MDchanic

Hey - Anybody have a photo or two of the rubber strip that was glued to the full-length stainless trim moulding on the '73 Delta (the rubber that peeled off long before 1980)?

I'm looking to paint that area of my trim a flat accent color, like the original, only the rubber's long gone, so I have no clear guideline.

I believe that the rubber sat on the flat center section only, leaving a bit of bright silver on both the top and the bottom, but I want to be sure before I mask and paint.

Thanks,

- Eric

rocketraider

That's right. Royales used a wide molding and the vinyl section was a fairly coarse grain. The recessed area where the vinyl went is what you want to paint. The raised section at the top should be left bright metal.

Standard Deltas used a narrow stainless strip with vinyl insert that had about the same width bright metal exposed at both top and bottom of the molding.

Then 74 went to that nasty vinyl side molding that came in rolls. That stuff just looked CHEAP. Especially when it got a few years old and started falling off.

2blu442

Eric, I don't remember what I pulled this from but its close to 7 feet long!
John

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MDchanic

Thanks, guys.

It is, in fact a Royale. John, I think you've got a piece of "standard" trim there, but thanks for looking anyway.

The Royale trim is a bit wider, and the part covered by the vinyl occupies probably 80% of the surface area, leaving a slightly raised, notched portion at the top, and (if I'm correct - this is the question) a very thin stainless edge at the bottom. The vinyl is very thin (like 1/16"), and is glued on to the flat surface of the stainless, with no groove or other mechanical attachment, which is why it always peeled off. It was also color-keyed to the paint.

I'd post a photo of my "naked" trim, but my camera's misbehaving (it only lasted ten years - the nerve!).

Thanks again!

- Eric

hkr

I can send a picture from my phone of the my 73 Royale trim by email if you want, cant figure out how to post a pic on this site. It is chrome at the top only. Mike

MDchanic

Hi Mike, thanks for the response!

Based on my recollection of what these things looked like when they were freely roaming the earth, I painted one of mine, and it seems to look right to me, but, like I say, I really can't remember.

Here are a couple of pics, but It'd be great to see what yours looks like, too.





I agree, I don't know of a way to upload directly from cell to here without going through your computer, so I'll PM you, and you can e-mail it to me, and I'll post it up.

Thanks!

- Eric

MDchanic

For future generations, I happened across a '73 Royale Convertible today (held together with bubble gum and baling wire, I might add), and snapped a cell phone pic of the way that the rubber sits on the moulding.

I hadn't painted the strip in the pics in the above post down low enough - the rubber went right to the bottom, but did not curl around the bottom surface.

Here it is:



- Eric