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another odd question from the newbie....

G

goertz

Guest
ok, I can't stop staring at my '73. there isn't a day that has gone by that since i bought it that I haven't taken it out at least twice a day. anyway, i'm washing it the other day, and notice something very odd.

now, to preface this, the paint is supposedly original, and looks as though it is. as i'm washing it, i notice what looks like stripes along the side of the car. after close inspection, I see these stripes are the factory body seams showing through. you can see them on the front fenders, where the upper and lower fenders are joined together, and same at the back fenders. Now when i saw this, I immediately thought that I had been taken, and that this car had extensive collision repairs, probably 30 years ago. Now I many not be a vette expert, but i have been into cars for 20 years, worked in a body shop once, and restored a few GTO's, Trans Ams, etc, so I know cars. I started really looking the car over, and saw no collision evidence whatsoever, top or bottom. I also saw no signs of a real repaint. All the original door jamb stickers are there, and not masked off, or painted over. no overspray anywhere at all. rear bumper bolts have some surface rust on them, and don't look like there has ever been a wrench on them. the body seams that i am seeing are not really cracks, there are some minor cracks, but nothing to write home about. it just looks like the paint has discolored differently over the years where the seams are. does anyone have an aging original paint car that has experienced the same thing? I just want to make sure this car wasn't mangled at one point in time. If it was, it was many, many years ago. but i can't see ANY evidence of collison damage. laying on the ground undernieth the car and looking up, the rear valance has no damage, about the right amount of overspray on the bolts, etc. no overspray on the spare tire or exhaust, and i have yet to see a body shop that can pull that off. front fenders look as they should, no evidence of ever being cut out or replaced. they blend right into the cowl area as they should. doors close just as solid as a new car. rivets in the door jamb are painted, strikers are not, just as orignial.
 
Visible bond seams are VERY common on original-paint cars, due to the different shrinkage rate between the molded panels and the resin material used to fill the gaps in the seams between panels; they're part of the "patina" of an original car - experienced judges look for them. Most shops eliminate the visible seams when a car is re-painted.
:beer
 
JohnZ said:
Visible bond seams are VERY common on original-paint cars, due to the different shrinkage rate between the molded panels and the resin material used to fill the gaps in the seams between panels; they're part of the "patina" of an original car - experienced judges look for them. Most shops eliminate the visible seams when a car is re-painted.
:beer

that's exactly what i wanted to hear! Whew! shrinkage is what i thought, but i was afraid it was from a repair, as i did'nt know they were visible from the factory, the seams are exactly the same width like about 1/4" all the way around the car, except on the doors, where there are none. they're not overly visible, but if you are washing the car and paying attention, it catches your eye. well that's good, i had started to think maybe it had been wrecked to the point they had to replace the top half of the car!
 

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