grille surround/hood moulding/headlight door stripe

[guy gadbois]

I started to post this in the generic 'body work' section, but decided to pose my question here due to the obviously superior aesthetic sensibilities of 66 and 67 owners as well as the deep well of esoteric knowledge found here...
There is a 'groove'/ indention around the headlight doors, along the hood moulding and 'grille surround of my 67 Belvedere II, like all 67 B bodies. Mine is painted white; it has obviously NOT been repainted and I am 99.9% sure it is original to the car as its a 44k mile car, the original owner kept it until his passing in 2019 and it has never been hit. Looking at the pieces and the 'fading' in the paint bolsters that supposition.
I never really thought about it until I made a mostly unsuccessful attempt at night time photography late last week, and it really 'popped' in a couple of pics, drawing my attention. Then i got to thinking and then I got to looking at photos on the internet and it seems that the photos back up my memory that the stripe is usually black.... So, any opinions or info on this? The car is an early production unit - 10 of 66 is my memory and was built in St Louis if that helps/matters.

 

[Jerry Hall]

I believe a Belvedere II would be white. Satellite would be light textured argent silver and the GTX would be dark textured argent silver.

 

[Jerry Hall]

Your car has a Satellite/GTX grill. There was no red/white/blue emblem on the Belvedere II grill.

 

[guy gadbois]

Thanx Mr Hall. Knew someone here would know.
Seems like most of the photos I saw with 'image search' showed cars with the black surround stripe; assume that replacement parts or any repop may have the black/dark argent stripe since the GTX is certainly the most popular [?]
And the red/white/blue thingie was added?!? Too bad he didnt add a GTX engine also...

 

[R413]

I have seen Belvedere and Belvedere II cars with black or white paint on the outer grille. I couldn’t figure out a reason why. Build date, build plant, small block or big block, 2 door, 4 door, etc.

The textured argent paint can fade over time. I started in these cars in the mid 80’s and the GTX and Satellite grilles look like they were the same color to me, but I realize these cars were 18 years old by then. Even
Poking at survivors all the textured argent grilles look dark to me. I have a trunk panel,from a GTX they faced south in the desert and the paint looks like textured silver, all the color has faded out to a sparkly silver.

Your car looks like it has a Belvedere grill with the RWB emblem added. If you blow up the photo this emblem is installed above the mid line of the grille where it belongs. Best to remove it for a correct look.

 

[copper67sat]

All of my 67's, 2 Satellites and 2 Belvedere II's, have black around the headlights and on the hood lip. The only difference being that the Satellites are argent while the Belvedere's are not textured. All were built in St. Louis. I think earliest build date I have is Jan 67.

I have seen a few with white, same as the OP's. Personally, I prefer the black, but would leave it as original.

 

[guy gadbois]

I have seen Belvedere and Belvedere II cars with black or white paint on the outer grille. I couldn’t figure out a reason why. Build date, build plant, small block or big block, 2 door, 4 door, etc.

The textured argent paint can fade over time. I started in these cars in the mid 80’s and the GTX and Satellite grilles look like they were the same color to me, but I realize these cars were 18 years old by then. Even
Poking at survivors all the textured argent grilles look dark to me. I have a trunk panel,from a GTX they faced south in the desert and the paint looks like textured silver, all the color has faded out to a sparkly silver.

Your car looks like it has a Belvedere grill with the RWB emblem added. If you blow up the photo this emblem is installed above the mid line of the grille where it belongs. Best to remove it for a correct look.

View attachment 1147102

There - that better?

 

[Jerry Hall]

There - that better?
View attachment 1147255

Still in great shape.

 

[AR67GTX]

Interesting - guess I never noticed one with white trim before. Probably a typo on a purchase order to the supplier.