The Allure of a Silver 69 GTO Convertible

(first posted 6/13/2018) Each of us who contributes to the automotive stories here seems to have a specialty. For example, Jason Shafer finds lots of unusual prewar stuff and Jim Grey finds a better than average sample of pickup trucks. Brendan Saur covers 80’s and 90’s sports sedans and Paul Niedermeyer brings us a ton of cars missing their driver’s side interior door panels. My particular knack seems to be tracking and capturing classic Pontiac GTOs. I have written about all three that have been featured on these pages (thus far) and have pictures of one or two others in my stash of cars awaiting some time and attention. Encountering this striking silver 69 Gto Convertible recently provided a fresh perspective on a beloved classic.

After a while, one might run out of things to say about a given car, even an icon like the GTO. We have explored whether one with a column shift and no console was original, celebrated a fabulous all-original GTO Judge, and recalled childhood memories steeped in GTO presence. But there is one bit of unexplored territory that this particular 1969 Pontiac GTO convertible called to me on: its brilliant silver paint.

Stunning silver 1969 Pontiac GTO convertible parked on a street

The Significance of Automotive Paint Color

Have we ever featured an article that centered primarily on a car’s paint color? If not, let’s give it a try. It’s true that silver might seem like a challenging color to start with. Today, isn’t silver paint often seen as the choice that makes a car blend anonymously into the automotive landscape? This is certainly true now and has been for a long time. However, having a few gray (or silver, even) hairs myself, I remember when this wasn’t the case.

Car colors have always captured my attention. I’ve even taken some online tests (the ones likely harvesting all my personal data) and scored in a very high percentile for color perception – particularly among men, who often don’t score as well on that metric. Even now, I can look at a common car from my youth and tell you if it’s painted one of the colors originally offered or if the color for a repaint or restoration deviates from the factory selections.

This 69 Gto Convertible is a perfect example. I spotted it while leaving a restaurant with some friends. Naturally, I was asked about its year. I paused for a second, debating between 1968 and 1969. Someone more knowledgeable about GTO specifics might have used the rear side marker light for identification, but that wasn’t my immediate thought. Instead, the silver paint broke the tie: it had to be a ’69.

Rear view of the Palladium Silver 69 GTO convertible, highlighting its classic lines

A Personal Connection: Grandma’s Palladium Silver Pontiac

The first person I ever knew who owned a silver car was my Grandma. The first two cars of hers I remember were a pink and white ’55 DeSoto sedan and a beige ’64 Pontiac Catalina – quite a contrast. By 1969, the beige Pontiac needed some work, but Grandma had saved her money and was finally ready to buy her first new car on her own since being widowed a dozen years earlier. It was a 1969 Pontiac Catalina sedan. And it was silver. This exact shade of silver. Palladium Silver, I now discover, after looking up the color online.

Side profile of a beautifully restored 1969 Pontiac GTO convertible in bright silver

Make this a Catalina instead of a GTO, and this brochure illustration pretty much pictured Grandma’s ’69. Other than a terribly unfaithful approximation of the paint color.

1969 Pontiac full line brochure showing various models, similar to the Catalina

Silver was not a common automotive color in 1969. It wasn’t even a color you could necessarily expect to find listed on the color and trim chart when you went car shopping back then. Gold was the dominant metallic color in 1969. I recall reading that after many years of white being the most popular color for Chevrolets throughout the 1960s, gold would surpass it for 1970. Every manufacturer had been offering some shade (or even multiple shades) of gold since the mid-60s. But silver? It was more like copper, a color that appears every few years only to disappear again.

Detailed side shot of the silver 69 GTO convertible, showcasing the paint finish

Silver had made a minor splash in the late 1950s and again in the early ’60s, but it was never truly a big seller. And why would it be when the color charts of the time offered a veritable embarrassment of riches? In any given year, when you had multiple shades of blue and of green (and of turquoise just in case you couldn’t decide), it was clear you were in a land of automotive color plenty.

So Grandma’s not-gold and not-green Catalina was a novelty, and I was actually quite fond of it. The black painted roof on her Catalina made it somewhat of a unicorn; I’ve never seen another. I found it quite elegant, though I probably would have opted for a vinyl roof over the painted one to complement the car’s black interior. I vividly remember how Grandma usually drove away after a visit. The Pontiac had a very sensitive accelerator pedal. Or perhaps Grandma had a bit of a lead foot. In either case, the front of the Catalina would rise up as the exhaust note transitioned from a “burble” to a “roar.” My mother would often chuckle and say “Hi-ho Silver!” as Grandma drove away.

For those too young to remember, that phrase is forever linked to the Lone Ranger and his horse. Mom had undoubtedly grown up listening to William Conrad perform that line during his days as The Lone Ranger on radio and later seeing this early version on television.

Collage showing silver cars from the late 1950s and early 1960s

Silver’s Rise to Popularity

Silver cars didn’t immediately become popular right after GM featured this color in 1969-70. If I had to guess, the single event that gave silver its first real boost in popularity probably occurred in the fall of 1971. Private investigator Frank Cannon drove a silver Continental Mark III (and later a Mark IV) in the television show starring William Conrad. (Wow, the themes in this piece certainly weave together.) The silver Lincoln was an expensive and prestigious car at the time, and the color stood out after several years dominated by earth tones on the popularity charts.

Actor William Conrad as Frank Cannon next to a silver Lincoln Continental Mark III

Lincoln capitalized on this trend when it offered the Silver Luxury Group as a $400 option on top of the already expensive Continental Mark IV in 1973. Suddenly, everyone knew when they saw a Mark IV painted in Silver Moondust Metallic that it wasn’t just any ordinary Mark IV but a special edition catering to Lincoln’s wealthiest and most stylish customers – a marketing tactic that would later lead to the Designer Editions.

This association between silver paint and expensive cars was surely reinforced by rarefied German cars’ use of the color in racing dating back to the 1930s (the “Silver Arrows”) and by the fact that it approximated the color of polished aluminum used on high-tech aircraft and spacecraft.

Silver Mercedes-Benz classic racing car, referencing the Silver Arrows tradition

A clear, bright silver didn’t jump to prominence overnight. Both GM and Ford tended to feature a dirtier, more pewter-like silver paint in the 1971-74 era, and Chrysler tested the market with a darker metallic gray. But by 1975, silver had become the new “it” color across all segments of the American market, and it has rarely been absent from a manufacturer’s color palette since. For enthusiasts looking for classic American automotive experiences, exploring used muscle cars often brings you face-to-face with these historic color trends.

My Evolving View on Silver and Paint Durability

My own history with silver cars has been a little complicated. After being captivated by Grandma’s Pontiac, I watched silver cars seemingly take over the world. In the summer of 1978, I took a part-time job working for a business that had a large fleet of silver vehicles. I was suddenly surrounded by silver cars and didn’t really like that it was displacing many more interesting colors.

Front quarter view of the silver 1969 Pontiac GTO convertible

I also observed that the finishes on those silver cars degraded much faster than some darker paints. A good friend who was learning paint and body work explained to me that paint formulas using a lot of clear coat were less protected against UV rays. These rays would penetrate the finish and “cook” the paint from the inside, resulting in microscopic cracks that led to a dull finish.

Weathered paint finish on an older car, illustrating paint degradation

This issue was particularly noticeable on GM cars, which still used softer lacquer finishes, making them even more susceptible to damage from the sun and car washes. Even Grandma’s Pontiac, which spent much of its time in the garage, started showing environmental damage to its “Magic Mirror” acrylic lacquer finish by the second half of the 1970s.

Close up on the front grille and hood of the silver 69 GTO convertible

I’ll admit to becoming a bit of a “silver snob” over the years. Most silver cars hold no particular appeal for me. But there have been a few specific shades that came fairly close to that bright, clear silver with the super-subtle metallic that I first loved on Grandma’s Pontiac. Honda and Chrysler used a similar shade in the late ’90s and early 2000s, and I felt my anti-silver stance start to recede a bit. My daughter’s 1998 Civic is from that era, and I’m not bothered at all by its specific formulation of the color. The evolution of car designs and colors is fascinating, whether it’s a vintage GTO or considering finding a 1971 ford torino convertible for sale.

Detail of the GTO badge on the silver 1969 Pontiac GTO convertible

However, I hadn’t seen a really nice silver GM car from 1969-70 in quite a while, although I did remember the color hitting a sweet spot with me when I found and wrote about a ’69 Cadillac convertible some years back. Wow, my current Samsung phone certainly takes better pictures than my old Blackberry did! Exploring different models like checking the 1966 pontiac gto price or learning about the unique royal bobcat gto for sale always brings up discussions about original colors and condition.

Silver 1969 Cadillac DeVille convertible, another elegant silver car from that era

The Unforgettable Silver 69 GTO Convertible

But this one – this 69 GTO convertible – was truly sweet. Although I prefer to find original cars, there is nothing quite like the paint finish on a high-quality modern paint job, and this one was simply stunning. This silver paint looked like it was still wet and an inch deep as I photographed this GTO. While I wished this particular car had sported a black interior to better align with my personal history, the blue interior goes quite nicely with the silver paint.

Interior view of the silver 69 GTO convertible with blue seats

Alright, I realize that not much has been written here about the general specifications of this particular GTO. They truly are interesting cars and were covered fairly intensely when I wrote about The Judge from the same year. But seriously, when was the last time you saw a silver GTO, let alone a stunning 1969 Pontiac GTO convertible in this shade? If you’re interested in finding your own slice of classic muscle, searching for a 1969 pontiac gto convertible could lead to a similar remarkable discovery.

Rear quarter view of the silver 1969 Pontiac GTO convertible

And so, a Palladium Silver 69 GTO convertible scratched a unique itch in me. I salute the owner for choosing this color for his restoration – a shade that is both so common in today’s world yet was so unusual on cars like this back then. Of course, he had no way of knowing that his car would also allow me to feel ten years old again when I saw it. If only Grandma had chosen a GTO instead of her garden-variety 350-powered Catalina. Then we would really have seen “Hi-ho Silver!”

Front view of the striking silver 69 GTO convertible

Further Reading

1966 Pontiac GTO hardtop – A Goat Or A Mule? (J P Cavanaugh) (In Reef Turquoise)

1966 Pontiac GTO convertible – The Perfect Childhood (J P Cavanaugh) (In Candlelight Cream)

1969 Pontiac GTO The Judge – Here Come Da Judge (J P Cavanaugh) (In Carousel Red)