C3 1978 Pace Car overspray factory?

[Michael Schweitzer]

I've heard that the original fiberglass and paint on C3 Corvettes was rather rough. I purchased a 1978 Pace Car with under 6000 original miles and was never in an accident. However, I later noticed that there was silver overspray (the Pace car is Black on top, silver on bottom) noticeable when you open the car doors. Just above the rocker panels and towards the rear of the door jam, with doors open. Is it possible that there would be factory overspray in the door jam areas? Also, a detail shop said that there appeared to be grinding or other body work in certain areas of the car. I never noticed this, and I'm wondering if grinding was done at the factory after the fiberglass was assembled. The women who sold the car is a collector with a large collection, a lawyer, wealthy, and swore she bought the car new (this vehicle has never been titled, has the original MSO) and was never in a wreck. So, I'm wondering if it's possible that there was silver overspray on the factory original cars or if I've been taken for a ride.

[William C.]

Re: C3 1978 Pace Car overspray factory?

Certainly possible, late 70's St Louis Quality practices were not of today's standards, and really not even average for the period.

[Gary Bishop]

Re: C3 1978 Pace Car overspray factory?

I owned a late `78 Pace Car which did not have these situations. I have seem some very low milage early PCs that did look like yours.

[Roy B.]

Re: C3 1978 Pace Car overspray factory?

I had a new 78 silver anniversary and the option large tires , at the front fender area you could tell they used a grinder to better fit the tires which took away some of the fender lip line.

[Tom R.]

Re: C3 1978 Pace Car overspray factory?

Michael...
None of which you describe surprises me. I own a 78 SA that I picked up with 21k miles and is an NCRS Bowtie. Mine has some grind marks around the nose where they had to "adjust" the body to align with the nose. This is the more likely places where grinding occurred since the noses (and tails) were painted separately and than assembled after paint and polish. I also have judged numerous 78 models and your observations are not unusual.

The silver was painted after the body had been painted black. The factory masked the top and sprayed the bottom so actually overspray inside those door jambs can be expected depending upon how much time the worker targeted the seams with the spray gun. Also this operation was completed in another building in the campus called "Final Process". It was here that decals and stripes were applied. Remember, St Louis was processing nearly 50,000 units in a building that was designed to do 30,000. Space was tight and Pace Cars were an extra run.

If I were to judge your car on the judging field and given all the numbers and date codes aligned with the build date, I would judge those flaws to be typical factory.

[Wayne W.]

Re: C3 1978 Pace Car overspray factory?

It is probably factory original. You wouldnt believe the shoddy workmanship of those cars. Remember this was the time that domestic car makers lost all to the imports because of quality issues. One of my customers brought his new 78 Silver Aniversity car to my shop straight from the dealership. It had obvious grinding marks on it in several places. The RH Door didnt fit at all, and there was grinding on the front of the door and the rear of the body to help shape it up. It was a feeble atempt. The front of the door skin had 16 grit grinding marks that were not even filled or sanded. They just painted over it. I counted 12 runs in the lower color before I just quit looking at it. I just asked " you accepted this POS ? "