Now you guys have me thinking??? I remember mine (a 71 Flint car) always a dull black (like a tar type of coating) covering all. ou: Maybe between now & Christmas I'll get down to see my car, and take a closer look...
You can buy new trim tags and correct rivets from www.trimtags.com Of all the granny cars I have found in the local FL salvage yards, they were always painted black. I have seen this on numerous other GM models and divisions.
Fremont Body Tag John, This is the tag on our unrestored '72 Stage 1 that was built in Fremont. It is obvious that after the factory painted the car Hunter Green, they went back with some black paint to make sure that the top of the firewall was entirely black with little or no body-colored (green) paint showing.
Ken Notice how Gary's is starting to flake away in spots exposing the lighter surface. From looking at a lot of them I think yours was once all black iand is now just a little further down the road than Gary's in the flake department.
I know that the cowl tag on my car had that silvered effect on it(as you described in your post Duane),but,when I did the restoration on my car,I decided that I wanted to paint everything uniform and have the cowl tag match the firewall. I know a number of GM cars I've owned over the years have the cowl tag color the same as the firewall,so I figured I'd paint mine the same.(plus to me,it looks better ).
Jim- I wish you lived close enough to see it in person, or that I had a better camera. I've looked at the tag with a jewelers loop and I still believe it was not painted. The picture below is as good as I can get it in terms of the quality of image available to me. What you see in the picture is the limemist overspray onto the tag with a overspray from the black on top of that. Small droplets of black paint that fade into solid black paint as you move away from the tag and onto the cowl. If the paint had flaked, I don't see how you would get this effect?? I admit that the prepoderence of evidence as posted by others would suggest the tags were painted black, but I have to trust my eyes. I'll see if I can borrow a better camera to get a close up of this area. On another subject, there is a small yellow sticker on top of the steering box cover. It must be some kind of inspection sticker. It's elliptical in shape and measures 1/2 x 3/4 inch, in case you would like to duplicate it. I don't believe I saw it in the pictures you posted of your chassis.
Ken, I believe what the problem was that the tags were made of aluminum and the paint didn't really stick,so that is why your tag looks the way it does.It also appears your car was painted with the cowl tag attached.
You know what? I just went out and stared at this tag some more through the loop and now I'm not so sure. I found another area near a seam where the flaking black paint gives the illusion of overspray on the green below. Let me know what you find at the junkyards. I give. I think I need to go to sleep. And Carl, if it IS supposed to be metallic and not painted, I'll see to it that Duane takes points off next year when you're in concours!
Oh no Ken! (I hope Duane says that they came painted! :Brow: ) I know that my particular tag was painted and I remember scuffing some of the dirt off the tag and cowl area to repaint them. You know me Ken,I really try to go to great lengths to make sure my car is correct.
Larry Gibson has an unrestored Flint built '71 GS 455 under "cars for sale" Here and it has this picture of Trim Tag, definitely painted black on this car.
Well I don't think... We can ever know for sure (without someone stepping forward that worked at a Buick assembly plant, or some hints from original owners that remember a small detail. There is no way of knowing if a previous own sprayed a little black to clean up the wall, or the factory, or if it varied from line worker to worker, plant to plant... :eek2: I'd say do whatever you think looks the best.
I wouldn't worry about it Ken. What you have to watch out for is the fact that cars varied from year to year and varied from plant to plant. Not only our cars,but I've seen other marques from GM with complete silver cowl tags to black painted cowl tags(and everything in between). You definately posted a good thread.
I think is was a great thread too! From all the cars I've seen, I ONLY recall seeing black. And I hate to disagree with Duane, but my opinion is the factory touched up with a little black (well, that or many of the dealers/customers did). o No:
Well, I think we can all agree that there should be at least some black on them. I hate seeing them all shiny on "restored" cars...
Guys, I can dig up some pictures of original tags from cars we cut up, but the tag color does not come into play when we judge the concours cars, so it really doesn't matter. That is unless you are going to paint it purple with green edges. Duane
