62 rear end ID tags

**Tom P.** · July 13, 2009, 07:23 AM

Re: 62 rear end ID tags

John,
There have been several discussions about the final finish of a chassis, what is and what is not correct.
Various components/assemblies arrived at the St. Louis assembly plant with a finish that was applied at their original source, such as the rearend assembly. The complete rearend/axle housing assembly arrived at St. Louis with various paint colors/markings applied. But once the entire chassis/suspension was assembled, it then received a coat of chassis black paint which would have covered (at least to some degree) those paint markings. I just finished rebuilding what I firmly believe was a virgin posi rear for a customer's 58. The center case had what appeared to be black paint with various yellow and blue paint markings on top of black paint. The car this rear is going into will be submitted for flight judging. Rather than completely strip the case to bare metal, I THOROUGHLY cleaned the surface, leaving the black paint and yellow/blue paint markings as original as possible. I then LIGHTLY covered the case with a satin black, allowing the yellow/blue paint markings show through slightly. Now, I'm not sure that anyone REALLY knows just how thorough this final chassis black was applied. Since some areas already were covered with black paint from their source, it kind of raises the question about the worker with the paint gun in his hand, his state of sobriety, his enthusiasm to completely cover every inch of the chassis and how thoroughly to cover every inch.
Thus, did the disc at the 2 o'clock position get thoroughly covered (on BOTH sides of the disc) with chassis black??? I'm guessing that is a subjective call.

Now, touching on the paint markings on various parts of the chassis/suspension.
I've inquired about paint marking which I've seen over the years, and to date, NO ONE has stepped up and affirmitively stated what specific colors were applied to indicate what. For example, the MOST common colors that I've seen are yellow, blue, white. They all APPEAR to have been somewhat randomly applied by hand with a brush while traveling along an assembly line. Most of the time, these paint markings are swiped on, splashed on, slopped on, or whatever. No one seems to POSITIVELY know if the various paint markings indicate a gear ratio, posi or non-posi, an inspector's marking, final assembly approval, or just what???????? And various paint and/or crayon markings have been found on various cars (and still are today on new cars) at various locations on the cars. And few, if any, people seem to know just what all these various marking signify.
I personally AM NOT a numbers person nor am I particularly interested in these kinds of restoration specifics. That's just not my thing. BUT I HAVE A GREAT APPRECIATION for a car that has been meticulously restored with all these little details. It's really nice to see what one looked like the day it rolled out the back door of the St. Louis. (I could care less what one looked like coming out the back door of Bowling Green). So, when I get a rear from someone who wants the correct final finish applied, I try to duplicate it. But it's difficult to do when so few people know what the various colors/finishes should be on these early cars.
I have a 3.08 posi in my 56 (which wasn't even available until 62) with a disc for the 3.08 ratio. I left it plain steel. Of course it doesn't matter what the finish is on my disc anyway since NOTHING on my 56 is correct except the VIN tag, which matches the VIN stamps (2 of them) on the frame.
Sorry to be so long responding to your question on the finish of the disc!

**John F.** · July 13, 2009, 08:14 PM

Re: 62 rear end ID tags

Thanks Tom. I drilled the extra hole and put it on tonight as well as the rear axle elbow and vent tube from CC.

John

**Tom P.** · July 13, 2009, 09:50 PM

Re: 62 rear end ID tags

Sounds like you're good to go!

62 rear end ID tags

62 rear end ID tags

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