The 1960 - 1966 Chevrolet & GMC Pickups Factory Correct Restoration Thread

[Brad54]

Originally Posted by 60-66

That's still a learning process Les. What I do know, again, is that everything was dipped in black primer just like buying NOS parts. The complete front end was painted over the black primer. Now the cab is where that changes. Every one I have seen, the cab and doors where the paint fades off of factory paint its red oxide underneath. I know from cutting cabs apart that these cabs were not dipped as there's bare metal between the layers. Doors however , I have several NOS doors in black primer. Im guessing the doors were shot in red oxide primer over the black while the cabs were being prepped, then painted in body color with the doors mounted to the cab.

Every book I have from Chevrolet and GMC states these trucks were factory painted in Enamel while the touch up paint you find from this era for these trucks is a can of Lacquer . The old saying was , " You can spray lacquer over enamel but you cant spray enamel over lacquer.

From my time as the editor of a Mopar magazine, the guys in the Mopar hobby taught me a LOT about how things were painted from the factory, versus the replacement parts market. Over the years I also picked up stuff from the guys at Muscle Car Review.

For instance, chassis components as-installed were dipped in black to a certain point, then bare metal, while parts for the replacement market were fully coated. That way they didn't rust on the shelf.

The factories stamped body panels for the crash market long after the model year ended, so your NOS doors weren't necessarily painted as they would have been on assembly-line assembled cabs.

I would guess the factory-installed doors were painted with red oxide, like the cab, not pre-primed in black.

-Brad

[60-66]

Originally Posted by Brad54

From my time as the editor of a Mopar magazine, the guys in the Mopar hobby taught me a LOT about how things were painted from the factory, versus the replacement parts market. Over the years I also picked up stuff from the guys at Muscle Car Review.

For instance, chassis components as-installed were dipped in black to a certain point, then bare metal, while parts for the replacement market were fully coated. That way they didn't rust on the shelf.

The factories stamped body panels for the crash market long after the model year ended, so your NOS doors weren't necessarily painted as they would have been on assembly-line assembled cabs.

I would guess the factory-installed doors were painted with red oxide, like the cab, not pre-primed in black.

-Brad

Great points Brad ! And very accurate .I had to go look inside several doors. One low mile base 66 GMC , lots of bare metal no undercoating, some interior color over spray. One Chevy 1966 C20 , this one it looks like the outer skin is painted but not the frame of the door, this one is undercoated in the middle of the skin and the paint extends to both front and rear edges.
Removed and Looked under some door hinges on cabs and doors, no paint on either, just light surface rust.

It seems as though hoods may have been dipped but then you look at the very front edge and you see surface rust again but not inside the rear of the hood between the rear brace, thats all black. Looked up under some bed sides in between panels and they are black. Would be nice if we could find pictures or films on the painting process .