'67. Gray brake calipers?

[Barbara S.]

Last weekend I went to see a collection of nine Midyear Corvettes in Illinois. The owner, Randy, is a really nice guy and very friendly with the St. Louis NCRS Chapter. I was looking at a low mileage, high optioned '67 coupe he bought a while ago. I noticed that while it was on the rack that his brake calipers were gray. I mentioned to him that for 67, I thought that they should be semi-gloss black, but he suggested that at some point, the color changed from black to gray. The JG makes no mention of gray brake calipers--only s/g black. Any truth to the contention that the brake calipers were painted gray sometime in 67?

thanks.
Tony

[Michael H.]

Re: '67. Gray brake calipers?

Tiny,

I suppose anything is possible but I've never seen any original grey coated calipers on any Corvette. Not at all likely.

[Barbara S.]

Thanks Michael.

I didn't think so, but several others out there know more than I do.
Tony

[Joe L.]

Re: Thanks Michael.

Tony-----

The gray or silver paint is often used by caliper rebuilders. In the old days of stainless steel sleeved calipers it was practically universal-----almost a "coded identification color" for stainless steel sleeved calipers. It's still used. However, most of the caliper rebuilders will now also paint them black if you ask for it.

The original calipers were almost always painted SEMI FLAT black, with machined surfaces bare, like most other Delco-Moraine cast and machined parts of the day. These days, this sort of painting is called "component painting"----the castings are painted as an intermediate step and then the castings go for machining and assembly into the finished part. GM cast iron blocks and cylinder heads have been done this way for quite a few years now. The castings are shipped from the GM foundry (now only Defiance, OH and Toluca, Mexico for all cast iron engine blocks and heads) to an intermediate vendor for painting. Then, they are shipped from there to the GM engine plants for machining and assembly.

How come they do it this way now? It's for environmental reasons. The engine plants do want to be in the painting business anymore and have to deal with the air pollution issues associated with it since it's such a minor part of the engine build process.

Some original calipers were actually bare and unpainted. The original calipers on my original owner 1969 were never painted (they are now, though). However, most were semi-flat black. They were not semi-gloss black. Semi gloss black is way too glossy for calipers.