1965 C2 rear valance attaching hardware

[John L.]

Sirs
The rear valance (this is A O Smith build) went through the paint shop "loosely attached" then shipped to St Louis, tightly I assume. All the valances removed just before body drop and placed inside on all cars (from a J. Hinckley Presentation). Where any of the 1/4 bolts body color bolts reused or all new cad plated?
I just removed my valance and see that I painted them body color off the car back in 2010. Now I'm thinking why I went to this trouble?

[Mike E.]

Re: 1965 C2 rear valance attaching hardware

John,
Good question so I'm going to follow this thread. In the photo below you can see the unpainted area on the rear where the valance was hung. I'm not sure if this process was the same with Smith built bodies, but anyway it almost looks like there are shiny bolts in the holes already. So the mystery continues.



Click here to see the full image.

Mike

[Joe R.]

Re: 1965 C2 rear valance attaching hardware

The bolts used in St. Louis were all cad plated. Probably threw away the two originals that were painted when removing the rear valence and replaced them with new ones.
At least I have never seen two painted bolts on any original Corvette.

JR

[Don H.]

Re: 1965 C2 rear valance attaching hardware

To perhaps help with the mystery. View of valance hanging loose on original paint Jan 64 car. It appears that valance was partially attached with bolts in some holes and not others. Were painted bolts replaced with unpainted at some point, who knows? I doubt it. The shiny round spots are the heads of rivets that hold the thread plate to the body to receive the valance bolts.

[Mike E.]

Re: 1965 C2 rear valance attaching hardware

To perhaps help with the mystery. View of valance hanging loose on original paint Jan 64 car. It appears that valance was partially attached with bolts in some holes and not others. Were painted bolts replaced with unpainted at some point, who knows? I doubt it. The shiny round spots are the heads of rivets that hold the thread plate to the body to receive the valance bolts.

Yep...Now after seeing Don's picture what I thought were bolts were actually the rivet heads...Thanks for clarifying.

Mike

[Gene M.]

Re: 1965 C2 rear valance attaching hardware

The bolts used in St. Louis were all cad plated. Probably threw away the two originals that were painted when removing the rear valence and replaced them with new ones.
At least I have never seen two painted bolts on any original Corvette.

JR

My experience agrees with Joe. But that is not to say exceptions were made and reused painted bolts. Keep in mind anything that fell on the floor was reason to just grab another bolt.

[Harry S.]

Re: 1965 C2 rear valance attaching hardware

Just to add complexity to this, for you 63 guys the washers were larger than 64 to 67.

[John L.]

Re: 1965 C2 rear valance attaching hardware

Sirs
Ok the "el" 1/4" bolts are in paint remover. Judging manual says cad and I'm thinking how the plant must have had a box full of painted bolts. 😊
Thanks