<VV> Re: Engine Shroud Paint

vairologist@juno.com vairologist@juno.com
Wed, 19 May 2004 23:57:42 -0400


> Subject: <VV> engine shroud paint
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Smitty says:  John this is just an opinion, but it's mine and I'm
entitled to it.  Some 35 years ago the last Corvair came off the line. 
The paint that was applied to those engines didn't look like anything you
will see today no matter how original the car is.  The reason being that
somewhere along the line a bunch of somebodys wiped the engines down very
carefully and industriously.  This caused them to become shinier with
time.  As a for instance, I inherited a 61 from an old gent that had been
cared for within an inch of it's life.  It had been polished so much
there was no plating left on the beautiful chrome looking fuel lines. 
The paint on the engine was a high gloss black with thin spots and bare
metal showing.  It is absurd to believe that old man ever painted the
engine.  That is an extreme case but it tells me that the self styled
experts who in this day and age are going to dictate the proper gloss of
engine paint are correct only to themselves.
        Unless you are going to put it in concours where you will have to
meet the standard of the "experts" with the spectromatic eyeballs for
what is absolutely stock, just paint it with something that looks right
to you.