69 VIN Rivets

[Terry M.]

Re: 69 vin tag rivets

Terry------

I expect anything that's published in the JG's or anywhere else is going to come as no revelation to a counterfeiter. I'm quite sure they already know WAY more about these matters than we'll ever know.

I wish that were true of Trim Tags. The book Roy Sinor & Al Grenning wrote and NCRS published simply gave the counterfeiters a blue print for a better product.

[Greg L.]

Re: 69 vin tag rivets

Hey Brad,

Here is my 2 cents.... I'm very attentive to detail when it comes to my restoration and when I removed the windshield from my Jan 69 coupe I didn't remember any bare VIN tag rivets. Had they been bare I would have noticed it, documented it and made sure that they were still bare after my blackout and before I put the new windshield back in. FWIW my bird cage is mint with no corrosion there and still had it's original blackout around the windshield frame.

Another thought is why not personally ask the team leader via e-mail? I didn't realize that they were the ones that actually scrutinized the tags and rivets until I read this thread. This forum is a weath of information but don't be afraid to e-mail anyone directly from the contacts list. I've done it over the years when I couldn't get a conclusive answer and it's always been a positive experience.

[Warren F.]

Re: 69 VIN Rivets

I found this thread topic very interesting, so I went out to the garage to look at my two 1971 coupes VIN plates. Although the pillar post covers up both ends of the VIN plate, with a flashlight I can see the rosette styled rivet heads and they are not black, but natural color in appearance. To me, the VIN plate appears to be a slightly different sheen or hue of black from the black that is used in the black out process that Terry describes. My conclusion is that the black out process preceeded the VIN plate being attached to the pillar post and that the VIN plate most likely is made from material that is coated in a black color that is very close to the black out.

[Edward J.]

Re: 69 VIN Rivets

Warren, I had found the same with my 72 a few years back and saw a post about the rivots being black , So guess what I did?? I painted them, because there was a overwhelming consensus they were supposes to be black.It makes you think, as my 72 was pretty correct, but who know's these days as 40 years is a lot of time for things to happen. as Terry has stated many times there are not many original vintage corvettes left.as so many have had there hands under the hoods to fix something or removed something to repair.

[Warren F.]

Re: 69 VIN Rivets

Edward,
Yes, 42 or in my case 43 years is a long time for a Corvette to remain essentially unchanged, but, that is the type of cars that I am attracted to. Original paint, original glass, original blackout treatment, etc.

[Paul O.]

Re: 69 VIN Rivets

To all here is what I found out today saw 11 original 1968 thru 1972 car. None appeared to ever have the windshield out. The black out paint had a higher gloss then the VIN tag and it appeared to be plated a flatter black. All rosette rivets were a silver finish no blackout paint that I could see. I have to check the photos I took to see if I have a good one of those.

[Brad H.]

Re: 69 VIN Rivets

Thanks to everyone who continued to investigate this rivet issue. Sounds like you have pretty much gotten to the bottom of this and I truly appreciate how much effort many of you put into finding the answer! At least it appears to be the answer to me.
Brad

[Patrick H.]

Re: 69 VIN Rivets

To all here is what I found out today saw 11 original 1968 thru 1972 car. None appeared to ever have the windshield out. The black out paint had a higher gloss then the VIN tag and it appeared to be plated a flatter black. All rosette rivets were a silver finish no blackout paint that I could see. I have to check the photos I took to see if I have a good one of those.

I was there with him. The difference in gloss and even shade between the VIN plate and the blackout was notable.
And, all originally installed rivets were silver color.

Had a good time looking at some Corvettes today.

[Terry M.]

Re: 69 VIN Rivets

To all here is what I found out today saw 11 original 1968 thru 1972 car. None appeared to ever have the windshield out. The black out paint had a higher gloss then the VIN tag and it appeared to be plated a flatter black. All rosette rivets were a silver finish no blackout paint that I could see. I have to check the photos I took to see if I have a good one of those.

I was there with him. The difference in gloss and even shade between the VIN plate and the blackout was notable.
And, all originally installed rivets were silver color.

Had a good time looking at some Corvettes today.

I was also there, and saw what Paul & Patrick saw. I was misinformed about the black out operation; or the St Louis employee who told me about the assembly process was describing a different time frame than we are interested in.

[Joe L.]

Re: 69 VIN Rivets

To all here is what I found out today saw 11 original 1968 thru 1972 car. None appeared to ever have the windshield out. The black out paint had a higher gloss then the VIN tag and it appeared to be plated a flatter black. All rosette rivets were a silver finish no blackout paint that I could see. I have to check the photos I took to see if I have a good one of those.

Paul------

I'm amazed that you could even see the rivets. On my 1969, the rivets are completely underneath the trim molding. In fact, even the little bit that I initially thought was the edge of a rivet is not. From what I can tell, the rivets seem to be well under the trim molding and completely invisible. The location of the "cut out" might vary a little from car-to-car, but I am surprised that for any the rivets can be seen.

As far as the black on the VIN plate and the adjoining area of the pillar post, I can see VERY little of the adjoining area on mine. However, from what I can see, the degree of sheen of both the VIN plate and the adjoining area seem about the same. Any slight difference could be attributable to the underlying "smoothness" of the pillar post metal versus the VIN plate metal.

[Alan S.]

Re: 69 VIN Rivets

Hi Warren,
I see a similar plate surface to what you describe.
It appears to me that the metal has been 'stained' black in some way. For lack of a better description I'd say it appears to have been dipped into a liquid like gun bluing.
The stamping of the letters and digits stretches the metal, and the raised characters appear lighter than the rest of the plate's surface.
Regards,
alan

[Peter S.]

Re: 69 VIN Rivets

For what it is worth, here is a picture of my VIN tag with the rivets showing.

VIN Tag.jpg

[Alan S.]

Re: 69 VIN Rivets

Hi,
Came upon this picture today and remembered this thread.
It's NOT a 69 however, it's a 72.
If only he'd moved a bit to the right.
Regards,
Alan

[Brad H.]

Re: 69 VIN Rivets

Thanks Alan, appreciate you thinking of me!
Brad


Came upon this picture today and remembered this thread.
It's NOT a 69 however, it's a 72.
If only he'd moved a bit to the right.
Regards,
Alan

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