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C1 paint question

AdvancedAutoCC

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 8, 2004
Messages
381
Location
Cape Coral, FL
Corvette
'96 coupe (Torch Red), '85 4+3 coupe (flat black)
I've got a '54 in the shop (long term project), and I had a question on the finish. On the tops of the fenders and in a few other areas, you can see what looks like the matting pattern of the fiberglass. It's faint, but definitely noticable if you look at it... is this considered normal? The owner of this car has had it since 1967 and had a repair done on the lower left grill opening, but other than that, there's no crash damage or evidence of bodywork. He's interested in painting it, but I want to be certain before telling him to do so (the old original once, restored 1000 times argument).

Thanks!
 
yes, that's normal to see the weave of the fiberglass on an original car.
Chances are if you look at a Vette of that vintage, '53's, '54's, '55's etc and you don't see the fiberglass weave thru the paint you can be pretty sure that car has been repainted, and very likely heavily primed with a filler primer under the paint to make a smooth "show-car" type surface.

i'm not an NCRS judge, but I wouldn't be surprised in the least if judges actually look for that fiberglass weave showing thru on those early year cars.

Last year at a show I saw a very original and unrestored survivor '53 and there was a lot of that fiberglass weave pattern showing thru the paint - it was very noticable but personally I felt it really helped to show this was an original car and how they were back than.
 
Virtually every panel on 53's was hand-laid, with lots of weave showing, but the steel molds were done for everything but the floor pan by mid-'54 model year production, and 54's after that had press-molded exterior panels. The floor pan was the last panel to be converted to press-molded, about a month before the end of the model year, around #2800 or so.
:beer
 
John

so on a '54 the weave pattern would only show on a car produced in roughly the first half of the production year? If the car was made after the molds were completed the weaving shouldn't show?
 
BarryK said:
John

so on a '54 the weave pattern would only show on a car produced in roughly the first half of the production year? If the car was made after the molds were completed the weaving shouldn't show?

Yup! :)
 
Thanks guys!

As usual, CAC comes through... :) I thought the weave was supposed to be there. There are some pics of it on my site if you're interested in seeing it.

I had told the gentleman who owns this not to paint it, as it would be considered a survivor car. Mileage is an actual 41,658, and I think it'll be stunning when complete. I'm not much into trailer queens/ show only pieces, but this one I think is deserving.

Thanks again!
 
Not to say that it has or hant been painted but I have seen and experienced primer shrinkage that gives the same effect.most of the time this comes with using cheaper primers.Hey advanced,my mom lives in Cape coral and I told her about your place,mind if I come visit on my next Thanksgiving visit?
 

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