C1 Hood Latch Finish & Bowden Cable Finish

[Ted S.]

Were at the final stages of getting the '58 ready for the nationals. My understanding is both the male and female side of the hood latches were in place during the blackout process and the bowden cables were not. Is this correct?

Secondly in review the archives one of the posts indicated the male portion should be blacked out but the pin and spring should not have blackout on them. Is this correct?

Third, the hood release bowden cables on a NOS release assy (i.e. black and yellow box) have more of yellow finish verses the silver I've seen. Is this correct?

Thanks, Ted

[Edward L.]

Re: C1 Hood Latch Finish & Bowden Cable Finish

Ted:

1. Male and female latches, as well as the Bowden cables and the brass barrel nuts that prevent the cable from pulling out were in place prior to the black-out process. There has been evidence of this on the C1 cars that I have restored. It makes sense in that there had to be a way to open the hood in the event that it was dropped unintentionally.

2. The spring and pin could have black-out. It all depends on the degree of application.

3. All of the original cables that I have seen are a silver cad finish.

Ed

[Ted S.]

Re: C1 Hood Latch Finish & Bowden Cable Finish

Ted:

1. Male and female latches, as well as the Bowden cables and the brass barrel nuts that prevent the cable from pulling out were in place prior to the black-out process. There has been evidence of this on the C1 cars that I have restored. It makes sense in that there had to be a way to open the hood in the event that it was dropped unintentionally.

2. The spring and pin could have black-out. It all depends on the degree of application.

3. All of the original cables that I have seen are a silver cad finish.

Ed

Ed,

Here was a response from John McGraw in someone elses post to a similar question:

Susan,
The male and female latches on a 58 were cad or zinc plated and showed no sign of the yellow dichromate rinse like some later models. Both the male and female latches were in place when the blackout took place, so the latches were pretty much completely blacked out, but they were oil treated, so it was quite common for a good percentage of the paint to peel off. The springs on the male latch were gloss black and the retainer and pin were plated as well. The judges look for some degree of blackout, so you can't go wrong with blacking them complete out with the exception of the pin and spring. The hood hinges are pretty much the same. Keep in mind, that the hood release cable was installed later, so it should not show any traces of blackout. On 58 cars, there is really no shielded areas the did not get blackout like 60 and later cars. On these cars, judges like to see bare fiberglass under the latches where the paint could not get.

Regards, John McGraw

The responses match on the latches but not on the bowden cables and pins/springs. Since the male portion of the latch was in place I can't see why the pins and springs would not show blackout unless they were installed later. What to do....... Anyone else?

[Garry B.]

Re: C1 Hood Latch Finish & Bowden Cable Finish

Ted,
There is always debate on the parts that were in place during blackout. Were they hit with enough paint to be solid black? Would the paint have stuck to parts that were oil coated? How much? How little? It's anybody's guess and different from car to car.

I think that we agree that the spring on the male latch is black before blackout. The rest of the latch is cad or zinc plated (including the pin) and that there should be some plating showing and some black out showing. You can't go wrong by hitting the outboard side of the male latches with a "hit" of black out paint, the inboard side of the female latch with a "hit" of paint and still leave a significant amount of the latches with their plating showing. What you are trying to recreate is the process by which the paint was applied.

I do like the look of some bare glass showing under the latches where the paint didn't directly hit. This also supports my supposition that none of these parts got total black out on a consistant basis.

I am sure that you will hear other thoughts on this as well, but I have never had a deduct on my car done this way.

BTW-the car looks great!
Garry Barnes
18531

[John S.]

Re: C1 Hood Latch Finish & Bowden Cable Finish

Ted..i sprayed my cables with silver paint and they looked like new... no deduct for them at Old Town Jan 07 it is a 57..John