You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

[Charley Lillard]

I have never heard of blackout paint being done at the dealer.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by SS427

Interesting photo. It would appear that the line worker may be applying a blackout paint to the rear suspension and fuel tank. I had always believed this was done at the dealer (I know it was there too) but wonder if that was a normal procedure on the assembly line as well, not only on Camaros but the other Chevrolets as well.

Yes.

Oldsmobile (Lansing Michigan) shown below, but this was typical for Chevrolet passenger car and trucks, as well as Buick/Olds/Pontiac.

For full frame vehicles is was done immediately before body drop. The "chassis black", a super watery cheap almost not worthy to be called paint, was drizzled haphazardly in the general direction of the frame, coating the convenient surfaces of front A arms, rear suspension components, and portions of the dif and axle tubes.

K

[Keith Seymore]

This is a better picture of a typical spray booth. These are truck rallies getting their argent silver color coat at Chevrolet Flint Assembly, circa 1979.

You can see the water flowing down the wall in the background, which collects the overspray and carries it away. The resulting sludge is dried out and disposed of in a manner consistent with the disposal of industrial hazardous waste.

K

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Yes.

Oldsmobile (Lansing Michigan) shown below, but this was typical for Chevrolet passenger car and trucks, as well as Buick/Olds/Pontiac.

For full frame vehicles is was done immediately before body drop. The "chassis black", a super watery cheap almost not worthy to be called paint, was drizzled haphazardly in the general direction of the frame, coating the convenient surfaces of front A arms, rear suspension components, and portions of the dif and axle tubes.

K

One other tidbit from the Olds photo: if you look carefully you can see the brake master cylinder slaved in roughly its final location; by this point in the process the brake system has been completely assembled, evacuated of all air and filled with fluid (and any required repairs performed), tested and bought off as good.

I always enjoyed looking at the assembly process and noting how different the order was from what you or I would do in our own garage.

Flint Assembly motor set operation shown below.

K

[Lee Stewart]

[Lee Stewart]

[Lee Stewart]

[Lee Stewart]

Massachusetts to ban the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035

[SMS]

Originally Posted by SS427

Interesting photo. It would appear that the line worker may be applying a blackout paint to the rear suspension and fuel tank. I had always believed this was done at the dealer (I know it was there too) but wonder if that was a normal procedure on the assembly line as well, not only on Camaros but the other Chevrolets as well.

Rick,
That kind of discussion is why I posted that photo. I figured in the Lounge it would get the best chance for views. The top two photos are all over but that lower one was quite interesting.

[SS427]

Originally Posted by Charley Lillard

I have never heard of blackout paint being done at the dealer.

Well, where I lived in the Mpls, St. Paul area it was a very common practice for the dealers upon receipt of the cars off the transport carrier to flash on some black paint over the rearend and the bottom side of the fuel tank. This was done because in our climate they would flash rust almost immediately on the dealers parking lot and looked terrible. The front suspension was almost as bad. Maybe because of your climate they did not practice that there.