Weather conditions effect on paint

[Kevin G.]

Weather conditions and it's effect on the factory applied lacquer paints in 1971/72 time frame. I'm trying to learn a little about how the weather affected the paint job on our cars, especially the firemist colors from the early 70's. Did the factory have climate controlled paint booths? How did the paint area compare to today's process? Also, a little more detail on quality control, I've heard our cars were touched up 110%.......please explain?

[John H.]

Re: Weather conditions effect on paint

Weather conditions and it's effect on the factory applied lacquer paints in 1971/72 time frame. I'm trying to learn a little about how the weather affected the paint job on our cars, especially the firemist colors from the early 70's. Did the factory have climate controlled paint booths? How did the paint area compare to today's process? Also, a little more detail on quality control, I've heard our cars were touched up 110%.......please explain?

The St. Louis Paint Shop was built in 1953, and it would be a kindness to call it "medieval"; Chevrolet never put a dime in it that wasn't necessary to avoid loss of production. They didn't even have conveyors in the spray booths until the mid-60's - the bodies were pushed through the spray booths.

There was no climate control of any sort in the spray booths - they were open to the rest of the uncontrolled airspace in the plant; all they had was semi-filtered air downdraft from the ceiling through floor grates - no water-walls, and no temperature or humidity control, and the Paint Shop wasn't enclosed or pressurized for dirt control.

The Final Paint Repair system ahead of the Final Trim Line (after Roll-Test, with no interior in the car) was sized to handle 125% of production; every car went through it, whether it needed it or not (most did).

[Patrick H.]

Re: Weather conditions effect on paint

My yellow car has quite a bit of spot repair on it as does the orange 72 I'm working on. Nice old paint touchup spots on the T-tops are quite obvious with that "Firemist" Ontario Orange. I distinctly recall seeing a very original 1-owner OO car for sale at Bloomington many years ago with a big spot on the left front fender where the factory touched it up. The owner swore he'd never had the car painted and knowing what I know now I'm sure the factory did it.

Patrick

[Bill C.]

Re: Weather conditions effect on paint

mine was spotted on the DVR rear quarter by the bumper area and also on the front nose above the DVR headlight bucket (kind of over the header bar).

The 1st owners swear they never had the car painted - and as I would polish the lacquer I began to see the layers splitting from where it was spot painted.

I always thought the car had touchup done - but now it makes sense....

[Alan S.]

Re: Weather conditions effect on paint

Hi Kevin,
You asked an interesting question!
I spent a year in a body shop in 1972 helping to restore an antique car.
I remember how much the painter would 'adjust' the lacquer he was spraying for the day's temperature and humidity using the various thinners and retarders that were available at that time. It seemed to be a constantly changing formula as the months and seasons went by. I can also remember him making adjustments while he was refilling the cup for the same job.
Did the factory spray the same formula EVERYDAY, all year long?
Regards,
Alan

[Edward J.]

Re: Weather conditions effect on paint

My yellow car has quite a bit of spot repair on it as does the orange 72 I'm working on. Nice old paint touchup spots on the T-tops are quite obvious with that "Firemist" Ontario Orange. I distinctly recall seeing a very original 1-owner OO car for sale at Bloomington many years ago with a big spot on the left front fender where the factory touched it up. The owner swore he'd never had the car painted and knowing what I know now I'm sure the factory did it.

Patrick

With my years working on GM cars at the dealerships in the 70's and 80's, I use to see cars coming of the trucks with overspray on the frame rails and even on moldings and sealing strips. but quite often damage to lot cars was done buy careless salesman cleaning snow off car and parklot damage from opening doors on other cars.and those demos, The managers drove the crap out of they were always in the body shop for repair once they went back on the line for resale.

[Ed D.]

Re: Weather conditions effect on paint

The 70's Corvettes were certainly not perfect when delevered. When I took delivery of my 72 Targa Blue coupe. The windshield had been replaced, there had been a repair to the lower R rear quater panel [duller paint and rought fiberglass then the other quaters], The t-tops and the other areas of the top had spider cracks in the paint. I did not have any of the lesser quality areas repaired, as I had little convidence in the local dealer [Wallace Chev in Linden NJ] to fix the defects in a satisfactory manner. I think the overall quality of the C3's improverd greatly from the 1968 models IMHO.
Ed

[Kevin G.]

Re: Weather conditions effect on paint

The St. Louis Paint Shop was built in 1953, and it would be a kindness to call it "medieval"; Chevrolet never put a dime in it that wasn't necessary to avoid loss of production. They didn't even have conveyors in the spray booths until the mid-60's - the bodies were pushed through the spray booths.

There was no climate control of any sort in the spray booths - they were open to the rest of the uncontrolled airspace in the plant; all they had was semi-filtered air downdraft from the ceiling through floor grates - no water-walls, and no temperature or humidity control, and the Paint Shop wasn't enclosed or pressurized for dirt control.

The Final Paint Repair system ahead of the Final Trim Line (after Roll-Test, with no interior in the car) was sized to handle 125% of production; every car went through it, whether it needed it or not (most did).

Thank you Mr. Hinckley. This does explain a lot of the flaws in my two original paint cars. I was trying to figure out when my 72 was painted then looking up the weather on that day. Perhaps you can help to narrow it down a bit? The car was ordered on March 21, 1972 with a build date of May 10, and a delivery date to the customer on May 24, 1972. It does seem like a very long time as far as the build time, and a short time between build date and delivery? Can you guess what week the body went through paint? Allowing time for the paperwork to travel down the line.

The 70's Corvettes were certainly not perfect when delevered. When I took delivery of my 72 Targa Blue coupe. The windshield had been replaced, there had been a repair to the lower R rear quater panel [duller paint and rought fiberglass then the other quaters], The t-tops and the other areas of the top had spider cracks in the paint. I did not have any of the lesser quality areas repaired, as I had little convidence in the local dealer [Wallace Chev in Linden NJ] to fix the defects in a satisfactory manner. I think the overall quality of the C3's improverd greatly from the 1968 models IMHO.
Ed

I think your reasoning would still hold true today! Could you see your local dealer doing some spot touch up paint work to a new ZO6? My experience with dealer body shops hasn't been all that good!

About those factory blends, I do have a perfect example in the garage. On the front nose of my 71 there is a touched up area. Now 39 years later it stands out loud and clear!

Alan, The change in paint mix is very interesting as I guess it had to change hour by hour, along with the climate? The painters must have been very talented to deal with the conditions constantly changing.

[Michael D.]

Re: Weather conditions effect on paint

...Can you guess what week the body went through paint? ...

The time/build date in the upper right corner of the trim tag will show the day the car passed the station on the assembly line where the tag was attached. It was out of the paint shop and on the assembly line by that date.

[Dick W.]

Re: Weather conditions effect on paint

Kevin, lacquer was not as forgiving of weather conditions as the modern materials are today. But then again, the spray booths at the plants are now totally climate controlled, heat and humidity. The best I remember we had about 4 different blends of lacquer thinner available in the aftermarket. You used them primarily based on air temperature. You used the fastest drying thinner you could so that it would not "sink in" and soften your repairs. We always used a slow drying thinner on jambs and areas like that. The paint would flow out and have a low gloss without any further work.

[Ed D.]

Re: Weather conditions effect on paint

Kevin,
I believe you were also questioning the quality and endurance of the firemist colors. I can tell you that I have the original paint on the rear of my 72, while the rest has been repainted. You would be hard pressed to tell the the difference from the old and the new. This is different for my 67 that I purchased new and after 5 years there was substancial checking on most of the body. Thats when I traded it in for the 72.
Ed