Factory Paint Drips?

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sbf001

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I bought a unrestored and original car and after cleaning it up ive noticed a number of drips and runs, was this a common thing to see with Mopars in that era? Or did my car just come with a bad factory paint job.
Thanks
 
sbf001 said:
I bought a unrestored and original car and after cleaning it up ive noticed a number of drips and runs, was this a common thing to see with Mopars in that era? Or did my car just come with a bad factory paint job.
Thanks
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Oh ya. Most painters have a hard time painting runs to make them look original. LOL
 
A friend of mine has a low mile (around 10k) '66 Hemi Coronet. He showed me every original run in the paint...
 
Yup perfectly normal. Normally, runs are in low spots, like where the body transitions to the rocker, bottom of the quarters, that kinda thing......because those areas are very low, it's tough not to get runs there. But it's not just limited to those areas. It can be anywhere. lol
 
I had my '65 car repainted (cheap) 27 years ago by One-Day and the recreated the factory run on the door to perfection! Upon closer inspection, its one long sag on the door crease with 2 larger blobs visible. I didn't notice it until almost a year later when I was waxing it. Gives it character....I really didn't expect it to look this good for what I paid for it!
 
There was a magazine article (can't remember which one) years ago that had an article on this very topic. I believe it was a '70 Challenger that was white. I remember them having a picture of the underside of the trunk lid with horrendous runs going vertically down with the comment that the lid was painted with it open based on the direction of the runs!
 
6PakBee said:
There was a magazine article (can't remember which one) years ago that had an article on this very topic. I believe it was a '70 Challenger that was white. I remember them having a picture of the underside of the trunk lid with horrendous runs going vertically down with the comment that the lid was painted with it open based on the direction of the runs!
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I agree. Better to have too much primer and paint, than to be thin!!!!!! There are places where paint just tries to run!
 
I have one sag/run on the quarter and a few on the bottom side of the fenders.
 
Here's a dandy on my cowl.

paint sag.jpg
 
Yeah, you can do a concourse restoration paint job for a mopar with a garden hose & pass as unrestored
 
This is the rear valance on a friends 68 Barracuda survivor. Not great coverage.
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Alan
 
Yes runs were common then but now with the clear coat I can't believe the orange peel that I see on new cars I would not buy a car with orange peel in the clear.
 
Cuda Al said:
Yes, this is a very clean survivor.


Alan
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I've heard stories about how cars built on certain days (Mondays??) were poorer quality. I guess there were no supervisors or QC people back then? Something like that should never have left the factory. PLUS, I can't believe that the original purchaser didn't have the dealer fix it as a condition to buy the car.
 
I have seen a lot of factory runs and sags over the years.
The most noticeable ones are with colors that are light with a lot of metallic in them.
And the black out treatment behind the grille almost always have runs or sags in it.
Inside engine compartments, hoods, trunk lids, and door jams are usually the worst I've found..........
 
harrisonm said:
I've heard stories about how cars built on certain days (Mondays??) were poorer quality. I guess there were no supervisors or QC people back then? Something like that should never have left the factory. PLUS, I can't believe that the original purchaser didn't have the dealer fix it as a condition to buy the car.
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What I have read is that the "don't buy a Monday or Friday car" was based on those two days having the highest worker absenteeism. There were more substitute workers doing jobs they weren't used to doing. So the quality dropped.
 
Most factory runs I've seen are not on the "exterior".

Underside of trunk lid is very common, engine bay especially cowl as above, and even door jambs, but very few exterior body panels.

At least they were trying where they'd most likely be seen.
 
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That Barracuda quarter must have got by the QC inspector.

I wonder if it was sold at a discount.

Seems like even the dealer would have fixed it.
 
I worked for Mopar dealer between '68 and '72.

It was normal for us to repair body and paint issues if they were obvious. But the factory rate to do those fixes was about 40 percent less than our shop rate.

If we had to do a repair we did it to save a deal. But we never went looking for trouble.

Back then most people weren't so anal about perfection... Many people traded their cars every two to three years and hoped to get a better one next time.
 
First new car I ever bought was a light blue 1986 Reliant. Car was pretty nice in the fit/finish department, EXCEPT two black drops of paint under the clear on one door (likely from the window frame paint). I contemplated taking it back to have it fixed, but I figured they would be likely to not quite match the color right so I lived with the two dots. After a while I never really saw them.
 
YY1 said:
That Barracuda quarter must have got by the QC inspector.

I wonder if it was sold at a discount.

Seems like even the dealer would have fixed it.
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It is actually the rear valance, the rear valance on the Barracuda rolls under quite a bit and unless you head is on the ground you are not going to see this.

Same car, runs/sags up by the hinges and globs of sealant.

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Alan

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