How were AO Smith hardtops painted and assembled

[Gerard F.]

Working on my 67 hardtop, and just wondering what the procedure was for painting, assembling, and then shipping an AO Smith hardtop to St. Louis.

I am assuming that the hardtop was painted along side the car at AO Smith, and without the rear window, headliner, and trim attached.
Or was it painted separately in a different area?

How many coats of primer and lacquer did they put on the car and the hardtop?

I assume that at some point after painting, the hardtop was separated from the car, and then went to a trim line where the rear window was installed, then the trim and headliner installed. Correct?

At what point, was the hardtop returned to the car? Was it fully installed for shipping to St. Louis? Seems to me that they would have had to take it back off at St. Louis to complete the convertible top and water test it.

Am I all wet on my assumptions here?

[John H.]

Re: How were AO Smith hardtops painted and assembled

Working on my 67 hardtop, and just wondering what the procedure was for painting, assembling, and then shipping an AO Smith hardtop to St. Louis.

I am assuming that the hardtop was painted along side the car at AO Smith, and without the rear window, headliner, and trim attached.
Or was it painted separately in a different area?

How many coats of primer and lacquer did they put on the car and the hardtop?

I assume that at some point after painting, the hardtop was separated from the car, and then went to a trim line where the rear window was installed, then the trim and headliner installed. Correct?

At what point, was the hardtop returned to the car? Was it fully installed for shipping to St. Louis? Seems to me that they would have had to take it back off at St. Louis to complete the convertible top and water test it.

Am I all wet on my assumptions here?

Jerry -

The fiberglass skin was painted with the body, parked on a fixture that clamped to the top of the windshield frame. When the body left the Paint Shop, the painted top was removed, racked, and moved to a subassembly area where the top assembly was completed, ready to install on the car.

The hardtop was then installed on the car, the side glass was adjusted to fit the hardtop weatherstrips, and the hardtop was removed, tagged with the job number, and racked again.

The convertible top was installed and fitted to the side glass on A.O. Smith's Body Final Line, and the body was water-tested. Then the soft top was stowed, the hardtop was re-installed, and the body was water-tested again. Then the body was rail-shipped to Chevrolet with the soft top stowed and the hardtop installed, and the hardtop remained in place through the St. Louis assembly process. It got a "free ride" through the convertible top installation area on the St. Louis Final Line, just like a St. Louis-bodied hardtop-only car did.

[Patrick T.]

Re: How were AO Smith hardtops painted and assembled

The hardtop was then installed on the car, the side glass was adjusted to fit the hardtop weatherstrips, and the hardtop was removed, tagged with the job number, and racked again.

John, why shouldn't the adjustment for the soft top be the same as for the hardtop? On my '67, I have a new soft top and weatherstripping. The window works smooth as silk up and down with the power windows.

I tried fitting the new (to me) '67 hardtop with all new weatherstrip and the windows only want to go up halfway. I would think that from the factory, either top would work with the factory window settings. GM wouldn't want the customer to have to reset the window adjustment every time they switched the tops. What do you think? Thanks, PT

[Gerard F.]

Re: How were AO Smith hardtops painted and assembled

John,

Thanks for the response. I'm presently taking my original 67 hardtop apart for a restoration project. Finding out a lot of interesting things and didn't realize how complicated this hardtop is.

Presently experimenting with 67 Marina Blue for the hardtop first, and then eventually for the car.

Looks like the new type acrylic lacquer is not like the old. Have some rattled can stuff supposed to be with the correct PPG number and shot a number of samples. Comparing it to never touched areas on my car and to paint chips of the original color, it looks to me that the blue comes out too dark with a lack of the silvery look. So on to a local paint distributor nearby who can get me the right lacquer and match it to the underside of the rear deck lid, or the recesses in the door jambs.

I'll get the Marina Blue that's just right for me. Remember that one

[Gerard F.]

Re: How were AO Smith hardtops painted and assembled

John, why shouldn't the adjustment for the soft top be the same as for the hardtop? On my '67, I have a new soft top and weatherstripping. The window works smooth as silk up and down with the power windows.

I tried fitting the new (to me) '67 hardtop with all new weatherstrip and the windows only want to go up halfway. I would think that from the factory, either top would work with the factory window settings. GM wouldn't want the customer to have to reset the window adjustment every time they switched the tops. What do you think? Thanks, PT

PT,

Don't think there is an adjustment of the hardtop to the sideglass. The sideglass is adjusted to the hardtop.

Then the convertible top (which is adjustable) is adjusted to the sideglass, to a shimmed distance without the weatherstriping.

[Patrick T.]

Re: How were AO Smith hardtops painted and assembled

PT,

Don't think there is an adjustment of the hardtop to the side glass. The side glass is adjusted to the hardtop.

Then the convertible top (which is adjustable) is adjusted to the side glass, to a shimmed distance without the weatherstripping.

Thanks Jerry, I've been looking forward to removing those door panels to adjust one thing or another!

[Gerard F.]

Re: How were AO Smith hardtops painted and assembled

Found the pic:



Frame adjustment per thicknesses of shims shown in the AIM.

[John H.]

Re: How were AO Smith hardtops painted and assembled

John,

Thanks for the response. I'm presently taking my original 67 hardtop apart for a restoration project. Finding out a lot of interesting things and didn't realize how complicated this hardtop is.

Presently experimenting with 67 Marina Blue for the hardtop first, and then eventually for the car.

Looks like the new type acrylic lacquer is not like the old. Have some rattled can stuff supposed to be with the correct PPG number and shot a number of samples. Comparing it to never touched areas on my car and to paint chips of the original color, it looks to me that the blue comes out too dark with a lack of the silvery look. So on to a local paint distributor nearby who can get me the right lacquer and match it to the underside of the rear deck lid, or the recesses in the door jambs.

I'll get the Marina Blue that's just right for me. Remember that one

Jerry -

Yup, I remember - time for another dinner!

The link below will take you to the Michigan NCRS chapter video page - about the eighth one down is a tech seminar that Glassworks came and put on for us, on assembly of midyear hardtops; it may be helpful for your project.

http://www.michiganncrs.org/page1/page1.html

[Wayne M.]

Re: How were AO Smith hardtops painted and assembled

.....just wondering what the procedure was for painting, assembling, and then shipping an AO Smith hardtop to St. Louis.

I am assuming that the hardtop was painted along side the car at AO Smith, and without the rear window, headliner, and trim attached.
Or was it painted separately in a different area? ........

I assume that at some point after painting, the hardtop was separated from the car, and then went to a trim line where the rear window was installed, then the trim and headliner installed. Correct?

At what point, was the hardtop returned to the car? Was it fully installed for shipping to St. Louis? Seems to me that they would have had to take it back off at St. Louis to complete the convertible top and water test it......

If you have copies of RESTORER Vol 6, #'s 2, 3 & 4 (Fall 1979 to Spring 1980), there's a three-part series of articles by Joe Clark, specifically on Dow-Smith bodies. Goes into much of the detail mentioned by John H. The RESTORER cover of Vol 6, # 2 is a color photo of the body trim line, and there's a row of hardtops stacked off to the side (no doubt in the order of mating with the car). The first four tops look to have complete stainless trim in place; two other tops further on are minus the trim.

In Vol 6, #3 there's a shot of the wet-sanding area (going by the hood, looks like a '65 or '66 BB convertible body); the rear deck lid is up; the hardtop is almost in place, held off the front windshield frame by what looks like a block of wood, and (hard to see details) some bracket that temporarily supports the back of the hardtop to the lock pillar.

Excellent articles, lots of photos, including the famous one of the bodies loaded onto rail cars at Ionia, a couple of them with hardtops in place.