1979

[Dennis #20036]

Should the paint code,trim code plate on a 79 be painted over.My 79 does
not appear to have ever been painted yet the plate is painted body color just
like the rest of the front door jam. Thanks,Dennis

[Bob B.]

Re: 1979

Dennis
The Body/Trim plate on your 79 was attached at the point were the body was painted and yes it left the factory painted.
Bob Beck

[Craig S.]

Re: 1979

Not sure when this changed, but I have an original 74 that was unpainted, and did own an original 77 bought new that was painted over, so not sure when between 74 and 77 this changed....Craig

[Tom R.]

Re: 1979

Craig:

Paint on the trim tags had to do with the point when the trig tag station was moved from the end of the body line to the paint repair booth between paint booths 1 and final spray booth in the mid 70's. My guess is model year 1975. This change was necessitated by the need for space on the floor due to production and the limited floor space.

Corvettes before 75, the trim tag was installed at the end of hte trim line and therefore received no paint. Corvettes after 75 or thereabouts, the trim tage (and VIN tag) were installed after paint booth 1 and therefore received the final coat of lacquer but no primer.

Once opeations were moved to Bowling Green...tags were installed after the paint operation...no paint on those tags as well.

[Craig S.]

Re: 1979

Thx Tom for that interesting history! Craig

[mike cobine]

Re: 1979

The no primer makes sense. I looked at my '79 tag last night, and was going to comment until I saw this was narrowed to the '75 timeframe, and found mine without paint.

The car has the original paint as best I can tell, but the tag is without paint. Mostly. The two rivets have paint and have the hole in them filled with paint. There is also paint on the edge of the tag and a couple of spots in a couple of letters/numbers.

It looks like someone may have removed it later, but there is no damage to the door pillar from paint thinner or stripper. There are no streaks of paint residue on the tag, just those few spots. Anyone experience the tag having the paint just fall off?

[Craig S.]

Re: 1979

Mike - it has been years since I owned the new 77 we bought, but it was fully covered when delivered, but I believe when we sold it in 1982 with 25,000 miles it has about 3/4 of the paint left. As I recall, the finish of the trim tag was quite shiny and the paint adhesion was poor, and some of it did fall of from washings and use...Craig

[Tom R.]

Re: 1979

It's not uncommon to find trim tags with the paint flaked off and flakes remaining. Owners over the years have confessed that once it began to flake...they removed the balance for appearance sake.