1969 BLACK 396 cars got a different black tail panel paint than the body

[vtfb68]

Should we . . . ASSUME 67 and 68's follow the same pratice?
  Victor

[firstgenaddict]

How often did someone grab the wrong gun?

Bob, yours looks like the tail is "more gray" than the body color, or is what appears to be a color difference nothing more than a gloss difference?

[bcmiller]

I think those two cars were either anomalies, repainted at some point (possibly at the dealership) or maybe touched up at the factory (goes with the orange peel idea) and wrong gun was used.  Guy that did the back tail panels was probably used to picking a certain gun and picked the one he used for other non-Black cars.  This was assembly line stuff.  The guys developed habits after doing things a certain way thousands of times.  Throw something slightly different into the mix and errors happened.

[william]

I've seen gloss on rockers also.

[black69]

Updating the thread:

I had my car (triple black L78) at the survivor show in st charles IL this past sunday (same place they hold bloomington gold for the corvettes) and had my car's tail panel looked at by a judge.  He is also a judge that owns a yenko and is his opinions are well respected.  I finally felt like I am at a turning point when someone with a reputation finally saw what I have seen and believe in.

Anyways he saw the masking paint lines in the trunk (that run 45 degrees off the corners), continues into the trunk on the other side of the seal, and luckily the tail panel was in full sunlight (11-12am), southern exposure.  He saw it was a different shade of black as the body (in the area by the tail lights), and he confirmed my car was original paint (he does not doubt that).  It was the perfect setting, as natural sunlight really shows the paint difference (flourescent lighting does not, and that is what you have at car shows or in a restoration shop).

Every little bit helps to get the site updated with the truth:  black ss 396 cars DID get their tail panels painted a different shade of black (than the body).  There continues to be my car and the black 69 motion 427 survivor car out there that has been to a few high profile shows. I feel I have done the detective work providing 2 cars with same exact details matching each other, vins are not same day vins so it dispells any notion of the wrong gun being picked up.  Judging is the only way to close this chapter. To me my car should have the mometum (finally) to draw more judges into it now that ONE believes in it. Car has its original trunk seal and brown alignment dot, there is no signs of a tail panel being repainted anywhere.  He could not find any traces of anything in the trunk area to not be original anywhere. 

Other stuff on gloss:  there was a 69 L89 camaro there being judged as a survivor (dark green, paint was really rough on the body).  The tail panel had the same gloss as mine (80-85 %).  Super shiney.  Same orange peel.

[Steve Shauger]

The Motion Camaro you speak of has been Vintage Certificatin and our findings are as you state; the tail panel was applied with a different (second operation) gloss (approximately 85% ) than the rest of the car. Although your car has not been through our Vintage Certification (We would like to see it at MCACN), I did inspect the outside of the car when you had it at Chevy Vettefest a few years ago, and it looks like it was painted identical to the Motion car. These cars speak for themselves. Hope to see you at MCACN. The Vintage Certification team will be there.

[black69]

steve, thanks for stating that.  I do know Kurt was giving my car some recognition too. It would be nice to get the site updated for those doing black SS 396 car restorations, survivor judging, etc. 2 survivor cars vs no other survivor cars proving otherwise (I would love to know where one of those cars are), seems to make a strong case for an update.  With 2% of the SS 396s being black, it is going to be rare to find another data point. 

I did put myself in the painters position, and did look at this another way.  How would I know the paint is really flat or not? Its in a gun. All I know is its tail panel paint for SS396 cars.  But by being the painter, I had to maintain the gun to paint tail panels, I would know it would be a different paint, or has the flattening agent in it. So there is the easy answer, that painter knew it had a flattening agent in it, and thus it is different that the 100% gloss tuxedo black body.  We all may have been looking at this from a finished product perspective, but you have to put yourself in the painters position to come to what really happened.  He knew that tail panel paint has some flattening aspect to it. No doubt in my mind.

[NoYenko]

Black69
I just wanted to thank you for your help & letting me take pictures of your magnificent car. The picture shows a greater definition of the two black paints used than I saw with my eyes. George

[NoYenko]

Nice trunk

[m22mike]

I also got to meet and talk with Bob @ MCACN. Bob thank you for putting up with me and my flashlight, just could not stop looking at this wonderfull survivor.
 I was also intrigued by the OE black out on the rear panel of your car, tape lines and all.

Thanks Mike

[black69]

hey george and mike, thanks for the compliments. Had a great time at that show, meeting camaro folks. yes, once someone sees the tape lines on the other side of the weather strip inside the trunk, its pretty obvious.

So far the unrestored Motion 427 car (converted from an L78) and mine are 2 examples (vintage/survivor display or vintage/survivor judged in front of a lot of folks), and no one has stepped up with a black survivor 'without' the tape lines yet to counter any of this.

Someday.....the rules for black painted tail panels will change, I hope....making all my insanity worth it.  Definitely stuck my neck out there.

-bob

[mickeystoys69RSSS]

"Other stuff on gloss:  there was a 69 L89 camaro there being judged as a survivor (dark green, paint was really rough on the body).  The tail panel had the same gloss as mine (80-85 %).  Super shiney.  Same orange peel."

As mentioned above. I think I have come across a dark green Fathom Green 57 code to be exact car where the black out tail pan has a gloss to it.

[Kelley W King]

Even though these are original paint cars, who knows how much polishing they have gotten over the years.

[black69]

"Other stuff on gloss:  there was a 69 L89 camaro there being judged as a survivor (dark green, paint was really rough on the body).  The tail panel had the same gloss as mine (80-85 %).  Super shiney.  Same orange peel."

As mentioned above. I think I have come across a dark green Fathom Green 57 code to be exact car where the black out tail pan has a gloss to it.

I saw that green L89 car this past summer being judged, and the paint on my tail panel matched that car.  I think the only thing repainted on that car was the front drivers fender.  paint was rough.  tail panel had orange peel and was about 80-85% gloss.

As far as my car, the original owner to my car came to the show.  he said he only used hand waxing on it, and I myself never took a machine to it.  Just hand waxing.  You can strip the wax off on the tail panel and its still shiney.

I plan to finally get those pictures of the motion car downloaded and posted here this next week.  Had them stuck in an old iphone. Those pictures will back up the shine aspect (85%) and the orange peel galore.

When I see some of these restored cars, with flat paint looking tail panels, they are just wrong. 

-bob