212CW air filter - what does the real thing look like?

[John M.]

Just returned from SEMA and APPEX. Always a great experience! While talking to a company who manufactured air filters it suddenly hit me that IF someone had an NOS 212CW air filter I would not know what it should look like. They could tell me about anything and I would have to take their word for it! In a nutshell, what EXACTLY does a NOS 212CW air filter for a 66 Corvette really look like. Everyone says they are impossible to locate and so very, very expensive if located. Have you ever seen one? If one were to be a vendor and wanted to have a run made how would you start to get a quote on manufacturing? Are there photos, drawings, spec sheets and the like to guide you on this quest. At least one company made and sold a reproduction and I read what was WRONG with the part. The filters bring crazy money when they surface but it seems there are revisions that have been made along the way that render even NOS filters not exact enough for serious judging. Have you ever purchased something that was NOS only to be told it was not exactly like the original OEM part - NOW YOU TELL ME! is about all you could say. One needs to know what to look for and purchase before you find out although it is NOS it is not like the original. SO, can anyone enlighten me about this air filter that is made of unobtainium? Has anyone looked into reproduction? How did they know what to reproduce? The wire cage is unlike the present day filter, probably the material is a different color, the embossed or debossed writing on the rubber top or bottom says something - a hundred differences come to mind - the possibilities are endless. Lots of areas where mistakes can be made and probably only one correct version was produced. So who has the real thing? Are you sitting on one? Seen any for sale? How much? Are you sure it would stand up to national judging scrutiny? Please chime in with your knowledge, your images and your experiences so we can at least search for the correct object and not overpay for something that is represented as the real deal but is just one more of those "close" parts that we sometimes get stuck with. Let us collectivly get a valid description and images of what is correct. Thanks for your consideration of this matter.

[Gary B.]

[Jimmy G.]

Re: 212CW air filter - what does the real thing look like?

3K Mile 66 Filter

212 real 5.jpg212 Real.jpg212 Real 3.jpg

[Steve B.]

Re: 212CW air filter - what does the real thing look like?

Great picture by Jimmy of a real air filter. There was a long time member who was trying for years to reproduce these but was unable to get it done. I believe the issue was replicating the soldered mesh but I could be wrong. All I know is that he exhausted every avenue and this was pre covid. I don't see there ever being a reproduction that will be made that is 100% accurate.

[Tony S.]

Re: 212CW air filter - what does the real thing look like?

Nice piece, Jimmy! A friend of mine out East has an NOS one. They are made from a rare material on the periodic table called "unobtainium". 😅

[John M.]

Re: 212CW air filter - what does the real thing look like?

Looking at the "screen wire" and how it is soldered and how it is terminated at the seam makes me wonder what type of machine was used to make that length of material. Were other air filters of that vintage using the same type of screen? For instance would a similar vintage filter for a GM car of another make share that type of screen but in a different width or length? Never really noticed those things at the time it was used. Did I read somewhere that the machine for that ended up in China? Or is that just an urban myth? Any facts from the person who attempted to reproduce this air cleaner?

[David B.]

Re: 212CW air filter - what does the real thing look like?

Phoenix Wire Cloth Inc. Troy, MI should be able to answer all your questions. Go by there every day but never have talked to them.

[Mark F.]

Re: 212CW air filter - what does the real thing look like?

Looking at the "screen wire" and how it is soldered and how it is terminated at the seam makes me wonder what type of machine was used to make that length of material Agree (a power loom). Were other air filters of that vintage using the same type of screen? For instance would a similar vintage filter for a GM car of another make share that type of screen but in a different width or length? Never really noticed those things at the time it was used. Did I read somewhere that the machine for that ended up in China? Or is that just an urban myth? Dunno, but the textile industry knows how to make looms here in the US. Wire is not a textile, but the suspected industrial processes to make the wire mesh are probably not that much different Any facts from the person who attempted to reproduce this air cleaner?

John,

I worked at PPG Fiber Glass in the early '80s where they once made various woven FG products on large, extremely fast industrial power looms (Shelby, NC).

I suspect (but don't know for sure) the wire mesh was made (woven) on some sort of similar power loom; then continuously spooled off a roll and dipped in a molten solder bath; air cooled after rolling out of the bath; and then cut to lengths and widths on "slitter-like" machines.