Detailed restorations: Let's talk paint marks

[supercrackerbox]

If you read the restoration articles in Hemmings or other publications, you've seen cars where the restorers went through great lengths to replicate various markings that were put on the car throughout the assembly process, all in the name of preserving history. Many muscle area cars had various letters scrawled across their firewalls, stripes painted on the drive shafts and springs, supplier stamps painted on the fuel tanks, so on and so forth. While not for everybody, some restoration enthusiasts eat this kind of information up. Probably the most notable example of this I can think of for our cars is the red spray paint that has been documented on the rear brakes of the '86 and '87 GLHS cars.


(photograph of '86 GLHS #326, courtesy of 86Shelby)

While working on my own '87 GLHS, in addition to the red spray, I also discovered two other assembly line markings: a green dot on each brake drum adjacent to the balancing weights, and a blue dot on the top of each backing plate above the bleeder screws.




So, in the interest of preserving history and having this information available to anyone who may be attempting a 100% authentic restoration of a turbo Mopar, who has discovered similar markings throughout their cars and who knows what they all mean?

[HSKR]

Most of the marks are put there by various inspectors along the lines to show that they looked at that particular part. Taking apart my Spirit R/T interior last week, I noticed every single interior panel hard markings on the backside. usually looked like initials, probably of the installer.

[Fox]

my 89 csx has some yellow pant pen writing under the door panel on one side, definitely factory markings

[turismolover22]

Yep, paint or markings are to identify if it was checked, and when or who, if applicable. If there was more than one line producing vehicles in a day, or mutiple stations performing the same process, QC can narrow it down to a single person if defects appear that should have been found in the install/inspection process. Sometimes amark that means nothing to you is someone signing their life away lol. I do it every day.

[supercrackerbox]

As do I. In my plant we call them witness marks. So I'm guessing that the green dots had to do with the brake drums being properly balanced (since the '86 pictured lacked both drum weights and green dots), and the blue dots may have been that the brake system was properly bled?

[contraption22]

[martin kolner]

I have an 86 Daytona /59,00 original miles. I haven't noticed any particular markings on it. I have noticed over the years taking all sorts of cars apart, that interior panels have handwritten markings on them. Sometimes they might be from the vendor who supplied the parts or put on during the assembly line process. These obviously can't be seen unless you start yanking interior trim panels off.

Also some restorers will replicate paint flaws such as runs, sags and orange peel that was there from the paint booth. And while we are at it, there are known flaws such as an incorrect nameplate on one side of the car and the correct one on the other side. So much for quality control!

[HSKR]

The 2008 Charger my ex-wife and I had, there was writing on the transmission mount that said "I will help yout pitman" that was from the factory. Not sure what it meant, and nobody else on the LX forums had anything similar on thiers.

[ajakeski]

After restoring several cars for people who were more interested in paint marks than building a car that actually ran, I'm not a fan of reproducing paint marks.

[superbleu]

Ok being the lunatic that I am, when I bought my new 2010 SRT8 Challenger and having a hoist.....and a Nikon SLR....Well I took over 1500 photos of every detail. It is amazing how many paint makings there are. Little colored dots on just about every suspension and engine component. In 2050, when I am sucking oxygen from a hose, someone is going to thank me....LOL

[supercrackerbox]

The 2008 Charger my ex-wife and I had, there was writing on the transmission mount that said "I will help yout pitman" that was from the factory. Not sure what it meant, and nobody else on the LX forums had anything similar on thiers.

That very well could have been someone being bored and screwing around. Sometimes people find ways to amuse themselves to break the monotony of working on an assembly line. I won't lie, I've done it myself. Somewhere out there, there's probably a Bluebird school bus that has smiley faces on the isolators for the exhaust mounts.

[supercrackerbox]

After restoring several cars for people who were more interested in paint marks than building a car that actually ran, I'm not a fan of reproducing paint marks.

And I don't blame you. Some people get downright fanatical about that. But these are the people that are drooling over the 100 point judging at a concours show, something that I don't see happening with our cars any time soon. For the restoration on my GLHS, I'll replicate the ones that I find that are visible from the outside of the car simply because I can, and because it's something I find interesting because I work in the industry. But my goal for the car is factory appearing, it won't be factory stock by any stretch. And I certainly won't be duplicating factory paint and body flaws. I'd like that much to be better than 1987 quality.

[contraption22]

There's writing on the inner fender of my Grand Cherokee that says "Torque my balls."

[martin kolner]

You could also put crap in the inner quarter panels under the interior trim.... lots of evidence bored or pissed assembly line workers did this in the 80s. Things that rolled around and made noise but you couldn't see them: balls, cans, etc. Customers would bring the car in and complain and it would take forever to isolate the noise and find the cause. If I remember most of the time it would be on a Monday when the workers were more likely to sabotage the vehicles after being hung over from the past weekend.

Hell this would count as being "original" wouldn't it? Yes it would.

[HSKR]

Found so.e extra brand new screws and a plastic Christmas tree panel faster under capret in my Spirit, as well as a few cut off ends from zip ties. I know carpet had never been pullednup before.

[ajakeski]

As a standard of practice at American Motors in the 1970's, cigarette butts, beer can pull tops and any other garbage could be found inside new cars.

[martin kolner]

I once found a bag of weed and some gold coins under the rear seat of a new car I ordered.

OK that was a lie.

this isn't:

in the 70s I had a friend who was a repo man. He called me up one night and wanted to know what to do with a bunch of weed he found in the trunk of a repo car. His boss was there when he opened the trunk and he went off to call the police. My buddy had enough sense to grab some of it and hide it under some plywood nearby. The cops came and took what was in the trunk.

Later he brought it by my house and I got rid of it.....and I didn't throw it out.

and not related but one time I was in a wrecking yard and the trunk was locked in some Mopar. The car was FULL of crap so I unloaded what was in the car and popped the rear seat out. Trunk full of tools and painting equipment. I finally got it cleared enough to undo the latch and opened the trunk. It was a massive haul of tools,etc. that some poor bastard had in the car when it was repossessed. I ended up hauling it out in a wheelbarrow. One thing that was in the car was the head off a street lamp...the whole lamp assy minus the pole. WTF? why would anyone have that in a car?

I love wrecking yards!

[martin kolner]

another thing is date coded parts. I get requests for muscle car parts 70s and 60s and they want to know if it was made between July and August of 1971. Yeah like I'm going to yank out these parts and look at them for that. Some of the stuff can be seen (spark plug wires) and others you'd have to remove the part to see it (under a relay). Picky picky but if it's some high dollar restoration they want it to match.;

[supercrackerbox]

On that note, would you happen to have a set of 1987 date coded wires? I've got a set dated in the early '90s, but that's the closest I've been able to find for the GLHS.