Old School Red (CAR?) Guitars

[FZTNT]

Here are a couple pics of my Red guitars to compare two different reds of the Leo era.

First, a 1981 F-100 .................................................................................................................................................................................... Now here is a 1986 Invader




Both side by side



The F-100 indoors .....................................................................................................................................And the body of the Invader indoors



Does anyone have a picture of a bonafide CAR guitar from this time period we can compare to? I am still not convinced these are CAR but there aren't red either. Also keep in mind that the F-100 is a nitro finish whereas the Invader is poly.
Please chime in with any thoughts and/or pics. Thanks,

Tom

[KenC]

Here's an '88 ASAT which is definitely CAR, according to Fred Finisher:



If you look closely at the neck pocket, you can see a bit of the metallic gold layer that's beneath the red topcoat:



If you read through the 1980s price lists in the Gallery, there are three different red finishes listed over the course of the decade: CAR, Red, and Clear Red. CAR was available from the very beginning, and Clear Red followed close behind. I believe Red first showed up on the SC and SB series late in '82, and continued through the decade. On point worth noting is that the Red finishes tended to pick up a bit of an orange shade as time passed. I recently had a conversation with a shop owner who could not be persuaded that his '83 SB-2 was Red; he insisted it had to be a one-off orange finish.

Here's a Clear Red finish on a Cavalier E, with a body stamped 1983 and a neck stamped 1984:



I went with this shot of the back, as it gives a better representation of the ash grain showing through than any pics I have of the front.

Here's a shot of an '82 SC-1 in Red, which was taken by the previous owner:



Here's another shot of the same guitar:



I only have this one pic of my Red '82 SC-2 online:



I hope these are helpful.

Ken

[glvourot]

The indoor pictures compare a little closer but to my eyes the F-100 definitely looks like like CAR to me. Then again Ken's CAR Asat looks more like the invader to me. Glad I could help solve the Mystery !

[john o]

your '81 F100 is stunning!

[Katefan]

I agree with Ken - his ASAT is CAR (poly) your F-100 is CAR (nitro)
Your Invader looks to be the same red as mine altho again nitro and poly.

Ken - re the SC-2 orange - I agree, its red… the top clear nitro coats yellow with age so they make the red look orange… similar with some of the blues they look greenish.

Cheers,

KF

[FZTNT]

Yes, thanks for posting the two other red finishes. Clear red is ruled out due to the lack of any grain showing through and the orange of the red is nice but no where near either examples of the CAR. This post will become a needed reference for me, and I hope others, when trying to identify/verify these colors.

Thanks much for the input.

Tom