Paint and interior questions on a 63

[petelempert]

My 63 is in the paint booth and I'm tracking down interior parts. Hopefully, within a few months I'll have a car that I can park in front of my house without causing my neighbors to frown. Meanwhile, I have a few detail questions and I'm hoping the experts can help:

1. Is the underside of the hood painted black or body color? Something in my memory tells me it's black...but wanted the official answer. Whats the story?

2. Is the inside of the trunk painted body color? I'm thinking yes because thats what I've got now, but my paint guy thinks it's either black or splatter paint. I bet him a six pack it's body color. Am I right?

3. The interior will be black, but I am interested in a black or silver headliner. Could you get a silver headliner with a black interior from Flint? Considering all the silver accents in the cabin I think it might look pretty good with silver, not to mention it's lighter and more airy looking.

4. Does the fabric on the sail panels (B pillars with courtesy light) always match the headliner? For example, has there ever been a factory combination where the panels are black and the headliner is silver?

Thanks in advance for your input. PRL

[RivNut]

Comments in red within the quote.

My 63 is in the paint booth and I'm tracking down interior parts. Hopefully, within a few months I'll have a car that I can park in front of my house without causing my neighbors to frown. Meanwhile, I have a few detail questions and I'm hoping the experts can help:

1. Is the underside of the hood painted black or body color? Something in my memory tells me it's black...but wanted the official answer. Whats the story? Black

2. Is the inside of the trunk painted body color? I'm thinking yes because thats what I've got now, but my paint guy thinks it's either black or splatter paint. I bet him a six pack it's body color. Am I right? Body color on the bottom of the trunk lid and hinges, but the interior of the trunk is all covered by the mat or cardboard panels. It's a moot point.

3. The interior will be black, but I am interested in a black or silver headliner. Could you get a silver headliner with a black interior from Flint? Considering all the silver accents in the cabin I think it might look pretty good with silver, not to mention it's lighter and more airy looking. It's your car, go for it. It would look good. If you were to do that, I think the headliner reveal moldings should be painted silver as well - IMHO.

4. Does the fabric on the sail panels (B pillars with courtesy light) always match the headliner? YES! For example, has there ever been a factory combination where the panels are black and the headliner is silver? Not out of the factory at least.

Thanks in advance for your input. PRL

[1965rivgs]

Not 100% positive on the `63 (never owned a black interior car) but the `65 models with black interior came from the factory with a silver headliner.

Tom

[Jim Cannon]

Pete-

My reference material says that a car with a black interior (788) came with the silver headliner. I can't find a black headliner in '63 in the Master Parts Book.

[petelempert]

Thanks guys. You are the best. So the hood underside will be black, the trunk inside will be silver, the headliner and the sail panels will be silver, the headliner trim will be chrome (because it looks so cool) and I will be broke. All my kids college money will be diverted to pay Clark's, my painter and chrome plater. PRL

[RivNut]

Instead of paying tuition for the chrome plater's children, see if you can find a '64 or '65 parts car. The headliner reveal molding in it will be chrome plated.

[petelempert]

RivNut-I've never seen one where the chrome was intact...and nice. Now that my car is finally going from skank to showboat...I'm getting sort of picky. Actually, it's the painter and Clark's that are really spendy. The chrome bill is the lesser of the three evils. PRL

[RivNut]

If you know of a good resonably priced plater, let everyone know. Much discussion about this.

[petelempert]

I use a company just outside Dallas called Economy Plating. They are very reasonable on pricing and timing, great with steel plating...OK on pot metal. My bumpers turned out spectacularly and were $250 each. That actually means 4 pieces for the front (upper/lower/two bumper-ettes) and 4 for the rear (main/license plate surround/two back-up lights). This included straightening all sorts of ripples, pings and scrapes. They are definitely a local shop which I have found to be an advantage because I avoided shipping and long distance relationships. I don't think they do any long distance work. The only downside is their mixed results with pot metal. Most of my stuff had some pock marks and for the most part it turned out really well. I am looking for a replacement hood spear because despite their best efforts, it still has some pocks that bug me. It is right there on top of the hood after all, so I'd like it to look perfect. I am going to try and find another, less pocked example and re-chrome that one. Economy changed $100 for both pieces of my original spear. I think some of the nationally advertised places like Paul's can do better work with braising, copper patching on pot metal but they take lots of time and big money to get it right. PRL