Hello all. I need your advise. My 1970 taillight panels are the original Gray, a little faded but in good shape all around. I am restoring the car, but the gray looks terrible next to the new orange paint. The car is all original except I put in a 5 speed conversion. Satin black would look really good. I don't know what to do. My wife says I should just paint them, What should I do? Thanks, Rick.

Repaint them the proper gray color.

I used Duplicolor HWP102. It's pretty close to the original grey. To give it the matte or dull finish, after you have a few coats on there for the final coat give it a real light "dusting".

Here is a link to the same subject.

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13593&highlight=duplicolor

I like the way Ed's came out, I would go that way. Paint the grill the same color?

keep the original paint, buy replacement tail sections to experiment with pain colors.

I understand your concern with the gray not complimenting the orange, but I've yet to see a 240Z with any color tail panel other than factory that looks right, regardless what color the car itself is. Black looks too harsh, color matched always looks cheap to me. I'll also vote for the factory color.

I re-painted my car orange, although it's a bit brighter than the factory code 918 orange. I re-painted the tail light finisher, license plate lamp, hub caps and grill the same matte finish grey. I like the way they look together.

One caution with using black on an orange car: it may look like a halloween pumpkin!

I saw a really nice looking red 280Z convertible the other day on HWY 85 in San Jose. The only thing I didn't like about it was the shiny gloss back tail light finishing panel. Go with the stock matte grey.