Just wondering on my 81 how they painted the cars at the factory. Mine has white over spray on firewall, both sides. I know my rear bumper was redone at sometime but by the looks of it seems to be original everywhere else. The car has been wheeled on according to my paint guy who painted front bumper.

 

What does "wheeled" mean?

 

Polished , buffed...my car is a St Louis build and they used lacquer.

 

I think they sprayed the black after the color?.

 

I would love to see someones original 81 to see how it was done. Thinking maybe my car had a re paint sometime down the road but that is the only area that shows and over spray? Thanks

 

Maybe a touch up job in its past? It’s easily done on a white car.

 

no clue if same but here is 79

 

Color on top of black out would indicate post production paint work. Maybe at factory or maybe at dealership and would be difficult to determine which. Color poorly covered by black out as shown by photos of the red car would indicate factory work unless I had reason to believe extensive paintwork had been done. Most body shops could avoid that much color overspray on a assembled car. If a body shop got color in that area, most likely color would be present on evaporator box and any wiring in that area. Factory applied color was done before any of those components were installed and the purpose of black out in engine compartment is to cover factory color overspray on firewall and inner fender skirts.

 

Correct. Color coats were applied before the car went to black out.

 

If I were to make a guess, I'd say your car may have had some paint work done. This is partly because of how far the white continues across the top of the firewall/cowl, and party because there appears be some white on the end of the right side weatherstrip, that's between the fender top and windshield. It could be just a reflection, but it should be easy for you to check. By the way, that rubber bumper on the right top of the cowl, is not a GM part.

I am the original owner of a 1981 built at Bowling Green in October 81. The car is unrestored with 44K miles on it, and has received an NCRS Top Flight. Below are photos taken about a week after I bought the car, and a final one shot a couple years ago. Bear in mind that these are digital photos of 35mm prints, so the quality isn't great. The car is under cover in a very cold building right now, but current pictures shouldn't look any different than these.

This shot was taken in November 81, a few days after the car was delivered. I took delivery on November 3rd, 81.



These two pictures are the same photo as above, but with an attempt to zoom in on the corners of the firewall and top cowl area. Because of the quality of the picture, and the dark Charcoal Gray paint, it's a little hard to see how far the blackout continues across the cowl, but it goes right up to the edge of the drip gutter area. This is pretty typical of the blackout I've seem on other original Corvettes, not just 81's, but all 68-82's. The last pictures does a better job of showing were the blackout typically ends.





This is a photo I took for my insurance carrier, when I changed coverage a few years a ago. From this shot you can get a pretty good idea of how far over the blackout continues.



I have quite a few other under hood shots of my car, and other 80-82's, that I took about 25-30 years ago, when I was part of the team doing the first 80-82 Judging Manual for the NCRS. Right now they're stored in my attic someplace, but if I can get a chance, I'll take a look for them.

 

And @gbvette62 answered your caution sticker question at same time!


cool pics!

 

gbvette62, That's awesome to see the original pictures, thanks so much!

 

Hmmmm, that was the day before my 18th birthday, in boot camp!

Paul

 

So, on top of firewall I have one rubber bumper and looks like I had another on drivers side. One more spot on side near radiator overflow tank . Going to order a new set of four and see how they fit with hood I guess.