Painting

[kgreen]

I've tried several search phrases with no luck and will gladly take recommendations on previous threads. If not in a thread but in a reference book, please share.

 

I'm looking for details on which surfaces of the 1940 or similar era Buick are painted body color.  Entire body shell?  inside fenders?  etc.  Then if not body color, what color and what sheen?  Again for instance the underhood sheet metal, splash pans, etc.  I have reviewed the judging manual and don't see the detail for which I a asking.  

[Mark Shaw]

IMO, if you are restoring a show car, contact the appropriate judges.  If you are building a driver, just look at other cars like yours and copy them.  A little time spent searching photos on The Internet will yield much of what you seek.

[old-tank]

Technical adviser for your year and model.

[Bhigdog]

However you paint it you will never get everybody to agree it is correct or incorrect and that includes some "experts" who know it all.................Bob

Edited October 26, 2016 by Bhigdog (see edit history)

[DonMicheletti]

Yea Bhigdog!!!

[kgreen]

On 10/26/2016 at 5:52 PM, Bhigdog said:

However you paint it you will never get everybody to agree it is correct or incorrect and that includes some "experts" who know it all.................Bob

I could keep them guessing if I chopped it, slammed it and bagged it, then put a Ford motor in it!!

[Bhigdog]

23 minutes ago, sixseven said:

I could keep them guessing if I chopped it, slammed it and bagged it, then put a Ford motor in it!!

Some self styled expert would still tell you it wasn't correct................Bob

[Steve Moskowitz]

There are other resources.  Factory data sheets can even give you the brand, paint number and type used on the entire car including pin striping.  I do not know what is available for your car but there are websites and the AACA Library that may tell you what the factory said was correct. Some data sheets are very explicit.  The fun of trying to do a car correctly is the research in my opinion. Good luck

[60FlatTop]

Sam Rawlins was the chief judge for Rolls-Royce Phantom II cars back in the mid-1990's. I had the job of bringing the wiring in the distribution box on 201RY up from the 1976 standards when it was first restored to the current higher standard at the time. No cars existed that were correct. Sam sent me pictures of three cars that, combined, had all the correct facets. He sent me a sample of correct Ross Courtney terminal rings and cotton string, coated with bee's wax, wrapped, and tied with the proper knot. I got an envelope with plastic end cups that identified the factory chassis wire ends. The cotton wrapped wires were to be used on couch builder terminals. All the instructions were specific from the judge.

I used to use a local surplus electrical supply for materials to make Bakelite boxes and covers. They had a very similar number tag. When I asked about using them a letter came back stating "For judging purposes" use the ones I sent you.

 

That is the expertise to do the job. Today we sometimes lack that personal touch because of the abundance of misinformation available and it is hard to sort out. The best resource is the membership of your marque club, then detective work by examining your own car with AACA support.

 

In any case, always remember to leave one blatant flaw. That will be obvious to the self styled expert and maybe he will move on a little quicker. He's gonna be there no matter what.

Bernie

 

[kgreen]

My motive would be to get the car as correct as I could afford, but drivable as that is the goal for the car.  I figure I would have 20 to 25 years of fun with that car before the future nursing home made me sell it, then it would require restoration again.  The old originals which present the standards will become more and more scarce by that time and I suppose that the future owner would have the same questions then as I have now if he wanted a show car.  I think that just preserving the car for the next 20 to 25 years so that it is restorable is the best goal I should have.

[BUICK RACER]

Email Joe "the Old Guy" he had his '40 which was blue to Sequoia Cream, about 30 years ago. It was judge a few times back in the day before they got so picky! Buickjoet@ahc123.com

[60FlatTop]

Those years go by very fast. 20-25 years is a blink. When I bought my '64 Riviera it was about 15 years old. I remember how long I thought it would be until the car was 25 and eligible for Taylor's insurance. That breezed by and the car is 51 now. I bought my '60 in '01, there's a decade and a half.

I am planning on another 40 years (planning, not necessarily expecting it). I like originality mainly because I like cars that were better quality when they were new. And I try to have something a little different.

 

Back in 1977 I took this picture in Strongsville, Ohio.

 

At the time I owned a 1939 Buick Series 40, my second one. That row was longer than the picture shows. On that day I decided that enough 1939 Buicks had been saved for posterity and dropping a 350 Buick engine with some alterations wasn't going to affect history. When I sold that '39 I pulled the 350 Buick out of it and dropped it into a 1960 F-100, enough of those as well.

 

When I bought my '64 Riviera there were a lot less in the hobby than there are today. I have been quite faithful to originality on the car. I have owned it a long time. It's value means little. I don't plan to sell it. The styling would be very hard to improve upon and the mechanical components are pretty much flawless in design. Any effort to modify it would really have to be a driving urge on my part. But I do consider some personal touches. Maybe they will show up in July 2017. You never know.

Bernie