1963 Rear Spring

[Carl A.]

What color should the 1963 rear spring be? I have read some posts that say it was unpainted and some say black. The NCRS judging manual says it is gray. I received a deduction at midwest regional because my rear spring is not gray. What is correct?

[Tom H.]

Re: 1963 Rear Spring

See John's reply in this thread.

https://www.forums.ncrs.org/showthread.php?t=78923&highlight=1963+chassis+paint&uid=6700

[Harry S.]

Re: 1963 Rear Spring

We spent a good deal of time under the essentially untouched 63 at Charlotte. Some folks say they saw gray on the spring and others said it was black. The only conclusion I came to was.... Whatever process was used by the metal manufacturer that made the spring leaves left some residual color on the spring that looks gray, but I do not believe it was painted gray.

Saying that, I just restored the spring in my 63 and painted it gray, why, I like the look and will take the point hit. It also will stop future rust, since I live in the New Hampshire rust belt. I drive my car.

[Carl A.]

Re: 1963 Rear Spring

Harry, why would you get hit for that when the NCRS judging manual says the rear spring is gray?

[Edward J.]

Re: 1963 Rear Spring

I think Harry knows the correct color, he may have seen the pic of the inverted 63 chassis being sprayed at the factory, and it appeared that everything in 63 was chassis black. its somewhere in the archives

[Harry S.]

Re: 1963 Rear Spring

Why, I am doubtful about the gray.

[John D.]

Re: 1963 Rear Spring

According to Franz Estericher, spring engineer, etc the 63 rear spring was bare except for black overspray.
My 63, the LWC has nice bare rear spring and no deductions. Well there is one though as someone put in tooo many spring liners.

[Joe L.]

Re: 1963 Rear Spring

See John's reply in this thread.

https://www.forums.ncrs.org/showthre...paint&uid=6700

Tom, et al-----


Yes, the spring seen in John's photo is pretty obviously painted gray and the chassis being assembled is obviously a 1963 since the spring is the 1963-only configuration (single stage) and the brakes are drum-type. Also, one will note that the application of the "paint" appears "mottled" and there appears to be bare spots on the spring edges. This is exactly what is to be expected. The spring was to be coated on the tension (lower) surface with Ionoklad coating. This was rather crudely applied and any coating on the edges was simply "slop-over" from the coating of the tension surface. So, some areas of the edges received the coating and some did not. Some "slop-over" even got on the upper surfaces of the leaves. However, as a rule, I believe the upper surfaces of the leaves were bare steel. Of course, very little of the upper surfaces of the leaves can be seen when the spring is installed on the car.