68 GS door panel emblem

[dg-gs350]

My 68 GS350 interior has been all replaced, I don't think anything is original, including the door panels. They have the bird emblem on the door panel. I would guess this only belonged on the Skylark? I know the engine came out of a 71 Skylark. Seems likely the door panels did too?? Did any GS models have the bird emblem?

[TODD]

Dave, you are correct on the 68 models in that the Skylark custom interiors use a stylized bird emblem on a plate (~1"h x 4"w) above the interior door handle. Background looks to be red-brown behind the bird.
The door panel has a chrome plate extending out from behind armrest behind the pull handle. There are 6 or 7 thin horizontal chrome strips running across the panel. The GS door panel is the same except the letters GS appear on the plate above the door handle in place of the bird. Letters are red on a metallic background.

The 71 body is so different, I think it would be very hard to rework a door panel to fit a 68 and have it look good. Even the 69 panel is different: no birds used anywhere, no vent window crank, no chrome plate behind the door pull, no horizontal chrome strips.

Maybe you have a 68 Skylark custom interior?

[dg-gs350]

Maybe whoever did the $1100 interior work didn't know enough to use a GS door panel. The VIN is a GS for sure. Maybe the door panels on the 68 GS I'm scavenging this weekend will still be decent...they were fine 22 years ago when I totalled it. They're white, but maybe a good black dye job will turn out ok?? Haven't ever done vinyl dye before.

[Bob]

Just to see what the people in know have to say, I have used the vinyl paint, with some kind of flexing agent. It worked good. The only flaw, which can be expected, was I painted the door panel which wraped over to the window. Where you layed your arm wore through to the original color, but it was easy to just repaint it.

[dg-gs350]

Well, I struck out on the old wrecked 68 GS...unfortunately it's been treated like an old junkyard wreck. In fact a couple years ago it got completely burned up in a junk pile fire. Nothing at all left of the interior. Maybe a trunk lid and a front fender could be salvageable, but they have been exposed to the elements for 22 years, so it isn't pretty. Oh, well. That's what I get for ignoring that car all these years. Then again, it wasn't mine, and I haven't been able to get back into a GS until this past month.