Repainting my '62 gold grill?

[Paul B.]

Hi,
At some point in my car's history, someone painted the gold anodized grill in my '62 had flat black. The black paint is now chipped in spots, and the original gold is shinning through.
This leaves me with two choices; sand and repaint flat black, or try to remove all of the black and go back to gold.
I have no idea of the condition of the gold finish under the paint, what effect do you think chemical paint stripper and a wire brush will have on the anodized surface?
If I find the original finish to be too ugly for use, what would be a good tough flat black paint to use?

Thanks,
Paul

[Tracy C.]

Re: Repainting my '62 gold grill?

Paul,

Don't sand the paint, use aircraft grade paint stripper. It will not affect the anodize finish. This stuff is commonly found at auto parts store that mix and sell paint.

tc

[Paul B.]

Re: Repainting my '62 gold grill?

Thanks for the reply. I used paint stripper and removed all of the black paint, the original surface is in surprisingly good condition, I suspect that the grill may be a reproduction.



Paul

[Larry C.]

Re: Repainting my '62 gold grill?

Paul,

As you may know, there were 1962 Corvettes that came from the factory with gold-anodized grilles. Mine did, and I have seen several examples of original gold grilles over the past several years.

I purchased one of the original gold grilles some years ago but was not satisfied with the finish so I took it to a metal refinishing shop and had it re-anodized gold. Was fairly pleased with the results. It seemed a bit too dull, however. The shop manager told me that if I had put a smoother finish on the aluminum grille before the anodizing, it would have turned out better. Over the years, the original grille had been plasted by rocks/sand/bugs driving down the highway so it was a little pitted.

I could post photos of it if you're interested.

Larry

[Paul B.]

Re: Repainting my '62 gold grill?

Thanks for the reply Larry.
Now that I've stripped the paint off mine, I believe that it's a reproduction.
In some areas on the back, there is quite a bit of casting flash and roughness.
The finish on the front is very smooth with no evidence of road rash, adds to my belief that it's a repro that was probably installed when the car was first restored about twenty years ago.
I found a self etching flat black paint, I think I'll go with that.

All the best,

Paul