VIN plate finish

[Chuck S.]

Re: VIN plate finish

Thanks, John...Invaluable info available from few or maybe no other sources.

[Chuck S.]

Re: VIN plate finish

Thanks, John...Invaluable info available from few or maybe no other sources.

[Chuck S.]

Re: VIN plate finish

Now that we've established the black out was baked, it's simple to determine if the VIN plate was painted during black out or not.

Since you have removed the VIN plate, if the area directly beneath the VIN plate is body color, then the VIN plate was in place when black out was applied; if it's black, then the VIN plate was installed after blackout.

I believe the original VIN plates on early C3s had a black phosphate finish. That would explain why you see the same finish front and back. It would be hard to distinguish if the VIN plate was phosphate or black paint, but the detail of the characters and rivets on my 70 were very sharp...it didn't appear to be painted, but black out was pretty thin paint, so I suppose it's possible.

[Chuck S.]

Re: VIN plate finish

Now that we've established the black out was baked, it's simple to determine if the VIN plate was painted during black out or not.

Since you have removed the VIN plate, if the area directly beneath the VIN plate is body color, then the VIN plate was in place when black out was applied; if it's black, then the VIN plate was installed after blackout.

I believe the original VIN plates on early C3s had a black phosphate finish. That would explain why you see the same finish front and back. It would be hard to distinguish if the VIN plate was phosphate or black paint, but the detail of the characters and rivets on my 70 were very sharp...it didn't appear to be painted, but black out was pretty thin paint, so I suppose it's possible.