Sealer used on midyear hardtops between stainless trim and roof panel
Hello,
In restoring my '64 hardtop, I removed all the stainless trim and weatherstrips for polishing and replacement. In the process, I made an interesting observation about the sealer used between the stainless trim and the roof panel. There appeared to be two types of sealer applied between all trims pieces and the roof panel. One type appeared to be a black sealer, and the other was a light gray sealer. Both appeared to have been installed at the same time, based on the "squeeze pattern", and were liberally applied side by side. I'm wondering if there was a leakage problem recognized by the factory, and this "belt and suspenders" approach was used to assure a fix. But, why two different materials?? Perhaps one of the sealers was a dealer repair. I doubt that, as the use of dual materials appeared on every piece of stainless trim. A dealer would have typically addressed a particular point of leakage and would not have applied sealer under all trim pieces. Was there a GM service bulletin regarding hardtop leaks issued in that time period? None of this shows for judging, so this is simply an interesting historical observation. Has anyone else out there seen this as well? Any other theories?
Jeff Hanson
In restoring my '64 hardtop, I removed all the stainless trim and weatherstrips for polishing and replacement. In the process, I made an interesting observation about the sealer used between the stainless trim and the roof panel. There appeared to be two types of sealer applied between all trims pieces and the roof panel. One type appeared to be a black sealer, and the other was a light gray sealer. Both appeared to have been installed at the same time, based on the "squeeze pattern", and were liberally applied side by side. I'm wondering if there was a leakage problem recognized by the factory, and this "belt and suspenders" approach was used to assure a fix. But, why two different materials?? Perhaps one of the sealers was a dealer repair. I doubt that, as the use of dual materials appeared on every piece of stainless trim. A dealer would have typically addressed a particular point of leakage and would not have applied sealer under all trim pieces. Was there a GM service bulletin regarding hardtop leaks issued in that time period? None of this shows for judging, so this is simply an interesting historical observation. Has anyone else out there seen this as well? Any other theories?
Jeff Hanson
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