Jim, for what it's worth, I talked to an older gentleman at one of the car shows early this year who claimed to have worked in the paint dept. at Flint when during the era of X's. He told me that my stripes were the wrong color black, saying that the hood and stripes were a step up from flat and not gloss (like mine are). He also said they hated painting them cause the templates were a PITA. Since mine is a clone I didn't bother with the mismatch but he did look above the rear wheel for it muttering something about never lining up. I wish I would have gotten his name. ou: I'll try and watch for him at the local shows and hopefully pick his brain a bit.
Well, I've always felt "to each his own..." and I don't berate anyone for having their car any waythey want it. After all, it's their money that went into the car. I've just never liked the idea of duplicating factory flaws. I've seen some Corvettes with runs in the paint because, as the owners put it, "It came from the factory that way". To me, this is insanity. If one of the assembly line workers crapped in the trunk, would they leave it there? We all know that these cars are over-restored. I've seen a lot of originals and let's face it, they weren't built all that well. Fit and finish on most of them was marginal at best. Stripes are another story altogether. I see no reason not to correct these flaws and still remain within standards. Bill
What is the correct color for the red stripes, and were they pin-striped on or painted with a spray gun? Thanks , Don
My yellow GSX, although needing total resto., has original paint yet. The headlite doors are oversprayed yellow fairly heavy. The black side stripes and red pinstripes do seem more flat than glossy. I've seen the headlite doors on restored cars painted semigloss black and heard that was supposed to be correct? As these cars get restored, my personal opinion is that some of the factory flaws should be fixed. When people who don't know anything about these cars see them I think it would make them think of them as a higher quality car. I don't think people will look at a restored car with factory flaws and think "oh this is an original car that hasn't been restored". I don't believe in over restored cars either, they just don't look right or something. The cars in that time period did have pretty poor paint and panel fit. Should be a happy medium. I did exhaust on a '70 Z28 Camaro a few weeks ago with 21,000 miles on it. It had all original paint and was well taken care of. The paint on that car looked like hell and the panel fit was pretty bad, but that's the way they were back then. Scott
If you guys are still interested I will call Ron Frakes and find out the exact paint for the hood. I believe Ron did the specs for the paint and it was unique.
remember these cars were painted by hand using templates....they were close...not perfect...also from a chemistry standpoint as far as the gloss is concerened...they were probally painted the same color/semigloss black the solvent from the paint evaperates at a slower rate from a vertical panel than a horizontal panel...this will affect the gloss....also top panels are more susceptiple to air pollution and UV rays also adding to the aging process...
Guys, I can't believe we are still talking about this. Some of the 70 & 71 assembly manuals have a page that shows the GSX painting scheme with the paint codes for the colors. It shows the black as the same color for all the stripes and hood/spoiler. Duane
this was all good and no doubt everytime a new guy comes along thats going to paint his or her X this all starts again:spank: . So heres my deal....I'll be painting my 71 X clone gloss black with cortez gold striping, anybody mind helping me out with some paint codes for this one?:laugh: ps...It'll be the opposite colours to the car in my Avitar
Well, I've got the real one, made by Buick, out in the garage, oh, about 60 feet away from where I type this. :laugh: Regal Black is paint code 19 and Cortez Gold is paint code 53.
Just 'cause it's your birthday don't mean you don't now owe Duane and I dinner at next year's BPG Nats! We may even let you eat with us...:bla:
Damn it I thought I might have the only one painted that colour combo...I sent a email and am loooking forward to some nice photos....Gord
Brad I don't suppose your car came from the Brainard Mn area? I saw one back in the 80's for sale by the side of the road when we were going to the National drag races at BIR, back in the day.
I was always struck by that black gsx with the gold stripes. Hmmm i see you have a few other interesting buicks as well, nice.....
