67 hood latch overspray on AO Smith body?

[Joe R.]

I searched the archives to determine the correct amount (if any) of blackout overspray that should appear on the hood latches. I found one posting that stated that AO Smith bodies had blackout applied before the hood latches were installed, while St. Louis bodies had blackout applied after the hood latches were installed.

Is there a consensus that for an AO Smith body, there should *not* be blackout overspray on the hood latches? If overspray should appear, how much is typical?

[Joe R.]

Re: 67 hood latch overspray on AO Smith body?

Joe,

No there should not be a concensus that arrives at that conclusion. The hoods were on the car when the blackout was applied. That means the hinges HAD to be on the car. If anyone got near the side of the fender the hinges would naturally be painted on the inside. Along the fender side most hinges show a bit of the car color and or blackout. I'm sure the intent was to black out the hinges BUT old Joe Blow could not do them all the same on every car on every shift. Remember PEOPLE did the painting on ALL cars assembled in that time frame.

Now it's 40 years later! Do you think that some of the paint could have flaked off? Especially on a part (hinge) that has grease on it. Some or all of the paint on some but not all cars hinges has long disappeared.

Remember, "we are to restore cars the way they were. Not the way we wish they were." Just to quote an old friend.

Regards,

JR

[Joe R.]

Re: 67 hood latch overspray on AO Smith body?

Just to clarify, I was referring to the latches, not the hinges. My specific interest had to do with the latch mechanisms mounted next to the firewall, but I would also be interested in knowing the proper treatment of the latch pins mounted on the hood.

[Michael H.]

Re: 67 hood latch overspray on AO Smith body?

Joe,

I also saw the previous post that claimed there was no paint on the rear of the hood latches for 67 Smith built bodies and was hoping to hear more. Does anyone have solid info on this?

[Wayne W.]

Re: 67 hood latch overspray on AO Smith body?

I have pictures of originals without black out on the latches or the cables. I cant say with certainty for all years, but certainly on later ones 66-67. I have worked on a bunch of AOS cars over the years and I own one. I have studied many. My opinion is that they were not blacked.

[Michael H.]

Re: 67 hood latch overspray on AO Smith body?

Thanks Wayne. Looks like I'm going to learn something here. I guess I just assumed all 64-67 had the latches in place during compt blackout.

[Joe R.]

Re: 67 hood latch overspray on AO Smith body?

Joe,

Certainly my mistake. Been a long day!

Was too wendy of an answer anyway!

Regards,

JR

[John H.]

Re: 67 hood latch overspray on AO Smith body?

Many original A.O. Smith cars I've seen don't have any trace of blackout on the hood latch cross-cable, which says it was installed after paint; if the cross-cable wasn't in place in paint, then either the latches or the pins weren't either. The '67 JG also indicates that there may be less blackout on A.O. Smith latches than on St. Louis bodies, and that the cross-cable may show no signs of blackout.

[Michael H.]

Re: 67 hood latch overspray on AO Smith body?

That's interesting. I wonder how they held the hood up to the proper height during paint? Without pins or lock assy's, it would close too far and the edges of the hood wouldn't have gotten any color during the paint operation. Unless the edges were shot at the same time the underside was painted while the hood was open?

Would also make shipping the body to St Louis difficult without lock assy's, unless the hood was supported somehow.

I've been looking through my records and every car I have on file has paint on the latches but it's possible all of the ones I've recorded were St Louis builds. The research continues....

[Joe R.]

Re: 67 hood latch overspray on AO Smith body?

Michael,

I've never removed a latch or hinge that didn't have bare fiberglass underneath. They were on including the cable during blackout. Maybe they just didn't want to put a lot of blackout on the firewall. Maybe they didn't want to blackout the windshield wiper motor.

JR

[Michael H.]

Re: 67 hood latch overspray on AO Smith body?

Joe,

That would be my observation on the latch assy also. I know I've never actually seen a body that I believed was originally painted without the latch assy in place but, as Wayne mentioned, his car appears to be that way. I have to wonder if he has raw glass or paint under the assy's? Hopefully, we will hear more from some owners of orig unrestored cars that can add to this. I'm not convinced that the latch was added after blackout.

I know 100% for sure that all hood hinges were primed, painted body color and finally, blacked out at both plants, not just St Louis. No question on that. Hoods were installed well before any paint or prime operations were performed.

[John H.]

Re: 67 hood latch overspray on AO Smith body?

Michael -

The rear hood hardware was all in place when A.O. Smith shipped the body; I saw lots of '67 AOS bodies unloaded at St. Louis, and all had the hoods latched, with the release handle/bracket taped to the instrument panel lower cross-brace. The pounding the body took during rail shipping would have destroyed an un-latched hood.

[Michael H.]

Re: 67 hood latch overspray on AO Smith body?

Yep, I agree. Not at all likely the bodies would have been shipped, or even assembled/painted, without the lock plates in place. It would have been much easier to just install the latches than it would have been to fabricate some method of supporting the back of the hood during transit. I'm now even more convinced that no 64-67 cars had black paint under the latches. Now, 63 would be a whole different story but that wasn't the topic so I won't go there.