What is the proper color for a 1970 cutlass/442 bumper jack? Ive seen black and grey with the cad plated tubular jack post or natural steel solid post and would they tire iron match color?

 

I believe it depends on the assembly plant

 

And it could very well depend upon which brand of jack came with the car. For '68 and '69, there were 4 different brands listed. My '68 is one brand that has the slide on the jack gray but the tire iron is black. For the '69, both the slide and the tire iron are black. The two jacks for my cars are different brands. As well, the '68 came from Lansing and the '69 came from Fremont. So there are lots of variations that could happen, based on where your car was built and what brand of jack they were using at that time.

Randy C.

 

My '68 Cutlass came with a gray foot, hook and black mechanism and iron. The mast was bright plated, probably Cadmium. I painted everything semi-gloss black (except for mast) and called it a day.

 

OK thx, I have a black one with grey arm and I think the foot was grey. They have all been bead blasted and now comes the fun part.
The car is a LAN built 442

 

These jack bases show the mast shapes of 3 of the 4 jack styles that were available to GM cars in the late 60s/early 70s time frame.
My '68 (Lansing) has the grey base with the slide and cradle also gray, with a black tire iron. My '69 (Fremont) is all black - slide, cradle, base, and tire iron. The blue base was from the jack in my '70 GTO (also a Fremont car).

Randy C,.

 

Great info on the jack manufacturers and variations in color? What about the length? I have collected multiple jack assemblies and they range from 34" up to 36" long. Can someone please confirm the correct length for the 1968 Cutlass/ 442? Thanks in advance. LP

 

I believe that depends on what brand of jack you have. My '68 4-4-2 (Lansing car, gray base shown above) has a length of 34.5". My '69 4-4-2 (Fremont car, black base shown above) has a length of 36". It could very well be the shape of your jack post determines its manufactured length.

Randy C.

 

Thanks Randy - That explains it - Great info!

 

I have two 1969 442's, both Lansing cars. One is grey, one is black.

 

I think the proper term for the gold rainbow plating is zinc dichromate. Cadmium I believe is silver. Cadmium itself is highly restricted in use because of environmental concern. You would be hard pressed to find anyone that would do cadmium planting. Probably Mexico would. I guess the gold colored zinc dichromate is less toxic to produce. I have a friend who lost all his teeth due to heavy metal exposure when he worked at a plating plant.