69 Camaro SS 396 tail light panel black out

[chris slawski]

Yes I communicated with Kurt privately and he had info on the car i was unaware of, and he set me straight!

Thanks as always Kurt for your expertise!

[firstgenaddict]

here are some samples of Dupont Black lacquer with the referenced amount of flattener...
I then placed a piece of tape over one side and then polished the other side by hand with some fine cut cleaner and a rag, the results speak for themselves.

80% gloss ~ 20% flattener


70% gloss ~ 30% flattener


Another - the top sample is 10% flattener -



As you can see - polishing does away with the majority of the matte look whether the ratio is 70 or 80%.

[70 copo]

Originally Posted by 70 copo

From the December 2015 topic discussion:

https://www.yenko.net/forum/showthre...=134256&page=4

What follows is an excerpt from an interview conducted for Echoes and would be applicable to Norwood.

"The back panel paint was applied on the line between ovens 2 and 3. The paint was the same paint used on the rockers. The gloss difference was a technical result of the temperature differences within the last reflow oven.

The first being where the upper portions of the body were exposed to more consistent heat than the rockers and the reflow process was always more glossy in those areas.

If there was a temperature difference in plant say a summer day- the body was already hot going into the oven - warm to the touch- as opposed to a winter day where the body would be cool to the touch, all of these factors played into the final reflow outcome.

Cars built in cooler conditions in plant probably were less prone to high gloss where cars that cycled into the oven on a hot day had better and more consistent reflow due to the oven getting a fairly warm body to start with"

My Guess based entirely on this interview:

Cars built in the summer= glossy
Cars built in the winter = Less glossy
Spring and Fall=split the gloss %

Source: Fisher Body Paint Department supervisor.
His name appears on the 1969 personnel listing at Norwood as a Fisher Body employee in paint. In addition He supervised the man in the picture below.

Good point on the polishing. This is from my show paint question within portion of the same interview.

"Production paint was a constant battle. We always had low audit scores on paint and it was not because we had bad paint it was because slowing the lines sufficiently to meet the Duco specification for gloss would require a line speed reduction which cost GM production and profit.

Show paint Jobs were ran in batches wherever possible and was a two part process. First where indicated on the manifest - the line was slowed on a temporary basis as the coach or coaches would transition through the ovens which would immediately bake the coach for a longer period in transit.

For corporate orders we could also add a polishing element station for the batch. We could also do one or the other or both. Chevrolet could even repaint entire units within AGR- post assembly

Yes an entire coach could be assembled in primer and repainted in AGR as well.

As to Fisher Body more heat for a longer period resulted in a glossier looking job. Likewise more polishing had the same outcome.

Production jobs got some level of polish but the element was two guys and they focused on the roof, hood and trunk and were instructed to avoid irregular surfaces in order to minimize the risk of burn through and repair and rework which Chevrolet would be more than happy to bill us for upon acceptance.

Dull paint..Fisher Body hated it but GM wanted a fast line".