[70FormulaRAIII]

http://www.lov2xlr8.no/brochures/pontiac/70pf/70pf.html

I stole this link from another thread. Based on the phots we have so far, I'm thinking maybe there were different tones of sandalwood used during production. Maybe between Norwood and Van Nuys. Mine is a Norwood car and it looks similar to the one in this old brochure from 1970. Others look lighter. Maybe the broshure is saddle and not sandalwood. Then again, they are photos from a different era, different lighting, etc.

[tabob]

You cannot judge color from that photo. The lighting was artistic by design and not intended to show true color. As others have pointed out, it is very difficult to judge subtle color differences when the colors varied in the original photo, the print of the photo that was published, the process used to print the photo, the paper it was printed on, the process used to scan it, the monitor used to dispaly it, etc, etc. The real questions are, did Norwood and Van Nuys use the same fabrics and plastics from the same source (if so they were the same when installed), are the "original" cars being used to judge them by still dispalying the same subtle color shades that exited originally after 40 years of wear (doubtful) and are the original materials in the original colors still available or reproduceable (doubtful).

A sandlewood interior from 1970 is one of my favorites. Having said that, if I were to own a 1970 firebird with a sandlewoof interior, I would want it to be low mileage original with an interior in excellent condition, as it would be very hard to restore to an original condition.

[RAFormulas]

Originally Posted by 70FormulaRAIII

I just snapped a couple pics of Christeen. The panels are original, but they are missing the bird emblem. I don't know how it attaches. Is this something that could have fallen off or do you think maybe it was just a factory error?

Your door panels are CORRECT... you are NOT missing the bird emblem... the early 1970 PW cars (not sure of cut off date) did not have the HOLE for the crank window lever which was filled with the plastic bird decor.

Please be careful with this car, there are many things that were different on the early 1970 Firebirds that some people will try to tell you are incorrect, when in fact they are. You are doing the right thing by posting here, there are many people on this forum who will set you straight on what's correct and what's not.

Good luck with making this car correct. It's a beautiful car, and I think you got an awesome deal on it... if I had room when it was for sale, it would be in my garage and not yours ;-)

[2manyT/A'S]

Originally Posted by 70FormulaRAIII

http://www.lov2xlr8.no/brochures/pontiac/70pf/70pf.html

I stole this link from another thread. Based on the phots we have so far, I'm thinking maybe there were different tones of sandalwood used during production. Maybe between Norwood and Van Nuys. Mine is a Norwood car and it looks similar to the one in this old brochure from 1970. Others look lighter. Maybe the broshure is saddle and not sandalwood. Then again, they are photos from a different era, different lighting, etc.

Methinks the interior in the brochure is Saddle,not Sandalwood.

Here are some 1970 Saddle interior trim pics.

The first picture shows a 70 saddle console beside a 71 Sandalwood (I believe)

Picture 2 & 3 show contrast between console & seats.

Picture 4 is 1970 Saddle Custom Trim door panel

For Saddle in 1970 Firebird,the dash,console & carpet were darker than seats,door panels,headliner,etc.

As I understand it,in 71 & 72,Saddle became one color only,same as dash/console on 70.

[70FormulaCA]

Originally Posted by 2manyT/A'S

Methinks the interior in the brochure is Saddle,not Sandalwood.

Here are some 1970 Saddle interior trim pics.

The first picture shows a 70 saddle console beside a 71 Sandalwood (I believe)

Picture 2 & 3 show contrast between console & seats.

Picture 4 is 1970 Saddle Custom Trim door panel

For Saddle in 1970 Firebird,the dash,console & carpet were darker than seats,door panels,headliner,etc.

As I understand it,in 71 & 72,Saddle became one color only,same as dash/console on 70.

The console color almost looks brown in color. Do you have any pictures of the dash or other components?

[70FormulaRAIII]

More reference photos. Good pics of the correct carpet color on the doors. Very rare to see a T/A with sandalwwod interior!

[keith k]

Originally Posted by 70FormulaRAIII

More reference photos. Good pics of the correct carpet color on the doors. Very rare to see a T/A with sandalwwod interior!

Yes, it is. I'd love to have door trim panels that nice!

[70FormulaRAIII]

I brought this old thread back because it has some good info and I kind of feel like we hijacked the 70 T/A with tan interior thread. Anyway, I want to get as many people involved with this that can help.

I've contacted Tazzz who has a 70 with original sandalwood carpet. He isn't a numbers guy like most of us but he seems more than willing to help us out. I'm sure there are a few more of you as well.

I just recieved 5 carpet smaples from Stockinteriors.com
I've contacted ACC and they are going to send samples out as well, however, they won't match a specific color. They believe the medium saddle # 11 is what we are after. I hope they are right.

I also got ahold of an old member here who is going to send his samples - pics attached - his carpet sample is from Year One circa 1987 and doesn't look correct but we'll find out soon enough I hope. He is also sending a piece of original expanded morrokide that was under the tuck and roll upholstery (whatever the heck that means!?) put in by a previous owner, and a piece of reproduction headliner material that is the same color as the original material he found on the sunvisors.

Once I've gathered all the samples, who is the guy with the best original interior to send them to for a match? If anyone else is gathering samples post where you are ordering from so we can deconflict.

Thanks to all who help solve the mystery. The next battle will be getting correct reproduction sandalwood floormats!

[70FormulaRAIII]

Forgot to post the pics of the samples I'm getting....yea, I went way back to a 2006 thread, I think, to find this guy! After all these years he is very willing to help. The only thing he wouldn't send was his sample of original sandalwood package shelf but he is going to send a good photo image. He says it's kind of an olive drab color. I don't know, I'm pretty sure mine is original and it doesnt look olive drab to my eye.

[70FormulaRAIII]

Judging by photos this one seems pretty close. I think this was from OER...I'll have to check on that. I forgot to write it down, but it is Light Medium Saddle

[Formulabruce]

Light med saddle is close, and this color seems to fade fast..[IMG][/IMG]

[70FormulaRAIII]

Doug at SMS Auto Fabrics is going to send some samples. He said that if none of them match to send an original sample and they will match it. I told him there are a lot of people with 1970-71 Firebirds/Formulas and T/A's that would love to have the correct carpet for their cars.....not sure how true that is....there may only be 5 or 6 of us! lol

[eaglesan13]

You may be right about that, maybe we should take a roll call.

Originally Posted by 70FormulaRAIII

....there may only be 5 or 6 of us! lol

[70FormulaRAIII]

There are 2 of us so far. If we can get a good number of us who commit to ordering I think it would motivate the company to put out an excellent product at a reduced price. They would also have the distinction of being the only company with a correct match. Other vendors like PY, Aimes, etc would likely also place orders.

Eaglesan13, have you requested any samples? I really think this is a dead end but I'm willing to send all the samples we collect to tajunkman to see if any match. I really think we need a sample. A half inch square is all they need and there are plenty of places that are out of site - under the rear seats - that have no wear or fading that would be perfect.

[eaglesan13]

My Formula originally came with deluxe sandlewood interior, although someone had "rattle canned" the interior a saddle color before I got the car. I want to return the interior to the correct color and I have been working on this "sandlewood" issue for a while. I requested samples from SMS Auto Fabrics. This is supposed to be original fabric so it should be the standard for color and texture. I then got a sample of the vinyl used by PUI, and recently received a sample from Legendary. In the first picture, the rectangular samples on the top are from SMS, the round sample is PUI and the square sample on the bottom is from Legendary. They are all very close.

In the second picture you can see some of the carpet samples. The two samples to the right (labeled C and D) came from SMS and I believe the light color is what they consider to be the correct carpet for sandlewood interiors. The other two carpet samples, one round and one rectangular are actually both the same color. The round one came from Ames and has number 32 on the back and the rectangular one came from Legendary and has number 33 on the back. They are both supposed to be from ACC, and I am told they are the same even though they have different numbers on them. These samples were sent to me after I sent a paint chip to them with the original "dark sandlewood" paint. This paint chip can be seen in the third picture, it's the dark square in the bottom of the picture. I had this mixed in lacquer according to the original paint formula and it is a dead-on match to my original steering column. I painted my dash and kick panels in this color. I think this carpet color (32 and 33) is darker then original, but I like the look of it and had intended to use it in my car. I have a handful of other carpet samples they sent to me but I did not photograph them.

I ordered my interior seat covers and door panels from Legendary over the holidays in order to take advantage of their holiday sale. They contacted me in mid-February and told me they were out of stock of the sample they sent me, (694G) and sent two other samples for me to choose from, (697G and 235G, the two squares on the left in picture number 4). I was not happy with either, and they said they might be getting the 694G in stock in April, so I am waiting.

I'm sorry for the crappy pictures, I took these tonight (indoors) because it's dark and I could not photograph them in natural light. It's supposed to be sunny and clear this weekend so I will try and get better pictures to post. If anyone is interested in the paint/dye I am using I posted this info in my Formula build thread to the info is there.

Originally Posted by 70FormulaRAIII

There are 2 of us so far. If we can get a good number of us who commit to ordering I think it would motivate the company to put out an excellent product at a reduced price. They would also have the distinction of being the only company with a correct match. Other vendors like PY, Aimes, etc would likely also place orders.

Eaglesan13, have you requested any samples? I really think this is a dead end but I'm willing to send all the samples we collect to tajunkman to see if any match. I really think we need a sample. A half inch square is all they need and there are plenty of places that are out of site - under the rear seats - that have no wear or fading that would be perfect.

[70FormulaRAIII]

Here are the carpet samples I got from ACC and stockauto.com

You can see that they are all the exact same colors and the #'s on the back indicate that one company has copied the other, or they are both copying someone else. No surprise that neither company is willing to do a carpet match. They obviously have no R&D department and aren't really interested in geting it right or being the best at what they do. Obviously these are american companies; all profit and no heart. I'm also surprised to notice that the ACC carpet frays more easily than the other and seems to be of lesser quality. I still have a few more samples on the way. Like I said before, this is looking like a dead end road.

ACC is the top row. Here are the sample #'s from left to right: 11, 31, 50, 19
stockauto.com is on the bottom, and I ordered an extra color: 511, 531, 543, 519, 521

There is a very subtle difference between #11 and 511. stockauto's 511 seems a little darker (barely noticeable) than ACC's #11. Although these are likely the closest matches to the original, I still don't think they are in the ballpark.

I'll post them in a second...i think i need to shrink the files down

[70FormulaRAIII]

Here are the resized pics witha a couple of known original samples

[Formulabruce]

Sandalwood Tree ! >>I may be selling a friends 1970 Deluxe ( seats have inserts) Sandalwood interior pieces For him soon. 1970 sales code 217 . > No carpet. <<< just gauging if a PY member really needs a piece for restoration before they end up on ebay or Facebook 2nd Gen sites .I will get pics as needed soon.. Parts are in New Hampshire. Pic showed is for interest...
This color seems like the '84.5 Anniversary Trans Ams I had. There was a multitude of colors in that interior made by different vendors.

[blue71ta]

Originally Posted by Formulabruce

Sandalwood Tree ! >>I may be selling a friends 1970 Deluxe ( seats have inserts) Sandalwood interior pieces For him soon. 1970 sales code 217 . > No carpet. <<< just gauging if a PY member really needs a piece for restoration before they end up on ebay or Facebook 2nd Gen sites .I will get pics as needed soon.. Parts are in New Hampshire. Pic showed is for interest...
This color seems like the '84.5 Anniversary Trans Ams I had. There was a multitude of colors in that interior made by different vendors.

ooh, the deluxe Sandalwood cloth - nice!

[eaglesan13]

James,

I agree that seat shown in the picture looks like it has the cloth inserts, but Formulabruce's posting says the interior code is 217, which is the code for deluxe comfortweave interior. The deluxe cloth would be 227.

Originally Posted by blue71ta

ooh, the deluxe Sandalwood cloth - nice!