1969 Camaro Trunk paint

[mockingbird812]

Love that patina Bruce. Is Tyler having fun with his ride?

[Xplantdad]

Hi Sam, Taylor is attending U of A (and doing well). The Chevelle is safe...tucked away in the garage [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif[/img]

[NoYenko]

Lynn,
I have a 69 Camaro that should be painted soon and have been working for 6 months on getting the correct original trunk paint. I reluctantly have asked several of the best restorers for any tips and they are pretty tight lipped, as it should be, I am not paying for their experience or expense and that is their income. I respect that.
So like many of us I have to figure it out by trial &amp; error. I have good pictures of two cars to compare to. A 5000 mile 69 Camaro SS and a 35000 mile 69 Z, both very nice original trunk cars built at Norwood. I also compared the trunk of my 1970 Chevelle 36000 mile.
The first problem in comparing is using photos with different lighting &amp; different cameras. I tried to use the same angles &amp; flash in my comparisons. I had to paint inside so I built a simple paint box with a filter. Worked out great for indoors, no dust or fumes.
I had heard John Berlage’s paint was the best match, but after painting it I wasn’t quite sure so I bought Zolatone to compare. Johns instructions say to use a conventional siphon gun with a large primer nozzle. My gun has a 2.5 nozzle but it kept plugging up.
I switched to a body Shutz gun with better results but I was looking for a finer pattern so I adapted a nozzle to the gun. The factory probably used a pressure gun like a pressure pot but I didn’t want to buy one to try it, maybe the best results.
I was going to paint sheet metal samples but realized I would need too many so I used cardboard. I primed &amp; sealed them with Red Oxide like the factory used in the trunk.
You can get very different results with the air pressure and angle of the gun.
The photo “J-B box flash” shows how it looks painted in a box to simulate the different spray angles in a trunk. Right now I would say John’s paint has the best droplet size of the aqua but the way I am spraying it comes out a little too dark &amp; lumpy. The Zolatone is too light &amp; flat, doesn’t have the texture like the factory paint did. Tomorrow I will try using the Zolatone as a base coat with Johns paint over it. I think that might be what I am trying to achieve. I will take all the samples and match them to the 69Z on Saturday that will be the true test. Sorry for the long post. George.

[NoYenko]

Camaro trunk comparisions, Seven samples, John's paint in box.

[NoYenko]

Chevelle trunk comparision, Zolatone &amp; John Berlage. Johns is a great match to my Chevelle.

[Lynn]

George:

Don't apologize for the long post. This is EXACTLY the type of info I am looking for. I fully understand the different looks depending on lighting and the like.

PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG, but it looks to me like the tint of the Berlage is the closest. It is just a matter of getting it on the surface in such a way as to get the texture and pattern correct. What do you think about spraying some dp90lf under it instead of the Zolotone as a base?

Seeing that you have gone to this much trouble, I will buy a quart of the Berlage, and purchase a cheap pressure pot set up with the biggest tip I can get up to 3.0 (you said your 2.5 clogged, so i plan to go a little bigger - OR IT MAY BE THAT I DON'T NEED A LARGER TIP ON A PRESSURE POT SPRAYER - MAYBE SOMEONE CAN TELL ME????). There is no sense in one guy having to do all the r &amp; d. We can then compare samples. I do have the luxury of leaving some of my original trunk untouched until I get a good enough match that I can do the whole thing. Should make it a little easier to compare.

I agree with respecting the big dogs as far as trade secrets, but also believe there has to be a way for the hobbyist to replicate this look, and believe that as a hobbyist, I ought to share all I can. That is how I got most of my info, from guys like you guys. I can't imagine that GM spent more than a minute shooting the spatter, if that long.

Thanks again. Will go order the paint and a cheap pressure gun set up tonight. Currently experiencing relatively cold weather (nothing like Canada, but barely breaking freezing) for a while, so can't actually paint until I get some decent weather.

[Lynn]

I am guessing this is the Berlage paint:

http://www.opgi.com/p/chemicals-flui...6/CH26945.html

Anyone have any experience with the stuff heartbeat jimmy sells:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1967-1968-19...30689207291%26

[Charley Lillard]

Great info fellas. I think alot of people will be reading.

[NoYenko]

Here is an old post from 2005, and how I contacted John Berlage.
https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/ubbt...topics/94219/3
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">My name is John Berlage. I own a Butternut yellow 69 Yenko, as well as a 69 maroon copo. I faced the same problem everyone else is experiencing when it comes to finding a good trunk paint. A couple of years ago i spent year and a half looking for a good source. I stumbled upon and OEM supplier that produced the paint for GM. During my restoration of my yenko, before sandblasting the trunk, I sprayed some of the new paint over the old. I could not tell a difference. The paint in my opinion is the best you can get. I would like everyone to keep in mind that each GM plant did have variation in texture and look. For anyone who is skeptical please email me at [email protected] for pictures of my yenkos trunk.

I would also like to note, since it has come up on this discussion, how you apply the product is critical to how the paint looks. During my search I also discovered that GM used a very specific gun to spray the paint. They used a binks 2001 gun, with a 200 tip, a 66 fluid nozzle and a internal mix aircap.
</div></div> George.

[Mr70]

John Berlages' paint discovery is the best you can get today in my book.
But as he/many have stated,it's only half the solution.
How it's applied is the other.