1969 body putty....

[Greg L.]

What was the purpose for the factory application of that red body putty? Was it to fill mold defects, nicked or damaged body panels or to smoothen out the body seams?

Just curious more than anything...

[Joe L.]

Re: 1969 body putty....

What was the purpose for the factory application of that red body putty? Was it to fill mold defects, nicked or damaged body panels or to smoothen out the body seams?

Just curious more than anything...

Greg-----


I strongly suspect it was "all of the above".

[Alan S.]

Re: 1969 body putty....

Hi Greg,
Here's a quote from the Oct/Nov, 1970 Corvette News. It's in an article about the new 71 but I believe it relates to your 69 also.
"The finished body of our 1971 Corvette gets complete disc sanding and then an oxide putty rub. By hand. This "kills porosity" in paint jargon; it fills microscopic holes in the surface of bond material. However, the first sanding and putty rub is almost obsolete. With new low profile resins the putty rub will become a thing of the past - and with it extraneous dirt and dust. A red oxide primer is sprayed on, baked for 45 minutes and disc sanded"
This article makes it seem like the paint on these cars would be fabulous but my 71's certainly wasn't.
Regards,
Alan

[Greg L.]

Re: 1969 body putty....

I didn't realize that so much effort was put into the body prior to paint. I thought they were just glued together and then the seams were sanded. I figured this body puddy was the exception but maybe it was the rule.

I wonder if these cars had much dust in the paint when they were new. Seems like they might have some with all that sanding going on....just like a common body shop.

[Stephen B.]

Re: 1969 body putty....

"1969 Stingray Guidebook" has a couple of pages dedicated to the paint and body process.

[Kenneth T.]

Re: 1969 body putty....

I didn't realize that so much effort was put into the body prior to paint. I thought they were just glued together and then the seams were sanded. I figured this body puddy was the exception but maybe it was the rule.

I wonder if these cars had much dust in the paint when they were new. Seems like they might have some with all that sanding going on....just like a common body shop.

That's how the got the "Magic Mirror" finish

[John H.]

Re: 1969 body putty....

I wonder if these cars had much dust in the paint when they were new. Seems like they might have some with all that sanding going on....just like a common body shop.

Greg -

The St. Louis Paint Shop was about half a notch above medieval - dust and dirt were everywhere; it's a miracle the cars weren't worse than they really were. Chevrolet never gave the plant funding to do anything unless it was to avert the possibility of a breakdown that would interrupt production - those guys were very innovative.