1968 Muffler Blackout Paint Picture(s)

[William H.]

Can someone send me a picture of the blackout done to the bottom of the mufflers on a 1968. The Judging manual only mentions the mufflers. Was there any blackout on the pipes? Thanks. Bill

[Terry M.]

Re: 1968 Muffler Blackout Paint Picture(s)

Can someone send me a picture of the blackout done to the bottom of the mufflers on a 1968. The Judging manual only mentions the mufflers. Was there any blackout on the pipes? Thanks. Bill

Sorry, I don't have any. I don't think 1968 would be any different than any other 1968-1972.

No blackout on the pipes except for what was oversprayed from the muffler. The coating material is quite heavy and thick. Dissolve-able in gasoline. Most folks use a BBQ Black spray, but at best that is a poor facsimile IMO. The problem is most folks (including many judges) have never seen the OEM blackout. Someone might have a a photo of my car from the National at Windsor. Hint! Hint!

[William H.]

Re: 1968 Muffler Blackout Paint Picture(s)

Thanks, Terry. That's helpful. It's just the bottom of the muffler, right?

[Joe L.]

Re: 1968 Muffler Blackout Paint Picture(s)

Thanks, Terry. That's helpful. It's just the bottom of the muffler, right?

William------


Yes, but it also included some coverage of the outlet-end panel.

[Shannon U.]

Re: 1968 Muffler Blackout Paint Picture(s)

I can only offer a picture of a car that does not belong to me. In this educational environment, I hope that the proud owner does not mind. I can not state that it is correct but I did take the photo for the purpose of documenting an original low-mileage car and what the black out of the muffler looked like on this vehicle. I will leave it to the esteemed experts like Terry, Joe, Paul, Chuck, Ron etc. to point out what they think of the photos from Kokomo Chapter 2012.

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[Scott S.]

Re: 1968 Muffler Blackout Paint Picture(s)

Can someone send me a picture of the blackout done to the bottom of the mufflers on a 1968. The Judging manual only mentions the mufflers. Was there any blackout on the pipes? Thanks. Bill

Bill,

There is a picture of an assembly line body-drop in the book "Birthplace of Legends", p. 69. The photo is of a 1968 Corvette body, passenger side, suspended a few feet above the frame. It's just one photo, may or may not have been standard practice, but this particular example had what looks like complete black paint coverage on the outboard side and underside of the muffler.

[Alan S.]

Re: 1968 Muffler Blackout Paint Picture(s)

Hi Bill,
Here are some pictures from a 300 mile car that was at Charlotte in 2010.
The originality of this exhaust system might be commented on by others who have seen the car. The exhaust blackout doesn't look heavy and thick as Terry described.
Regards,
Alan

[Paul D.]

Re: 1968 Muffler Blackout Paint Picture(s)

Just an observation, but the muffler in post #5 looks like it was already black (with better coverage than would be expected from black out process) before receiving the heavier black out treatment. The pictures in post #7 show mufflers with the same black finish, but I don't see any evidence of the heavier black out coverage. Could some or all of the production mufflers been delivered to the assembly plant with a black finish? The pipes don't seem to have any on them. Chip.

[Terry M.]

Re: 1968 Muffler Blackout Paint Picture(s)

That looks like the right material, but less coverage on the muffler and more overspray on the spare tire tub than I usually see. That said, I am sure there was a variety of coverage. Note how different this looks than BBQ Black.

[Terry M.]

Re: 1968 Muffler Blackout Paint Picture(s)

Sadly Alan that exhaust system on that car has been played with after leaving St Louis. I try to remember to tell people when we have Bowtie cars in my Advanced Judging Seminars that one is not to believe the cars are 100% perfect. None are. That is why one needs to examine several, maybe even numerous examples before reaching a conclusion as to what is typical factory production.

[Terry M.]

Re: 1968 Muffler Blackout Paint Picture(s)

Paul, John Hinckley posted that the mid-year exhaust arrived at St Louis with the black out already applied and on occasion at St Louis they touched up scratches in the finish there -- that is how some spare tire tubs sometimes got overspray on them.

Based on the direction of runs I have seen I would expect the C3s had the black out applied before the exhaust system was installed on the chassis, and likely by the exhaust system supplier -- even though I believe there was, at least in some cases, a different exhaust system supplier between C3s and C2s. I see some C2s with an A for Arvin and all the C3s I have seen are W for Wagner. I did see an original 1968 undercar off-road system made by Arvin, but that is the lone exception in C3s. However, I have seen so few original exhaust systems, and I pay so little attention to C2s, that I would hesitate to draw much of a conclusion about suppliers based my small sampling.

[Scott S.]

Re: 1968 Muffler Blackout Paint Picture(s)

Paul, John Hinckley posted that the mid-year exhaust arrived at St Louis with the black out already applied and on occasion at St Louis they touched up scratches in the finish there -- that is how some spare tire tubs sometimes got overspray on them.

Terry,

Do you know what the Thread title was, or how I could find the post where John mentioned the midyear exhaust arriving at St. Louis already blacked out?

[Terry M.]

Re: 1968 Muffler Blackout Paint Picture(s)

Terry,

Do you know what the Thread title was, or how I could find the post where John mentioned the midyear exhaust arriving at St. Louis already blacked out?

Sorry Scott, I do not know -- it was about C2s. You know how that rolls with me. I did just search 24 pages of John's posts (back to the New Year 2012) without finding that thread, although there were some other interesting exhaust system threads. If the post was on a thread that had drifted off topic my chances of finding it are remote at best.

[Scott S.]

Re: 1968 Muffler Blackout Paint Picture(s)

Sorry Scott, I do not know -- it was about C2s. You know how that rolls with me. I did just search 24 pages of John's posts (back to the New Year 2012) without finding that thread, although there were some other interesting exhaust system threads. If the post was on a thread that had drifted off topic my chances of finding it are remote at best.

Thanks for checking Terry, I was afraid it might be impossible to find. I have been checking John's archive Threads since posting earlier too, and haven't found it yet either. Lots of other good stuff though, that's the danger of going into the archives, easy to lose track of time.

[Joe L.]

Re: 1968 Muffler Blackout Paint Picture(s)

Hi Bill,
Here are some pictures from a 300 mile car that was at Charlotte in 2010.
The originality of this exhaust system might be commented on by others who have seen the car. The exhaust blackout doesn't look heavy and thick as Terry described.
Regards,
Alan

Alan-----


Do you recall what engine was installed in this car? It appears to have 2" exhaust used only for base engines for 1971.