'62 grill question - black or ???

[William B.]

My friend is working on an acquaintance's '62 that has been sitting for a number of years in climate controlled storage to get it road worthy. The acquaintance is the original owner of this 33,800 mile car. Interestingly the grill is not black. Every '62 I have ever seen has a black grill. Every thing I have ever read says black grill for '62. But this grill is not black. The owner says he never touched it and it doesn't look like it or anything around it has been touched/removed etc. The grill has what almost looks like a gold anodized finish to it. Anyone ever hear of anything like this.

By the way, the car is in nice shape obviously. It is fawn beige in and out with all original paint (except for possibly 1 sq ft that looks like it was touched up), interior, hard top and even the soft top is original. Tires, and now fuel tank aren't. But it is 95+% there.

Thanks in advance for any light you can shed on this.

[John F.]

Re: '62 grill question - black or ???

Original specificatiions called for a black grill. There is some discussion in Noland Adam Adams book about a gold-anodized finish for corrosion resistance and blck over it. It may peel off after many years. See page 352-353 of his book,..John

[William B.]

Re: '62 grill question - black or ???

thanks very much

[Mike E.]

Re: '62 grill question - black or ???

Check the archives for previous discussions on this. Check the RESTORER from already in the 1970's about an article on this. There are grilles out there with a goldish hue to them--and black anodizing didn't peel off of them, I can assure you.

[Brian T.]

Re: '62 grill question - black or ???

I can attest to their existance. Many years ago, I had an owner of a 62 (that I remember cruising around around 1970 with a blower etc) call me to sell some spare parts he had left over from this once very original car. Among the really mint conv. top frame and some other choice pieces was one of those gold grilles. Their is no doubt in my mind that it was installed in that car that way from the factory and did not have a black finish that wore off.

[Larry C.]

Re: '62 grill question - black or ???

William,

Others have already chimed in but for whatever it's worth, I have owned a June built 1962, white/red, 340 hp, 4spd since April 1965 when the car had 28k original miles.

The grille was gold anodized then when the car was in nearly mint condition and the grille is still gold with no traces of any black paint or other black coating. Over the past years, I have acquired two other original gold grilles for 62s.

Larry

[Bill O.]

Re: '62 grill question - black or ???

I have seen those gold tinted grilles on new 1962 Corvettes...very few, but these had to be factory "anomalies" or some special treatment (Hallmark) given by a particular dealer....because these were new cars in perfect appearance condition and not otherwise modified.

Bill

[E S.]

Re: '62 grill question - black or ???

Does it seem the gold grilles are reported on early,late,or random serial #'s ? My 62 is original (paint,drive train,int,etc) never wrecked ser.#1xxx.Blk. grille
I do remember seeing an original maroon/fawn car back in 1975 or76 that had a "gold" grille,but I don't recall the vin#. The owner and I had a discussion about the grille,and it was controversial at that time.Surely body color wasn't a factor....My car is wht/red.
Hey!-Wasn't Chevrolet's golden anniversary in 1962? Maybe there was an RPO xxx "Golden anniversary grille option"
Sorry-could'nt resist-E.J.

[Mike E.]

Re: '62 grill question - black or ???

Does it seem the gold grilles are reported on early,late,or random serial #'s ? My 62 is original (paint,drive train,int,etc) never wrecked ser.#1xxx.Blk. grille
I do remember seeing an original maroon/fawn car back in 1975 or76 that had a "gold" grille,but I don't recall the vin#. The owner and I had a discussion about the grille,and it was controversial at that time.Surely body color wasn't a factor....My car is wht/red.
Hey!-Wasn't Chevrolet's golden anniversary in 1962? Maybe there was an RPO xxx "Golden anniversary grille option"
Sorry-could'nt resist-E.J.

There was much discussion already back in the 1970's about 1962 being Chevrolet's golden anniversary year and perhaps they marked that with gold grilles--we've found no GM documentation to that effect.
There is no correlation between serial number nor horsepower nor interior or exterior colors with gold grilles. I have a silver 62 fuelie, maroon 62 fuelie, and 40k mile almond beige 62 300 hp that have gold grilles from the factory--2 of the 3 cars are still original paint.

[William B.]

Re: '62 grill question - black or ???

Thanks to all for the info. Much appreciated. Confirmed what I assumed but better to hear fromthose who know. One thing was clear to me was the grill I was looking at was never black. Not a speck of black to be found and paint - when it is there - doesn't fall off that cleanly.
Regards, Bill.