Basecoat - Primer Coats 81 Vettes

[chevyaddict]

Does anyone know what color the basecoat and/or primer coat was on the 81 vettes at the St. Louis plant BEFORE the color coats were sprayed?

Also, if anyone has an 81 that has the original paint, is the outside paint color sprayed underneath the hood? If not, is underneath your hood black?

Thanks much everyone!

 

[Tom73]

Sorry but don't know what color primer was used, would assume a gray. But the body color was applied and then the under hood area was blacked out, so could be some body color on the underside, but in general it should be black.

tom...

 

[Yoda]

chevyaddict,

Check out the Registry photo pages, there are some engine compartment photo's, mine for one is 100% original St. Louis Laq. Paint (Still) I thought the primer coat on the laq. cars was black.. I'll dig around in my information when I get home tonight

 

[Tom Bryant]

The under hood area is a mat black. I think Bud is right on the primer being black too. My wife's (HER AT1) is also an all original paint St. Louis laquer car. There's an engine shot on the '81 page on my web site and one in my June column that shows a part of the hood. Need more pics just let me know.

Tom

 

[chevyaddict]

Thanks!!

Cool! This is really good news! I actually took a video of the entire car and all the areas that show evidence of the color and no other colors on the car. I am going to digitize it and put it on a CD and make some copies and then send the copies to various "qualified" people to see what they think. I am also going to do some searching through DMV of all the previous owners of the car to see what I can come up with. Maybe I can confirm the car has never been repainted. Haven't pulled the interior out yet to search for other build sheets but I will if I have to. Hate to tear into the car if it is unnecessary.

Thanks a bunch everyone!!

 

[Rob]

Actually, I'm not sure if you saw this linked off the 1981 Specs. page here in the Model Center, but this article might be of interest to you. Nut is a member here:

http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/specs/spec81.html