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Hi,
I have experience and thoughts on GT’s.
I still have a ‘78 GT, since new, that had that silver strip in the recess. It cracked first and I peeled out in about ten years.
My whole car came in silver with those thin black and orange racing stripes.
Even in the seats have the orange trim in the center.
I did not put them back on the hood or trunk or later as those strip in the bumpers left. Sort of helped makes the air dam blend in, of which, I also took off from being stone pitted!
If I would have replaced them I’d use flexible bumper paint that I’m sure would have done better against the elements that that sticky tape.
The clear coat starting hazing away in just a couple or three years from new.
Back at that time,1983, I got the whole car repainted in a single stage silver DuPont Imron Polyurethane Enamel for $500. You pay that much for the paint now!
This was the new thing in the early eighties and sort of exclusive to long haul tractor trailer trucks.
It had a slightly more metallic look but was also a slightly darker and not so smooth a silver.
I was learning not to be so vain about new cars! This one was the used by the Volvo dealership “service manager” benefits car. Got it with 8,000 miles for about $8,000. It’s over 350K now!
Still all original but showing and riding like it. I just thump around locally with it.
As it turns out, this was the color of the future. As so many makes and models are running around that way even today!
Volvo hasn’t looked back wishing they still had those weird outdated colors of the early eighties.
I think, I did buy a tiny Volvo box of black stripes, for too much and might still have them. If they did stick on, they probably won’t now at this juncture. Maybe they could be done over, with an adhesive but the paint job has finally died several years ago. You could say it helped brak up the big bumper look on the rear!
Maybe it could be restored but forget ant two stage paint systems in silver!
If I were Spending several thousands of dollars, on back dating the old car, that would have to be a careful and a very loving calculation.
I too like keeping things original or very close to it. Back then, I was waking up to the fact that the “old long tooth” called “depreciation” has killed a many of “loves” between owners and the word totaled! When it comes to kids toys and that type of junk, cars have to be the next worse investment on the planet!
Leaving the stripes off actually removed that dated look that was shunned as being gimmicky.
Not sure that European rally cars were all on the “uptake” back then.
You can look like you have a muscle car all you want, but that was a snicker, in the real horsepower crowd of 40 years ago! Today, you can burn black donuts on pavement and there is no exhibition of speed tickets!
Yep, you can hear the fans scream, while in that cloud of smoldering rubber smoke instead of being at the other end of the track, breathing fresher air! Never did like the drags!
Sure it would or did (?) and supposedly devalue my car from being original, but in reality, they just didn’t sell that many of them. Rarity or value comes from its low production numbers more than it looks or performance.
All this was just before Volvo started getting the idea to compete and spurt forward to go turbo!
Anyhow, time has moved on and that’s my thoughts on your request on the stripes.
Good luck on your project car!
Phil
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