I have replated the bolts and washers for mounting the doors to door hinges/hinges to body and boot to boot hinges. When these cars were originally assembled were these bolts painted or installed in the plated finish. My car was resprayed years back and when dismantled these bolts were body colour, but the mounting bolts and washers for the front guards were not painted. This is a Brisbane manafactured car if that means a difference to other plants. Any other details of this fine detail would be appreciated.

I agree with Byron, for the following reasons:

I've heard from a retired ex-Dandenong painter that the guards followed the car into the booths at Dandenong, but were painted separately to the car.
The A pillar is also typically painted body colour beyond the point that guard reaches, which must have been done with the guards off the car.
I'm certain the guard bolts, spring washers and mudguard washers should be zinc plated only.

I've just gone through a big box full of door hinges at the local automotive recycling emporium looking for springs and rollers and noticed that almost without exception the hinges, springs, rollers and stays were painted body colour, and the area where the bolt heads were remained unpainted. From that I'd conclude that the hinges and doors were bolted onto the cars when they were painted.

I don't know for sure about the boot, but it seems that the panel gaps were aligned pre final painting so it's reasonable to expect the boot to be fitted for this process, and for bolts to be painted as well.

I've got an untouched HK built at Dandenong with original paint all over.
The door hinge bolts and bootlid bolts have never been removed and they've got the original paint on them.
Definately original paint as is the rest of the car.
It looks to me like the panels were mounted then painted.
Wayne

Sorry Gerard, I should have added that the front bumper valance bolts are also zinc. And they are usually obvious from the front of the car.
Your car sounds fairly original, so I'm interested in the head markings for the guard bolts. I'm fairly sure Waynes car has Ajax UNC SAE grade 5 bolts for the guards to inner fender, but I'm interested in what the Brisbane cars used.
(Yes, yes, I'm clearly someone with way too much time on my hands....)

..it was all to do with the shipping of bodies to the various interstate assembly plants.

...the trimmed, glazed and "closed" bodies were stacked on freight trains or semi trailers from the BODY manufacturing plants (Pagewood NSW and Woodville SA) to the various vehicle ASSEMBLY plants around the country. this worked well when the cars had a detachable subframe/chassis and was implemented from the earliest days in 1948...the Toranas and VB Commodores onwards would've made them scratch their heads a bit LOL

Edited by user Thursday, 12 March 2015 4:50:55 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Yes thanks Byron. I had a Verdoro 186S GTS from Elizabeth that needed repainting in 1979. Now I know why it looked like all the front panels had been replaced.
I painted it myself and made it worse.

...was Acacia Ridge a body manufacturing plant ?....i'm pretty sure later on there was only Elizabeth and Dandenong spotting the bodies together ?

Edited by user Thursday, 12 March 2015 6:53:33 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

quote:

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Originally posted by Gerard
this shows the silver body colour on these bolts. This was the first time the boot had been removed since I have owned the car and I am pretty sure this was never painted in the previous respray. Will attach a couple of images

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My boot lid bolts have never been removed they were painted with the underside of the lid.

Yes, I believe that Acacia Ridge built bodies from 1966 (HR) to the end of WB & TG (Gemini) production, in 1985.

Dr Terry

Thanks for the confirmation gents. So far I have Ajax, Firth Cleveland, Nettlefolds, and I haven't figured out who made the "C" head bolts. They are commonly used for the boot bolts and a few other places.