jklmmorr

My 1969 Hurst grill, headlight bezels and headlight housings are completely painted black. I have seen pictures showing some as black and some retaining the silver outlines as on the 442 grills. I found this piece of information “H/O grilles were the same as 442 grilles, except the inside of the headlight bezels were blacked out? (still left silver edge trim) However, some later ones were also completely flat black.”( from 1969 Hurst/Olds Information (oldsgmail.com)) So what is correct? Totally black, or, black and silver? Owners’ choice? I assume the best way forward is to buy the 442 grills, headlight bezel and headlight housing and paint them flat black, if totally black is the desired outcome. I read on the forum that flat black is the correct color.

Thanks

69HO43

Yep. That’s from my old web pages from nearly 25 years ago. Unfortunately I have no way to update any of it.

But that statement still stands. There are some pictures out there of early magazine cars with just the perimeter edge in silver with everything else black. My own car converted on Apr 1 69 had the same treatment as the magazine cars. I’ve also witnessed survivors that were built in May with all black grilles.

Is there any official paperwork available saying if there were plans to do one or the other? Nobody’s found it. My car was pretty much original when I got it. So I believe the grilles weren’t messed with. As with anything car related, it isn’t far-fetched to think that taping the grilles to leave a silver stripe on the perimeter quickly gave way to just painting everything black to save time and money. I didn’t even pay much attention to this until I saw the all black grilles. I’ve only seen one other silver perimeter striped grille besides mine over the years.

No proof, but could very well be plausible. My car’s headrests also has original gold paint on them with white paint underneath. Gold is so thin you can see the white in some places. Later cars didn’t have this.

Threre’s evidence to support either.

jklmmorr

Thank you for the information. So most likely it is now Owners Choice.

I found your old web site not long after I purchased my car in April 2022. It has been a good source of information. Thanks for putting in the effort. Nothing really disappears on the internet.

69HO43

You're correct- sometimes it's forever. I've learned a lot more in the last 25 years about 69 H/Os as well. "Nothing really disappears on the internet"- not sure about that. I recall some Covid information doing just that.

Luckily you weren't asking about correct postive battery cable routing.

As I see it, either way could be plausible, but I figure if they abandoned any trim taping, they did it very early. Most of the cars I've seen had all flat black up front. My car was #43 on the conversion cycle, so I'm thinking any silver trim would be short-lived after that.

Here's a couple of shots of the pre-pro and magazine cars I was talking about. I got another 69 magazine shot somewhere I can't seem to find with the car sitting in front of a fast food place. Could be the same car in a couple of shots? I dunno. But my own 69 had the same silver surround and the rest flat black. Looks like it would be a PITA to tape that off just to paint everything else black.

69HO43

more weird pics...license plate changes but probably same car?









Same plate as the one with Linda in the pic above, likely same car.

1969Hurst

I'll add another flavor as well....
In talking to Chuck Miller at the H/OCA 1969 50th anniv, we stumbled on this conversation and his thoughts were that they were experimenting with ideas to make items 'pop' in promo pic's and especially black & white photography. Same idea as adding 'black' to the numbers on the hood scoop decals in several early promo/mag shots like below...

Hot Rod mag outtake... same set of pic's from the McDonalds


Road Test mag, Aug 1969, you can see the silver on the grill as well... And interestingly that H/O in the decal is different from what production came out to be...


And I just like this pic... which has the silver on the grill...

69HO43

Yeah, I've always liked that last pic too. However, I never noticed this until today, but the center hood stripe is off center! Who would have guessed? Note on the passenger side they had to loop it over to the grille chrome trim. My car has the stripe about 1/2 way up the hill as it were. Not at the bottom but not at the top of the humps, either. As long as humans were taping it off, no two cars would be striped exactly alike.

Although possible, I don't think it's likely anyone painted the silver on my grilles after the fact (a la hood pins). I still believe they were done that way at Demmer. I know I sure didn't do it. But I could be wrong as I didn't own the car originally. It just seems like quite a tedious endeavor for something that most didn't pay much attention to. I could instantly buy that if my car were built in May but it's a very early car, either Day 1 or Day 2 of conversion. Not sure if there were any "adjustments" made to the production efforts during that time.

And the scoop decals were kinda funny back then. TIP- if you see any "green" H/O 455 scoop decals out there, you KNOW they're aftermarket. The originals were more like a brass metallic color on papery-type separate lettering decals.
Here's a pic of my scoop.

1969Hurst

Wow.... same here, never noticed that either now that you mention it....

I always toss out the following in relation to front hood stripe which is like you mentioned.... that stripe should come down the hood, 1/2 way along that ridge.... And if it does, it will meet the front 'hockey sticks' where it should....

jklmmorr

Wow, thanks for all the great information and photos. They really add to the discussion.

I like the flat black. Makes the car more ominous. It also hides misalignment between grill and headlight housing. With blacka any misalignment is not so obvious.

I have read the threads on the positive battery cable. I'll stay out of that one!

Thanks

69Oldsman

jklommorr,

What is your Demmer # ?

jklmmorr

My Demmer Number is 868. I have a copy of the Delivery Receipt with the number.