I was thinking of painting my 84 Hurst what type of paint is on it, lacquer, urethane, etc? I asked at the car paint store they didn't know. Is it a single stage or a base clear? Were the black stripes put on last at Hurst or would they be under the clear? Thanks Jackson

 

your car was painted with lacquer at the factory. Code 17 silver and code 19 black. The black was applied at the factory but didn’t show up on the body plate nor the SPID sticker in the trunk. Weird, huh?

interestingly, all the striping (except for the rear scoop black decal) was applied at the GM factory in Lansing before the car went to C&C for conversion. At C&C, they installed the scoop components and trim, the front air dam, and the rear spoiler and supporting hardware for that on the exterior along with the bullnose emblem. The interior got the console hacked, factory shifter replaced with the Lightning Rods with assorted supporting hardware, and the dash emblem.

Air shocks were already installed at the factory as they were standard equipment on W40 for 84.

Hope this helps.

 

I believe by the early to mid 80s they had pretty much completely shifted from acrylic lacquer to acrylic enamel.

 

They did. For another vehicle and/or brand. But the 84 H/O came from the factory with dispersion acrylic lacquer. Unfortunately, the Service Parts Identification label in the trunk wouldn't tell you that in 1984, but for the 1985 Cutlass, they started including paint types and WA code numbers on the bottom of the SPIDs. It's noted usually as "Dis. Lacquer" with the WA code to follow.

For 1984, they normally included the paint type on the body cowl tag. Note here, this is a body cowl tag from one of the last of the line 84 H/Os built the first week of March, 1984. Production of the H/O ended March 10, 1984, so this is a late one. But as you can see, it shows the paint type and the fact it has the Y78 Calais and W40 Hurst option package (and T-tops- CC1). Note also, the body color is silver upper, and silver lower with dark maple cloth interior. The painted black bottom section was never "documented".


The tag is something they did NOT put on the cars for whatever reason in 1985 at the Arlington plant.

My 85 442 was built in Arlington, so SPIDs may vary with extra information from plant to plant slightly, but the reason I was given from the Arlington plant why they didn't put cowl tags on the 85s was that the SPID had all the info needed and didn't see the need to duplicate the data. He said if the tags were provided, they were installed. There are MANY Arlington built 85 Cutlass and Montes running around without cowl tags from the factory.

84 SPID




85 SPID (from my own Arlington car- which had no cowl tag). Note it specified the silver for the lower color.



And here's a SPID from an 86 Mexican built El Camino (85-87 were all built there), just to show you that they did use enamel on some GM cars back then. In contrast, Pontiac plant-built 86 Cutlasses normally had no information below the RPO codes on them, but Arlington-built 86 Montes did have paint info on them. Strange.

 

All my 1984-86 B-body cars came with lacquer, as evidenced on the cowl tag. Even my 1988 Firenza is lacquer. You can tell because the front end was repainted after an accident in BC/CC and the clear coat is peeling, whereas the original lacquer is only faded.

 

All right well the original paint is pretty bad. I'm gonna probably drive it as is, at least for now. I know if you mix types it falls off, doesn't stick. So then you would have to blast it first & that cost a lot of money. I thought Lacquer got checks & cracks in it when it got old, but this just faded and wore away down to the primer in places. I got some panels off of a parts car to repair the crash damage. I'll have to check that car now & see what paint it's got LOL. Thanks Jackson

 

This is the trunk lid with all the codes from the cutlass I am using for parts- can anyone advise if this indicates whether the paint on it is lacquer as well? Also- what is the additive used for lacquer to paint on rubber? Thanks Jackson

 

IF you repaint the car, most likely it will be in a two part urethane. Far more durable then the lacquer. PPG refinish paint usually can mix the code but beware the new formulations can be off. I suspect this is because the the toners used to make new paint then the original lacquer are different. Might be smart to have paint guy make a small batch 1st to see how it looks, and look at the spray out in direct sunlight. Inside flouerestence light changes colors.. You can get fooled.. How do I know??

Cheers!

Fred

 

there’s nothing you can put in paint to make it flexible enough to paint rubber. You should never paint rubber, but if for some reason you choose to do so, clean it with lacquer thinner or acetone, use an adhesion promoter and if the paint is catalyzed(anything other than lacquer) use a flex agent in the paint and any primer you use.

 

I didn't type this up, what I meant was to make the paint stick/ flex to the front and rear flexible bumper covers. Thanks Jackson