Birdcage and Winshield Frame Finish

[Sheldon S.]

A few questions regarding the finsh on the birdcage and the windsheild frame on a 71 convertible. I read that the bidcage had a zinc chromate finish on it. Looking under the dash area of my car it appears like a satin black has been sprayed on the birdcage parts on the inner sides where the air vents are and also along the bottom area under the windshield winshield where it is metal. Is this correct? Was the entire winshield frame painted satin black or only the back side. Was the front edge painted body color where the serial number is? Mine has been repaired and repainted so I am not sure of the correct finish. Also the door hinges appear like they were satin black and then has body color overspray on the front side. I am assuming this is correct.
Thanks for any info on this subject.

Sheldon Sands

[Patrick H.]

Re: Birdcage and Winshield Frame Finish

Sheldon,

You can look here, starting on page 3 of the album and going from there as I repaired some rust:

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/568166542zDlOFl?vhost=good-times

I've seen black on the vertical pieces along the front of the door to the top of the windshield on each side, green/yellow dichromate on the parts behind the dash, and dichromate with body color on the top of the windshield header and T-bar.

Patrick

[Tom R.]

Re: Birdcage and Winshield Frame Finish

Sheldon,

During my body off and complete birdcage replacement, my travels in search for a good donor (C3) have shown me many things. But for the most part, I've found the originals to have the greenish zinc chromate primer from the factory. Of course many areas will have body color overspray on them such as the rear lock reinforcement and pillars and the inside of the door hinge pillars. Even under the VIN tag on the driver's window there will be overspray. On top of that overspray, or after that, I found black on the front windshield side pillars and around the dash plenum that apparently came from the blackout process of same. I'm still not sure if the original VIN tags were of black phosphate finish or if their color came during blacking out the firewall and pillars. What I can tell you for sure, is that no two I viewed were the same. Similar, but not the same.

[Chuck S.]

Re: Birdcage and Winshield Frame Finish

...Was the entire winshield frame painted satin black or only the back side. Was the front edge painted body color where the serial number is?...

It's part of the blackout process as Tom said. Blackout in the interior areas would have served the same function as in the wheelwells...to provide a dark area that does not attract close attention.

If interior moldings did not fit perfectly and/or fully cover the body frame, they wanted to conceal that fact by providing a black background in the void rather than colorful green zinc chromate or body color (doors). As I recall, blackout extends to the weatherstrips with no body color showing. The intent was to blackout the INSIDE of the windshield frame, but no attempt would have been made to mask the outside, so black fell where it fell. In fact, on the lower windshield frame, the blackout extended over to the plenum and upper firewall. You should also see blackout on the fronts of the doors under the door panels.

Since the trim plate was applied at the beginning of the trim line, and after paint and black out, my theory is the VIN plate would have been riveted to the pillar about that same time. Therefore, my opinion is that VIN plates should be unpainted black phosphate. I didn't observe any paint on mine.