the most part) but since then it has been a total garage queen. Looks great.

I bet you don't see other vans as old as yours on the road in Indiana very much, and if you do, they're probably rotted away pretty badly. I had a '73 Ford flatnose van circa 1986-88 and although it did not look *too* bad outside, the steering box broke off the weakened frame section (those were unibody vans) where it was attached... Sold it to a guy with welding connections and saw it still on the road maybe 5 years later.

 

I had this same issue with my 90 Civic.
It's blue with blue interior.

I really, really wanted to paint it red but I could not stomach read with blue jambs and blue interior.

So, my Civic is still blue.

If you're getting rid of most of the blue interior, paint it RED. Ford Performance Red

 

Ford's traditional racing color is blue with white stripes or white with blue stripes (look at the old Shelby Mustangs and Cobras or the original Ford GT's)... And their engines have always been blue. A blue like Ford engine blue with a white or silver top (to keep the van cooler inside) would be nice--and maybe go with non-metallic (I think Ford engine blue is non-metallic) to make panel touchup or replacement easier. I wouldn't put racing stripes on a van though... Or do a silver top and side panels...

 

I like the way the black is used as an accent on the red van I posted. A stripe at the bottom, the bumpers and grill. I just get the feeling the leftover blue on the inside would look goofy though.

I have always really liked the blue on my Taurus, but I am not sure how it would look with black accents like on the red van.

I would like the red, but I think it is just going to clash too much with the small amounts of blue that will be left. Maybe I need to take a serious look at how tough it would be to get rid of the blue on the inside. Problem is the dash is blue as well. Not really wanting to completely remove it to paint/stain it.

 

Black rockers on a van look good because they slim the huge barn-like side of the van.

That red van reminded me of the 1978 Ford "Cruising Van" and "Cruising (Pinto) Wagon"....these were kind of cool for the period--kind of factory conversion vehicles. Now if you could sub shades of blue instead of the red and yellow and stay with the silver and black, that might be fun. Although you don't have the porthole windows

 

I know you have those three colors in mind, but if I was going to paint it for myself, I think I'd go with Ford Bright Amber Met. I always liked the looks of it, and I think it would go well with the blue interior.

 

I am open to other ideas. Could you post a picture?

 

Make it match your Taurus