Evidence of seat belt brackets being Cad plated??????? 1963

[Joe R.]

Does anyone have any evidence of the seat belt brackets being Cad plated? These are the brackets riveted via aluminum rivets to the outside of the floorboard. Both the brackets on this 63 roadster around 15,000 on the inside next the tunnel are plated with Cad or Zinc on the inside. Outside plating has rusted off.

This information is being sought from 1963 owners and restorers.

Thanks,
JR

[Gary B.]

Re: Evidence of seat belt brackets being Cad plated??????? 1963

Joe,

I can't speak to whether all C2-era cars were this way, but when I removed the underbody seat belt plates from my '66 there was evidence of cad/zinc plating on the side of the plates that was in contact with the body. The opposite sides were far too rusty to know what finish they had originally.

For what it's worth, the repro plates currently sold are not zinc plated.

I've found good used plates for my '66 that I've had zinc plated, but I would like confirmation that these plates were zinc/cad originally for the '66 model year.

Gary

[Joe R.]

Re: Evidence of seat belt brackets being Cad plated??????? 1963

Gary,

I just removed the drivers side seal brackets and it is evident that they were plated. They are now in the carb cleaner and I'll post some pics later this evening.
Thanks for your response

JR

[Joe R.]

Re: Evidence of seat belt brackets being Cad plated??????? 1963

Gary,

Here's a couple of pics clearly showing the cad plating inside and outside of the seat belt brackets.

Thanks,
JRDSCN4348.jpgDSCN4349.jpg

[Gary B.]

Re: Evidence of seat belt brackets being Cad plated??????? 1963

Joe,

Your photos show plating remnants that are very similar to what I found on my '66 underbody brackets. For some reason, documenting the finish on those brackets has been almost totally unresearched, and, to the best of my knowledge, is therefore not at all described in the C2 JGs.

Also, what confused me a few years ago when I first starting looking into the question of the finish on those brackets was a photo that John Hinckley posted, which I assumed was a GM-original photo showing the brackets on a new C2 from the assembly line. That photo shows the brackets painted black, probably the typical semi-gloss black finish that lots of chassis parts got. But John told me that the photo does not date from the 1960's and it probably was something he took or got from someone else showing a modern (and likely incorrect) restoration. That photo still shows up occasionally on the DB and I just hope no one else goes down the wrong restoration path because of it.

Gary

[Joe R.]

Re: Evidence of seat belt brackets being Cad plated??????? 1963

Gary,

That photo was the restoration of John's own 67 Corvette that he restored. He restored it like everyone else has done thru the years. That photo brought this to my attention when I removed these brackets this morning. I am going to call a noted restorer and judge at Bloomington Gold and ask his opinion on 63's. He is the authority on 63's and will have some input.
Thanks again,
JR

[Gary B.]

Re: Evidence of seat belt brackets being Cad plated??????? 1963

JR,

I didn't know the car in the photo was John's.

Please let me know what you hear from the Bloomington judge.

Gary

[Joe R.]

Re: Evidence of seat belt brackets being Cad plated??????? 1963

Gary,

Just finished talking with Marty Fowler and here's the scoop!!! The 63-67 had Cad/Zinc Plated Seat Belt Brackets. The forward seat mounting plates were black unless it was an AO Smith car (mid to late 64) and they were green. The rear seat mounting brackets were either black or natural. All replacements from GM were natural.
These seat belt brackets will be glass beaded and sent to the Cad Platter later this week.
Hope this can be confirmed by people who have removed the rusty brackets and found Cad Plating under them like I did today.

Thanks again,

JR

[Gary B.]

Re: Evidence of seat belt brackets being Cad plated??????? 1963

JR,

The semi-gloss black (St. Louis) or green chromate (AO Smith) for the long, front seat mount plates is well-known and well-accepted. As is the natural for the small real seat mount plates. The JGs call out those finishes.

It's the cad/zinc finish for the seat belt plates that is not widely seen or appreciated. Over the years, I think lots of restorers either left the seat belt plates natural as service replacement and repro parts were provided, or they painted them semi-gloss black as John H. did.

Gary

[Rich P.]

Re: Evidence of seat belt brackets being Cad plated??????? 1963

Every 63-7 I have restored had cad plated brackets.

[Gary B.]

Re: Evidence of seat belt brackets being Cad plated??????? 1963

Every 63-7 I have restored had cad plated brackets.

Rich,

Thanks for chiming in. For a moment there I thought JR and I were having private conversation.

Can you also confirm for '66 and '67 that the shoulder harness reinforcement plates up on the inboard side of the rear fender wells were also cad plated? Could they have been painted semi-gloass black? Or did they then get some blackout? Or are they down too low to have received any blackout?

Gary

[Rich P.]

Re: Evidence of seat belt brackets being Cad plated??????? 1963

Gary, the shoulder harness brackets were originally dip painted black riveted to the body and then it had undercoat paint ,primer, put on top of them

[Gary B.]

Re: Evidence of seat belt brackets being Cad plated??????? 1963

Thanks Rich. I was pretty sure the shoulder harness brackets on my '66 were painted S-G black, but it's nice to get confirmation. I think I finally know what was what. Some day this info might make it in the C2 JGs.

Gary

[Joe R.]

Re: Evidence of seat belt brackets being Cad plated??????? 1963

Gary,

Sounds like some valuable information if someone wanted to restore their Corvette correctly.

Thanks everyone,

JR

[Gary B.]

Re: Evidence of seat belt brackets being Cad plated??????? 1963

JR,

I agree 100%. Excellent information. Thanks for starting the thread.

Gary