Here are some grilles. The one in the front has never been repainted. The second grille is an original R/T grille. Note that it has argent silver under the grille centers. The third grille back is also factory and looks darker. The silver is faded on it. Since the silver is over black plastic , when faded, it may become darker. The 4th grille back someone tried unsucessfully to make a R/T grille. The last one is untouched and looks like the first one. I hope it helps. Maybe I just muddied the waters. I am using the front grille on my purple 71 convertible. I like it with the dark color. It brightens things up.