Test fitting my 72 gs convertible. I have a question regarding the windsheld frame and final paint. Once the car has been painted, does the frame stay body color or does it get painted black?? Reason I ask is because betwen the WS chrome and the A pillar molding there is a strip of bare metal...is this supposed to be body color or painted black to blend in?? You also have small areas betwen the A pillar weatherstripping and interior panels that will show body color. What is correct? Pic attached. Thanks Tim
Tim, something is wrong. The stainless trim for the front windshield should mate up flush with the glass surface so there should be no metal showing. Secondly, the area between the w/s and interior a-pillar cover is exposed and is supposed to be painted body color.
I think its just the angle of the picture...it does look like it is stiing off the in the upper corner but its not....the stainless trim does sit flush with the windshield (when I had it in there like 3 years ago) and the windshield pillar top but there is that small strip you can see at certain angles through the glass to see the the actual pillar on the vertical part. My hardtop is the same way (that one I painted it black 15 years ago but this time am trying to be more correct about things). Ok, body color it is. later Tim
Tim, Not to dissagree with George but.... The frame on mine was body color except there was a black stripe (just covering the part that is exposed) where the frame shows next to the pillar pad in the area you are talking about. That way black and not body color shows. Both of my 72's are painted that way. Both are Flint cars August and October builds. It's my opinion yours should be painted black in that area. This may be one of those plant differences.
Karl, no problem, disagree as you like. I base my posting/knowledge on my dismantling and reassembling of cars. Here is what I have found on convertibles: 2 72 Cutlass convertibles(currently own)---body color on A-pillar area 2 Skylark convertibles(1 currently own)---just did these-same as Cutlass 2 Cutlass convertible parts cars-----just stripped one 2 months ago, same as above 4 Skylark convertible parts cars over last 20 years-----same as above. So, out of 10 cars, all were original paint in that area. Most of the car I find or strip in the local salvage yards are old originals and that are has not been repainted. Most of the time I look in that area to ID original paint color. Most of the colors are Harvest Gold and Forest Green.
More news, I checked the 70 Skylark (Flint built) ragtop parts car I have (or whats left of it) and that one is body color. Must be a year thing. For sure the two 72's came from the factory painted black. I also want to correct myself. Yours will be black because your pillar pads are black. The correct paint would be the color of the dash to match the interior color and the pillar pads.
George, I'm not saying they are all one way or the other. In Tim's case my cars were built in the same plant within weeks of each other. I think the blue one and his were within days. The blue car I have owned since '83 and I'm certain it was never touched in this area as it still had the original windsheild when I got it. Went out and took some pictures of the one I'm getting ready to start on. This one has been sitting since the late '80's. This one does not have the original windsheild. It still looks like this is the way it was built. I think we can only use Skylarks and Gran Sports as a benchmark. Too much differences between the A body's. What year(s) were the Skylarks you parted?
2 Skylarks were 70, 1 was 71 and 1 was 72. One of the pics you show was the inner A-pillar below the vinyl A-pillar cover. I thought Tim was asking about the very narrow area between w-strip and inner A-pillar cover.
I agree, that was as good as I could get it to show that area with the windsheild installed. The part that shows between the pillar pad and the trim when looking from outside the cat. I guess they are not all the same, the 70 I have is for sure is not painted.
