1967 Upper A-Arms - painting help needed

[Jeff C.]

I have a pair of upper NOS A-arms for my 1967 that I purchased about 20 years ago from GM. The arms are dipped in gloss black paint, except the tip area approx where the ball joint rivets to the A-arm. They were dipped before the joint was riveted on. My question is whether this is correct for judging - or should I paint the balance of the A-arm (tap off the ball joint so it stays natural)? Thank you very much.

Jeff Cornwell

[Joe L.]

Re: 1967 Upper A-Arms - painting help needed

I have a pair of upper NOS A-arms for my 1967 that I purchased about 20 years ago from GM. The arms are dipped in gloss black paint, except the tip area approx where the ball joint rivets to the A-arm. They were dipped before the joint was riveted on. My question is whether this is correct for judging - or should I paint the balance of the A-arm (tap off the ball joint so it stays natural)? Thank you very much.

Jeff Cornwell

Jeff-----


I believe the upper a-arm paint configuration you describe was a later SERVICE-only sort of thing. If it was ever used in PRODUCTION, I've never seen an example of it, although it's possible it was done that way for later C3's. The upper arms on my original owner 1969, which are, of course, the same as all 64-82, were completely painted.

In PRODUCTION, the arms were shipped to St. Louis as complete assemblies with the bushings, shafts, retainers and bolts but without ball joints. In SERVICE, the arms were supplied without shafts or bushings but with ball joints installed. This difference may or may not have been associated with the difference in painting.

Usually, the arms were dip painted with the shafts, bushings, etc. already installed. So, all of these parts are painted

One other thing: I consider the paint used on later SERVICE arms to be too glossy. I have several car sets of NOS arms [none for sale] which date back to about the early 80's. Every arm that I have, upper and lower, appears to be too glossy to me. The arms were a bit glossier than semi-gloss black as typified by GM #1050104 but they were not as glossy as the later SERVICE pieces.

[Jeff C.]

Re: 1967 Upper A-Arms - painting help needed

Joe - thank you very much for the information. Appreciate the guidance. Regards, Jeff