63 Fiberglass from White to Gray

[Gary F.]

While stripping the paint from my coupe, I found the drivers side lock pillar & the rear tailight panel to be of lt. gray. My car is a March 18th build. Everything I've read so far about this says it happened late in the build cycle. My question is, what's considered late, & are there any real facts to back this up. I still have the deep wells under the seats & my serial number is just under 10,900, so I gotta believe my car is more of a " mid- cycle build ", where lots of stuff got changed.The lock pillars are smooth and show no indentation as is later build cars.

[Tracy C.]

Re: 63 Fiberglass from White to Gray

Gary,

There isn't any hard and fast date or VIN for a total changeover. Parts is Parts manno. Light grey or White, nobody was keeping track at the plant.

tc

[Wayne W.]

Re: 63 Fiberglass from White to Gray

The only facts we have is observation. What we can say is that they were mainly white early and were mainly gray very late.

[Duke W.]

Re: 63 Fiberglass from White to Gray

While stripping the paint from my coupe, I found the drivers side lock pillar & the rear tailight panel to be of lt. gray. My car is a March 18th build. Everything I've read so far about this says it happened late in the build cycle. My question is, what's considered late, & are there any real facts to back this up. I still have the deep wells under the seats & my serial number is just under 10,900, so I gotta believe my car is more of a " mid- cycle build ", where lots of stuff got changed.The lock pillars are smooth and show no indentation as is later build cars.

My SWC, which was about 50 jobs behind yours has a mix of gray and what I call "tan" panels. The seat wells are deep.

Given that 22,513 '63s were built, ours are almost right in the middle, and most of the major changes that affected reliability and appearance were already in production.

I wanted to order my car earlier and get it sooner, but hindsight says that by delaying my special order from November to February I got a better car.

For many changes there was a "transition period" where jobs could have either the early or later parts.

Duke

[Gary F.]

Re: 63 Fiberglass from White to Gray

Duke...After stripping my car with Aircraft Stripper, I found the Job Number " 415 " in two places on the car. The first being on the gas tank side of the rear interior panel, and the other being on the outer side of the passanger footwell. The number is in green, and I was very surprised the number wasn't removed by the stripper. Since your car is close to mine, I just thought I would pass that bit of info along.

[John D.]

Re: 63 Fiberglass from White to Gray

My 63 Coupe birthday date is around March 3rd. All of the fiberglass was/is off white. I have pics of it around here somewhere when it was stripped. JD

[Gary F.]

Re: 63 Fiberglass from White to Gray

THANKS John for that info! That definately narrows the field to at least a ballpark startimg point when the color change started to occur. Hopefully, someone can chime in with a build date for a car with mostly Lt. Gray fiberglass, to see how far in the 63 build cycle, the changeover more or less ended.

[Edward J.]

Re: 63 Fiberglass from White to Gray

While stripping the paint from my coupe, I found the drivers side lock pillar & the rear tailight panel to be of lt. gray. My car is a March 18th build. Everything I've read so far about this says it happened late in the build cycle. My question is, what's considered late, & are there any real facts to back this up. I still have the deep wells under the seats & my serial number is just under 10,900, so I gotta believe my car is more of a " mid- cycle build ", where lots of stuff got changed.The lock pillars are smooth and show no indentation as is later build cars.

Gary, my 63 conv. I started stripping the paint last week and it to has different color panels on the upper and lower sections my car is a March 14th car. so there must have been around the start of the newer color. light gray panels.

[Jeff Z.]

Re: 63 Fiberglass from White to Gray

Gary,

My April 30th Conv is mostly gray with a tan decklid. Decklid is original to the car. I still haven't finished stripping body so there could be other tan panels. Also I picked up a spare lower exhaust panel which is gray with tan tabs bonded to ends.
Jeff

[Gary F.]

Re: 63 Fiberglass from White to Gray

Gary, my 63 conv. I started stripping the paint last week and it to has different color panels on the upper and lower sections my car is a March 14th car. so there must have been around the start of the newer color. light gray panels.

Ed, that's SUPER news!! THANKS for adding that! I gotta believe early March would be a good ballpark estimate for the start of this changeover. Ed, if you find a job number on your car, PM me, and let me know how close it is to mine ( 415 )

[Gary F.]

Re: 63 Fiberglass from White to Gray

Gary,

My April 30th Conv is mostly gray with a tan decklid. Decklid is original to the car. I still haven't finished stripping body so there could be other tan panels. Also I picked up a spare lower exhaust panel which is gray with tan tabs bonded to ends.
Jeff

WOW!!!! Jeff, awesome news!! Looks like going into May, the changeover would alnost virtually be complete!!! Before stripping mine, I was under the impression that " most " 63's were white, but that belief has quickly disolved, courtesy of owner information!!! Maybe, just maybe, the term " late " was used th signify the end of the changeover, and not necessarily the beginning.

[Jack Y.]

Re: 63 Fiberglass from White to Gray

First week of Feb (83xx) - white

[Gary F.]

Re: 63 Fiberglass from White to Gray

First week of Feb (83xx) - white

THANKS Jack. You cruised right into the timeline with room to spare!!!!

[Edward J.]

Re: 63 Fiberglass from White to Gray

Ed, that's SUPER news!! THANKS for adding that! I gotta believe early March would be a good ballpark estimate for the start of this changeover. Ed, if you find a job number on your car, PM me, and let me know how close it is to mine ( 415 )

Gary, There is a job number on my car I don't remember it, but will look for , I think its was around the mid 200's

[Michael G.]

Re: 63 Fiberglass from White to Gray

My April 25 car with original body has all white except for both lower front fender panels.