69 Undercarriage

[Jerry B.]

We are begining the restoration of a 69 L89 coupe.
The undercarriage has a lot of surface rust. The judging manual states that parts such as the drive shafts should be bare metal with exposed welds heat marks etc. My question is if the car is judged how are original parts such as this that have been cleaned and painted with a product like Eastwoods "bare steel" paint treated? This would also apply to parts like the rear gear case which are supposed to be "as cast". I can't imagine that parts left like this would retain there appearance for long. Thats the reason they rusted in the first place.
I'm new to the forum so I apologize if this question has been answered before.

[Jack H.]

Re: 69 Undercarriage

The process is pretty simple... If a given part is known to have left the factory 'bare' or 'natural' in finish, that's the judging yardstick. The originality aspect of all components is viewed in a 5-axis universe (Finish, Date, Installation, Configuration and Completeness). To the extent the component on a car being judged deviates from its known factory original counterpart, expect a loss of 20% for each of the five axis views that are violated.

So, if the part was bare or natural and you apply a foreign coating (either to 'pretty' it up or disquise wear/tear), you violate the Finish axis of Originality and sacrifice judging points. The concept is to make the car APPEAR as it actually was when it was delivered to the original owner absent any owner/dealer changes from actual factory construction.