It's not so long back that the advice on this site was generally as above, but, an ongoing theme seemed to me, to usually add a comment something like "that said, it's your car, build it the way you like it". I wonder are we becoming purists? (Not that I'd have an issue with that of course, but if you always wanted a purple one - yurck - but, if you want it paint it that colour I reckon, - it's only paint). Maybe as orig spec vehicles are currently bringing higher resale value this is a reason for more advice to stay orig colour.
However I reckon for an owner restorer all that can depend on the condition of the car and what the original colour was.
For me, the original colour of my first HX was Antelope (metallic gold). I asked a similar question on this site as to colour change. The car had been stripped of parts and is a rebuild so it was a Sandman, but (unless some amazing flukes in parts turn up) wont ever be fully original. I recall that Byron advised that respraying it in Antelope would make it pretty rare, and I am certain he was correct. Others suggested orig or just go with what I wanted, However despite this advice I had to decide - just because it would have been rare in Antelope, and closer to an original rebuild would that make it more valuable? How many people want an Antelope Sandman?
My answer to myself, was not too many, otherwise more would have been made.... And then, did I want to put all the rebuild cash into an Antelope Sandman, not really, I reckon it was the paint that oxidised fastest in the 70's and theres just so many better colours for the car. So then I did the colour change anquish for a bit, decided it had to one of the oranges, it's an HX, so Papaya is correct, but... it was too close to an HQ I used to know that was part of the gang back in the day and so for me, it had to be Valencia (an HZ colour).
You know you can really stress about this (and I did) when I look back I just laugh at meself, the van looks great in Valencia, a year since the respray and I'm totally relaxed with the choice, its classic. A mate (who's not a car head at all) was in my garage a few months back, and although he'd seen this van and all my other cars before he'd never made any comment, to him they would have just been old Holdens that he probably thought I should get rid of. When he followed me into the garage to get a paint roller and saw the same vehicle in Valencia, (just in paint, no windows, most panels still off no decals or anything) he stopped still and just said "you've got a Sandman...!"
Hard to lose with those classic colours if you're gonna change it I reckon.
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