I purchased a new rear view mirror for my 71 coupe. It came from covette central with in a gray color with chrome color back. I note that the original one in my car was painted black. What is the correct original color? Should it be painted black like the original or was that something a previous owner did incorrectly? Thanks for your information.
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Re: paint mirror?
The 'original' mirror you have with the black textured grain housing, is unfortunately NOT factory original to your '71 Corvette. Original interior day/nite mirrors had polished SS housings from '67-71. The painted black housing came along for '73-74 as an 'improvement' to eliminate reflective glare (oncoming driver) and that's what was available as a service spare in the GM system for quite some time.
It's not uncommon to find the later mirror in earlier cars because owners didn't understand the care/feeding of day/night mirrors and persisted in cleaning them with ammonia based cleaning solutions. Ammonia is a strong chemical base, and the way a day/nite mirror achieves it's reflection intensity reduction is by having the silvering on the rear of the glass ABSOLUTELY bare naked vs. protectively coated with paint. Once ammonia gets to the back side of the glass it starts to 'eat' at the silver causing the familiar 'fogging' and 'drip lines' we see in poorly cared for, aged, original mirrors....
So, one suffering this 'malady' up the ownership chain might well have replaced the car's original D/N mirror with a service replacement and actually LIKED the black vs. polished SS body.... -
Re: paint mirror?
Thank you. I will use the SS housing I purchased as it is as original with markings and my black one is not in good condition. My car is a number correct big block and I am trying to keep it mostly original. The steel cities gray paint was redone well about 17 years ago but the interior has never been redone, and it is starting to show more wear so I will probably re-do soon. You did not say but the one I bought has SS back but also grey plastic around glass. Your information in regards to ammonia is one that I will now be aware of.Comment
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Re: paint mirror?
Grey rubber surrounding the glass is the correct configuration for a '71....Comment
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Re: paint mirror?
thanks againComment
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