See the photos below. I have several 67 GS400 truck trim pieces and now that I have the 67 GS400 convertible with 56,000 miles I notice the trunk trim is not painted black as the originals are in the photos. The car had been repainted and perhaps someone decided to strip the paint and not repaint it or they bought another trim piece not painted and installed it. I have photos of some original cars I need to research but wondered what the 67 folks think and confirm, painted or not?
Definitely looks better painted! I remember my original gs340 trim had a red stripe on it as well as the black lower louvers. I guess that was intended to match the scoops and side red stripes. My ragtop gs was a 43k mile car when i got it and the trim was not painted either. I have since painted it. Is it possible not all plants used the painted trim?
Doing a google image search i didn't see a gs340 trim painted as i remembered. Maybe im slipping. All the google cars are all red. I will have to try and dig up a picture to see if i can verify my memory
A lot of things can change in 50 years! Maybe gary will chime in. He seems to have a tremendous amount of 67 gs knowledge!
Well, I think I just answered my own question. Below are photos I saved of the original 9000 mile Black 67 GS 400 that has been around and for sale several times. It clearly shows the trunk trim is painted black so I will paint the convertible trunk trim to get back to original.
It should be painted Chuck. There's a debate weather or not they should be painted all black, or black with highlighted "fins". The NOS one I bought back in the mid 80's was painted all black. Then some say that theirs was painted in the "highlighted" fashion. So either way is probably correct. It's just a matter of personal preference. On my current car I painted it with highlighted fins. I think it looks better that way. P.S. The GS 340 had a RED painted trim.
I reckon original was all black without highlights. Why? Because it would take extra detail work that the factory would probably not do to make the highlighted fins. I imagine the highlighted look comes from the paint wearing of the raised surface of the fins due to rubbing, washing, etc. I don't have any facts to back this up, just my hypothesis. I am going to paint mine black without highlights.
Chuck that 9000 mile car sure is a beauty! With the exception of the chevelle rocker mouldings. Im with nick. They definitely look better black with the chrome highlights .
Chuck, Prior to my car being restored my trunk trim had the tips of the strips unpainted. That is how I restored mine
There was an old thread about this very subject years ago. I had the same opinion as you Ed and then George ( Black-Widow 1&2) stated he had a couple nos trims that were done in the highlighted fashion. The one I had bought was ALL black so I assumed that's the way they should all be. It appears they came in both styles as far as I can tell. I wound up painting mine with the highlights after learning this. I can't imagine there's a way to confirm how things were done 50 years ago.
Thank you Chris. I've been studying '67 GS400s since we got ours in 1988 but I still learn something every time I look at an unrestored car or when I read posts from you other '67 lovers. I want to get all of the stuff I've gathered onto a website because there's not really a place out there that has deep deatil about the '67s. Sure there are lots of websites with paint codes, trim codes, engine stats, etc, but not much else. So we still see questions about fine details, like this trunk trim color, because it's not posted anywhere else. Regarding the rear trim, we have to be very careful when we look at NOS parts as a guide because they can be misleading if they were made as replacement parts after the initial run of parts used on the assembly lines. We also have to be very cautious when we use 50-year-old original parts as a guide since someone could have easily altered them. As 455monte said, a lot can happen in 50 years. I am of the opinion that an original GS400 had a completely black trim without the chrome highlights. I was not alive in 1967 so all I can base this on is cars that have the original trim in vintage photos which have not been restored or altered yet. So I've attached two examples form vintage road tests and both are solid black. It is also conceivable that the cars could have been built both ways depending on when or where the car was built or if there was a running change at some point in the model year. I personally prefer the chrome highlights and you will never be deducted for restoring your car this way, even at a BCA or GSCA show. My car currently has the chrome highlights because in 1988 when we repainted this trim it seemed logical to do it that way. If I were to repaint it today I'd probably go all black because I do have evidence that at least some of the cars were built that way. I'm trying to get some photos from some original owners of their cars when they were new. If we could get a few photos from the rear, it would help add to this discussion. The car shown below with the wire hubcaps was in Road Test Magazine. I personally spoke to one of the men that worked for that magazine and tested the cars. He told me that in the mid '60's their magazine did not allow advertising from auto manufacturers so they could provide unbiased reviews of the cars. He also stated that whenever possible they obtained their test cars from local dealers rather than from a press fleet so that they could ensure that the test car didn't get extra attention from the factory. This second car is from a different road test and also has black painted trim with no chrome highlights. Another often overlooked detail on the rear of a '67 GS400 is that no only are the trunk trim and tail panel of the body painted black between the taillights (I'm referring to the body), Buick also painted the inside edges of the 1/4 panel extensions black as well as the edges of the trunk lid. Buick was very determined to keep this area blacked-out. I will post photos of that later today when I have access to those photos.
I believe that the tail panel came painted black from the factory. That said,I left the top surfaces chrome on my '67. There's a picture of the tail panel in the Garage Section(tip of the hat to Nick!) The chrome just looked too nice to cover up! Personal preference. The 64 GTO tail panels had the horizontal ribs left with the chrome exposed as well. Archie
Great discussion and info guys. I think I will go with highlights but depends on how successful I am at painting it all black and then wiping off the fins or using small tape and covering the fins. Backup is if it does not look right paint it black!
That's the way to go Chuck. I don't know which brand of paint you like to use but, I highly recommend SEM Trim Black for this task. Looks and works great.
I don't want to get us too far off topic but here is what I've referring to. Buick blacked-out the edge of the trunk lid beside the trunk trim and also blacked-out the recessed area of the 1/4 panel extension around the tail light housings.
Thanks Nick, as a matter of fact I have SEM black on a shelf in the garage with the other 87 cans of spray paint I can't seem to pitch out after 3-5 years. I used the SEM red which is very close to Apple Red on several interior parts on the GS400 convertible. Weather is getting very nice here so I have no excuse (other than wife's to-do list for me) for not getting to the garage and working on the to-do list on the convertible and other stuff I am way behind on. When I get to the trunk trim I will post a photo or two of progress and finished product.
Thanks Gary, fascinating stuff. I have a 67 rear quarter extension in my 'parts pile' somewhere and will check out the paint scheme. I wonder if there was a short cut in the final assembly line body color painting that made it easier for GM to just not try to paint the edges and hidden places so see the black.
That's the proper way to finish the tail sections on these cars. Even a black car would have the same treatment done to it. That's how I had my painter do mine. More often than not you can tell when a '67 "A" body has been repainted because no one takes the time or has the knowledge to do it right.
