67 Main Driveshaft Paint Dabs or "DECALS" ?

[Fred Y.]

Members,I wanted to post these pics for your examination. I am in the process of restoring my 67 & once the body was removed these two "DECALS" stuck out like a sore thumb. I realize the JM says the main driveshaft has a orange & green dab of inspection paint approx 8" from the rear universal. Well, these are almost exactly 8" from the back as well ,but they are in no way paint dabs.
They go all the way around except where they wore heavily from time & the elements. Both are exactly 1/2" wide & the black that you see underneath the color is black adhesive from the tape. When you look at these closely, you also see the edges of the TAPE curling up. This is a relatively early car (Dec 3rd 66) One might argue that these were placed on later in the cars life , but this car has never been seen ( with the exception of my Friends Jim Gessner & Bill Caldwell) as it was parked in a garage in 1983 & sat there until May of 2016. The following are some of the 100's of pics I have taken documenting this restoration. The shaft is at the media blaster now, however I decided to protect these lines with tape to preserve them for judging down the road & for members to see for themselves. Perhaps an addendum to future Judging manuals. I have a few extra pics if you would like to see them. Appreciate your thoughts.
FSY

[Fred Y.]

Re: 67 Main Driveshaft Paint Dabs or "DECALS" ?

Additional Pic showing the tape "EDGES" on both stripes. These are way TOO symmetrical to have been painted.

[Joe L.]

Re: 67 Main Driveshaft Paint Dabs or "DECALS" ?

Frank------


Well, I'd say it's definitely paint. However, just because it's paint does not mean that it was applied freehand with a brush. This looks like it was applied with some sort of a fixed roller, perhaps while the shaft was being rotated.

[Fred Y.]

Re: 67 Main Driveshaft Paint Dabs or "DECALS" ?

Hi Joe, It's Fred but no worries. Joe have a look at my 2nd post pic, you can see the tape curled up on the edges. The 1st pic I sent over was VERY VERY magnified. Also, where you see the black on ea. stripe is where I scratched it with my nail---definitely an adhesive of some sort.

Has this ever been noticed or mentioned before ?

[Joe L.]

Re: 67 Main Driveshaft Paint Dabs or "DECALS" ?

Hi Joe, It's Fred but no worries. Joe have a look at my 2nd post pic, you can see the tape curled up on the edges. The 1st pic I sent over was VERY VERY magnified. Also, where you see the black on ea. stripe is where I scratched it with my nail---definitely an adhesive of some sort.

Has this ever been noticed or mentioned before ?

Fred------


It still looks like paint to me. What I see on the edges looks like paint "squished out" when the roller travels over the surface. Also, if it were a label of some sort, I cannot see it wearing the way this appears. In other words, if it were a label of some sort, I cannot see where wear and abrasion would result in the current appearance.

[Fred Y.]

Re: 67 Main Driveshaft Paint Dabs or "DECALS" ?

Thanks Joe,
Well it certainly is way too symmetrical to be hand painted & it goes 100% around. Has any mention of a stencil or template ever been brought up before?

I plan to leave these alone & not repaint anything here.

[Joe L.]

Re: 67 Main Driveshaft Paint Dabs or "DECALS" ?

Thanks Joe,
Well it certainly is way too symmetrical to be hand painted & it goes 100% around. Has any mention of a stencil or template ever been brought up before?

I plan to leave these alone & not repaint anything here.

Fred-------


I've never heard of a stencil or template being used for these stripes. It would seem very unlikely to me that such devices would ever have been used since that would have been a lot more time consuming and would have gained nothing. I think most folks have concluded that these were done freestyle and relatively crudely (i.e. like most "inspection marks"). However, there was at least one (yours) that was definitely not done this way. As I mentioned, this looks to me like a roller was used. It could have been a roller that was run around the driveshaft circumference or, much more likely, a roller that was stationary and applied paint as the driveshaft was being rotated on a lathe or fixture, probably at the time of balancing.

[Fred Y.]

Re: 67 Main Driveshaft Paint Dabs or "DECALS" ?

Appreciate that Joe,
I must agree that any type of stencil etc would certainly be more time consuming & "labor is $$". The fact however that these are almost exactly 8" away from the rear universal & that the surface rust on both this shaft & the 1/2 shafts is identical leads me to believe that this is quite original. Like I mentioned earlier, for originality purposes & for Judges to see for themselves, I will neither remove or repaint these. Just leave them alone.

Thanks for your feedback.

[Joe L.]

Re: 67 Main Driveshaft Paint Dabs or "DECALS" ?

Appreciate that Joe,
I must agree that any type of stencil etc would certainly be more time consuming & "labor is $$". The fact however that these are almost exactly 8" away from the rear universal & that the surface rust on both this shaft & the 1/2 shafts is identical leads me to believe that this is quite original. Like I mentioned earlier, for originality purposes & for Judges to see for themselves, I will neither remove or repaint these. Just leave them alone.

Thanks for your feedback.

Fred------


I have absolutely no doubt, at all, that they are original. The real question is whether the "freehand" method used by restorers is original.

[Fred Y.]

Re: 67 Main Driveshaft Paint Dabs or "DECALS" ?

Agreed Joe,
I had a 67 I restored in 2008 that definitely was done by freehand. My purpose to show the members was my observation in this particular instance with the inspection marks being both 1/2" wide & completely symmetrical (ie: not typical) as some may say when I have the car judged in the future. I thought that although this is relatively speaking an insignificant detail to bring up, judges should be aware that this is very real & potentially common on some cars & should not be treated as "incorrect"

For all intensive purposes having said that this car sat since 1983, I'm 99.999% certain that no one decided to repaint these way back then.

[Joe L.]

Re: 67 Main Driveshaft Paint Dabs or "DECALS" ?

Agreed Joe,
I had a 67 I restored in 2008 that definitely was done by by freehand. My purpose to show the members was my observation in this particular instance with the inspection marks being both 1/2" wide & completely symmetrical (ie: not typical) as some may say when I have the car judged in the future. I thought that although this is relatively speaking an insignificant detail to bring up, judges should be aware that this is very real & potentially common on some cars & should not be treated as "incorrect"

For all intensive purposes having said that this car sat since 1983, I'm 99.999% certain that someone decided to repaint these way back then.

Fred------


I think you mean NO ONE would have tried to repaint these way back then. If so, I agree. Plus, they would have to have done it WAY before 1983 based on the degree of wear seen now. HIGHLY unlikely.

Also, if yours, as configured, was painted by a method such as I have described, then I would highly suspect that most, if not all, of the others were done the same way. If so, the "freehand" method might just be a method inferred by restorers based on the configuration of other common "inspection marks".

[Edward B.]

Re: 67 Main Driveshaft Paint Dabs or "DECALS" ?

It strains credulity to believe that out of the many, many thousands of driveshafts produced and factory color coded, then examined and cataloged by generations of Corvette enthusiasts, that this is the only one to be marked in this unique symmetrical manner and is factory original at the same time. While I do not for one moment doubt Fred's sincerity in believing these markings to be original, I am troubled by the 15 year period between production and storage during which time anything could have occurred. To me, it is much more likely that at some point early in this car's history the driveshaft was rebalanced or replaced and that these markings were applied at that time.

[Ralph E.]

Re: 67 Main Driveshaft Paint Dabs or "DECALS" ?

Fred, Back in January I posted the same question about the markings on my driveshaft. I said they appeared to be tape. At that time you were quick to respond that tape would not last and they they be painted stripes. Seems you are having a different opinion now.

[Fred Y.]

Re: 67 Main Driveshaft Paint Dabs or "DECALS" ?

Yes Joe, I meant NO ONE. Certainly an anomaly now,& tough to say why any potential driveshaft shop pre 1983 would go through the trouble of repainting these. Secondly, looking at the colors----they are dead nuts on the money. And again, any shop (or at least 99% of them) would certainly do a wham Bam--"Get it out of here/NEXT" attitude VS taking the time to repaint in the EXACT colors. I certainly agree with Ed's note that this is very irregular.

Ralph, point well made. I do remember your note now & I am hoping that you have a pic or 2 that you can show us. Ralph, when was your car built ??

[Joe L.]

Re: 67 Main Driveshaft Paint Dabs or "DECALS" ?

All------


One more thing: these "stripes", including those folks have "restored" in the past, are completely circumferential to the shaft tube. When I think about it now (I never really thought about it before), the liklihood that this was done "freehand" (as most "inspection marks are done") seems VERY remote to me.