Factory paint, wet sanded & buffed?

[70 copo]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

I'm not overplaying this. Mine IS that bad, complete with hairs in the paint and handprints in the hood and decklid. Not to mention the passenger door rubs on the fender when you open it.

All perfectly preserved for our viewing pleasure.

K

Keith,

You are right and the real data shows the quality. These two graphs are in Echoes of Norwood at page 130 and show first generation "F" car quality as both an audit result showing specific demerits as well as the running average of combined paint and metal discrepancies during the 1969 model year. With this said, a original car will respond well to a buff and polish, however the blood metrics show things as they were.

To quote a paint superintendent during the walk around at MCACN in 2017

"None of these cars look anything like what we built- pick the worst car here with the worst paint and you have what we rolled off the line on a normal day".

As an aside the Norwood workers had little to no interaction with any of the perfectly restored cars or the owners while we were there. These were the mirrored and wheel off display cars. When they approached these cars the owners typically did not speak to the Norwood workers which they thought was a bit strange.

To a man the Norwood workers agreed these cars were perfectly restored and were so good they were also very over restored.

Final line guy summed it up best: "Hey who wants to have us look at a car like that- I mean it is so well done, and if they ask me how well they did the car and how authentic it is well gee who wants to hear that the axle should be scratched from the pedestals on the final line, or frames should be scratched from the production process, bad paint,trim fit, and so on" these guys have a lot of money invested here".

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by 70 copo

To quote a paint superintendent during the walk around at MCACN in 2017

Thank you; at the risk of taking us even farther into the ditch:

I met via a mutual friend the gentleman who was at one time the paint shop supervisor in Pontiac, Michigan, where all three of my classic Pontiacs were built.

He said that the deficiencies on my car, including a "swiped area" on the decklid, were the result of pressing too hard on the "tack rag" (a treated cloth for wiping the car before paint. We still used those when I worked in the assembly plant in the late 70's and 1980's). He said the pressure causes the solvents from the rag to become embedded in the primer resulting in laquer checking in a very recognizable pattern.

He also said that any women working in the paint shop were required to tell him when they were menstruating. Apparently the female body emits a hormone very much like silicone which caused fish eyes in the paint (and therefore wreaked havoc in the paint shop).

Try getting away with THAT these days...

K