Cowl and firewall blending

[cwmcobra]

About to paint the firewall and my painter is asking how it should be blended with the body color of the cowl.  I assumed the body color would be oversprayed on the black firewall, but I've seen a few pictures where it appears that transition was masked with a clean line of demarcation.  Hard to believe they took time to mask at the factory.  Which is correct?

Thanks,

Chuck

[WkillGS]

Body was first painted body color. The firewall was painted later. Some plants, such as Flint, masked off the body trim tag on the cowl, leaving it bare metal.
The firewalls on my cars were all flat black. The other sheetmetal parts were a semi gloss.

Here's a fascinating web page on the process's used on the Camaro's back in the day. Our A-bodies didn't necessarily get the exact same process, but much is similar.
http://www.camaros.org/assemblyprocess.shtml

[Rollaround]

Hope I'm not adding confusion here but.....
Here are pictures of my 65 firewalls, both Kansas car's built about two months apart. I restored one and hope to start on the second car next week. Notice the runs in the firewall paint in the area of the trim tags. I went to great effort to not sand off the original runs on the restored car, the firewall was unmolested when I started, I cleaned it with mineral spirits and painted it. The firewall on the second car appears to be unmolested.
OK, back to the runs, I find them interesting because they flow in an upward direction leading me to believe the body was up side down when painted. Just a thought, one of those observations that keeps me up at night thinking, how did they do that. So I'm suggesting or speculating the already painted fenders and cowl vent were installed sometime after the firewall paint dried and the car was turned right-side up.       

[Rollaround]

Here's the unrestored pix.

[cwmcobra]

This is a Flint car, and we had primed over the trim tag.  So my painter hit it with some lacquer thinner and it didn't touch it.  He thinks the firewall black was baked on.  To remove it would require a wire brush with lacquer thinner and a big mess.  So, it will get painted black with the rest of the firewall.  By the way, he uses lacquer on the firewall to get the right gloss.

Looks like someone got lazy in the paint booth in Flint 50 years ago!

Chuck

[wheelz]

Heres a twist.  Back in mid 60's when I was just 15 and custom painting motorcycle gas tanks and side covers... I would apply a heavy thick 'splotch' of lacquer, then with an air gun, BLOW air directly 'AT' the heavy painted splotch to make a SPLASH LOOK...  was quite popular back then. Anyway, could it be that IF the firewall was painted satin black then a blast of air to assist in rapid curing for production purposes, could possibly push some of the heavier paint upwards?  So, like those 'runs' appear running UP??

Thinking out loud here since I've never seen ANY pix of a production line where cars were assembled upside down...
Just a thot.

Wheelz, Tampa Bay

[Loren At 65GS]

Now I'm going to have to start looking at firewalls for upside down runs. 


  Loren

[WkillGS]

At least 2 of my cars have firewall runs that go up.
Maybe the firewall and the underside of the car was painted black at the same time, floor side up for the application.

For firewall paint prep, I just scrub it down with a scotch brite pad and detergent. That will preserve the runs and sealer.
I prefer an epoxy or urethane paint for durability.

I believe Canadian-built cars had the firewall painted body color?

[Loren At 65GS]

I don't know if there were any '65 Gran Sports built in Canada.
My information is of only US production of the 15,780 cars built in '65.

 Loren

[Rollaround]

Is it possible this portion of the body was painted prior to leaving Fisher Body on it's way to the GM assembly plant across the street? 

[Brian]

Loren,
  There was a Bamboo Cream 65 GS in the BCA years ago when I was at the Richmond, VA BCA meet in either 99 or 2000 (whichever year it was in Richmond).  It was a Canada built car and the underside of the hood and the firewall were painted body color.  I think the owners may have also been in the AACA because I saw it at another show as well.  If I am not mistaken, it was a convertible with a white top. 

[elagache]

Dear Brian and mid-60s Buick fans that could be "North of da' border" . . . .

There was a Bamboo Cream 65 GS in the BCA years ago

. . .

It was a Canada built car and the underside of the hood and the firewall were painted body color. 

Hmm, very interesting.  The "junior Buick" of the house (a 2000 Buick Century) is a Montreal built car.  I understood that GM was building similar cars for Canada and the United States as far back as the 1960s, but in those days, cars were strictly intended for their respective country.

Did Buick build a Canadian version of the GS?  Anybody know?

Cheers, Edouard 

[Loren At 65GS]

Did Buick build a Canadian version of the GS?  Anybody know?

Cheers, Edouard 
[/quote]

Production figures from Buick dated September 2, 1965 show a total production of 15,780 Gran Sports being produced in four US plants.

[elagache]

Dear Loren and mid-60s paper trail detectives, . .

Did Buick build a Canadian version of the GS?

Production figures from Buick dated September 2, 1965 show a total production of 15,780 Gran Sports being produced in four US plants.

Thanks for the interesting document.  I would have expected the 1965 GS to have only been produced in the United States because it was a new market concept and Buick would have been cautious at first to see how the public reacted to that new concept.

So that leaves the mystery of what Brian saw.  I suppose it will remain that way until that car turns up again and someone can check the builder plates.

Cheers, Edouard 

[Mister T]

Dear Brian and mid-60s Buick fans that could be "North of da' border" . . . .

[

Hmm, very interesting.  The "junior Buick" of the house (a 2000 Buick Century) is a Montreal built car.  I understood that GM was building similar cars for Canada and the United States as far back as the 1960s, but in those days, cars were strictly intended for their respective country.

Did Buick build a Canadian version of the GS?  Anybody know?

Cheers, Edouard 

Here's some interesting reading about Canada's automobile production back in the early 60's.

http://policyoptions.irpp.org/issues/kyoto/the-auto-pact-forerunner-of-free-trade-book-excerpt/

It is important to note a couple of things:

1 - New cars cost as much as 50% more in Canada as the exact same model did in America. This likely contributed to very few upper echelon cars being sold here. Most people could not afford anything more than basic transportation, ie Chevy's, Pontiac's, Ford's, Dodge's or Plymouth's. My father used to say Buick's Cadillac's, and Lincoln's were for doctors and lawyers, not working men like him.

2 - You saw some weird configurations up here, such as full sized (wide track) Pontiac's built on narrower Chevy frames and running Chevy engines.

3 - Buick and Oldsmobile kept their own engine/trans combos, but we just didn't see many in my neighborhood. My father did have two Oldsmobile's though, a 62 Super 88 and a 64 Dynamic 88.

4 - I have no idea if Buick built any 65 Gran Sports in Canada, but my gut felling is not likely. However, who knew for sure. Perhaps that Bamboo Cream convertible in question was imported by a Buick executive for his personal transportation and given Canadian provenance. Stranger things have been know to happen.... After all, Ford claimed they never built a Boss 302 with factory AC, until one surfaced a few years ago which was specially built by the Ford engineers for an executive who absolutely had to have one with AC.