C1 Paint Process

[Ted S.]

Does anyone out know of a good document or article on the complete factory paint process for a C1? I'm not sure if it exists but, I'm looking for one stop shopping that covers soup to nuts the process. For example what was in place during the initial interior exterior painting? What was in place during the black out process? What was in place during polishing the exterior? Was a primer sprayed prior to the initial paint and therefore whould be under any painted surface or is it any surface that was painted other than the black out process? My '58 is at the painters so I want to make sure we get it correct.

I know some pieces of the process from research, pictures, and having disassembled the car. For example, from looking at pictures in Noland's book the body panels were mostly assembled when the cars received their initial paint. Give this it would appear all of the hinges would have been in place. My understanding is the door was partially assembled so the door latch was in place but the striker plate on the post wasn't in place. I believe the hood hinges were in place because on my hood there wasn't any paint under the mount on the hood side. Was the hood support also in place? My understanding is the hood latchs were not in place.

It appears the interior color was applied after the exterior color. It also appear the cove color was applied after the base color. Is this correct?

How did the various other interior components get painted (i.e. kick panels, cluster housing, top of the column, steering wheel bell, etc)?

Any help pointing me to solid resources on the topic would be appreciated.

Thanks, Ted

[Tom D.]

Re: C1 Paint Process

I assume you noted in Nolan Adams' book - The details about the trunk vs. body color examples (1960 included)

Tom D.
4889

[Ted S.]

Re: C1 Paint Process

Tom, I've looked at Noland's book over the years and can find bits and pieces by reviewing the various sections. My assumption is the actual process (i.e. excluding the locations of interior verses exterior color) remained fairly static at least from '56 - '62. Maybe even earlier or later.

My car is a black '58 with charcoal interior. The interesting part is all of the interior painted surfaces that would normally be charcoal, by all indications were painted black. All of the fabrics though were charcoal pebble grain. Interestingly even the steering wheel was charcoal with a black bell. Given the color combination, color location on mine is fairly straight forward.

I was hoping someone over the years either in NCRS, SACE, or SACC had pulled the pieces together. We're a bit under a time crunch since we are trying to get the car ready for the Nationals in St. Louis. Due to the rare color combination and the options (power windows, power top, 270hp, etc) we figured it would make a nice addition to the meet since the '58 will be the featured car.

Thanks, Ted

[Ted S.]

Trunk View *NM*

[Ted S.]

Exterior Color Grease Pencil Marking

Note the black paint in the trunk.

[John H.]

Re: C1 Paint Process

Ted -

I don't know of any "one-stop-shopping" summary, but there's good information on pages 142-144 and 244 in Noland's book.

Everything underhood was in place during blackout, including the hood strikers and latches, except the hood support; no primer was used in the engine compartment - the flat blackout paint was sprayed on raw fiberglass. Door latches and strikers were also in place, but they were masked off; the body shell was fully assembled.

The body was sanded, then shot with red, then gray primer and baked for an hour at 280*F. Then it was wet-sanded, and got a coat of sealer and the first coat of lacquer, and baked again. Then it was lightly dry-sanded again, got three more coats of lacquer, a short bake, small parts got painted, then the body was final-baked for 45 minutes at 250*F. After cooling, it was polished.

The steering column/gear assembly and turn signal housing was painted separately, and the steering wheel was received with the bell already painted and riveted to the wheel.

[Rod K.]

Re: C1 Paint Process

John,

Was this process used as described for early '57, or could it have been changed mid-year or for '58 up? My Nov '56 car had red primer in the engine compartment, grille cavity, interior, top compartment, trunk, etc., basically every place it got any kind of paint, and some where it didn't (under carpet, etc.). Also, didn't observe any grey primer when I stripped it.

Thanks in advance for your response.

[Ted S.]

Re: C1 Paint Process

John, Thanks alot for the insight. So given the multiple coats, is it correct that the cove color was shot as the final step on the exterior?

Did the areas where a painter normally cuts in (i.e. door jams, edge of the hood, edge of the trunk lid, etc.) receive multiple coats also?

At what point was the interior painted? Did at lease part of it such as the center console, cluster housing, etc receive multiple coats? I know my kick panels look like 1 coat at best and I'd question how much primer is under there.

Thanks, Ted

[John H.]

Re: C1 Paint Process

Ted -

The interior (including loose parts) and the cove area on a 2-tone was painted prior to the final bake oven. Not sure if the cut-in areas got multiple coats or not. The paint shop at St. Louis was incredibly primitive - doubt if you'd find much primer anywhere inside the car or on loose parts.

[John H.]

Re: C1 Paint Process

Rod -

I'd suspect that you're looking at the remains of a previous re-paint if you found primer in all those areas; that wasn't part of the "normal" paint process.

[Ted S.]

Re: C1 Paint Process

John, Thanks so much for your insight it helps alot. I know in the trunk ther is some gray primer but the fiberglass grain really shows through. I found this pic of my '58 which is a pretty telling shot of the quality. Given the texture of the fiberglass showing through I would guess the cut in areas received about as much attention as the loose parts. The trunk was similar in texture. Thanks again, Ted

[Rod K.]

Re: C1 Paint Process

John,

It's all the same dark red primer (no gray) I found under the exterior paint, the original and two repaints, one my own, so I assumed it was factory original. It is/was tough to get off with chem strippers which made me think it was probably baked on. The rear underside of the car was also completely blacked out, not in agreement with coventional wisdom, but all the evidence idicated it was factory, for example, areas which would have been masked by the frame, etc, were blacked out, not as it would have appeared had it been done after assembly. Just wondering, the only rule was there were no rules?