C5MILLYELL02

Hey guys, I hope to get a Chrome bumper Shark one day, and I've noticed all around, that the gills on the side of the cars are sometimes painted to match the car or just plain metal(or it looks like metal?). How did they come from the factory, and do people paint them for preference or some other reason.

Also, a couple of people have replied about "grills," what are they?

Thanks

Some great cars in this section :cheers:


[Modified by C5MILLYELL02, 11:02 AM 9/26/2003]

TNT

The factory flash chromed the grills and then painted them. The raised edges were taped or trimmed to expose the chrome. No vette left the plant without the grills painted! Now there is a very small diffrence in the casting of the grills between the 1970 and 71-72 grills! Thad

kostutsman

I have a 68 that was original when I got it and the grills had been painted although most was faided away you could see that the leading edges had originally been painted - my understanding is that sometime during this model year they stopped painting this particular style grill (68-69).

427basketcase

Are we talking about Gills on 68 & 69 models or grills? If the question is the 4 vertical "gills" in the fender the answer is both. The 68 did not get the trim pieces that have a chrome edge and flat silver inside so the 68 was painted the same as the car and 69 was available with the inserts. A lot of 68 owners liked the look and added them to their cars 1970 went to the "egg grate" side vents and all of those were metal. If you are talking about Grills your question needs to be more specific to the year. Hope this helps.

Greg

Hey Charles,
TNT's description of the egg crate paint scheme is right on the money. When you see a different combination, like the wole egg crate painted, it's usually because the body shop goofed at repaint time or were just too lazy to do all the taping involved. I have scraped paint off many of these, both on my own cars and customers cars as well.
Sometimes you will see an egg crate completely stipped of paint so the whole thing is bright metal. This is also incorrect and usually looks pretty stupid.
The '68/'69 style vents whether they have bright trim or not, are body color EXCEPT FOR THE LAST ONE WHICH IS NOT AN ACTUAL VENT HOLE AND SHOULD BE PAINTED FLAT BLACK TO MATCH THE OTHER THREE! This is also missed VERY often and looks stupid.
Most Corvette owners who have their vent treatment done incorrectly are just not aware that it's wrong until it's brought to their attention.
My advice to help educate and correct this problem is to do the following:

The next time you're at an upscale car show and see a Corvette with incorrect vent treatment wait until there is a fairly large group viewing that particular Corvette (hopefully the owner is present too) Bend over slightly pointing at the vents and say as loud as you can "WRONG!, WRONG!, WRONG! This guy doesn't know ANYTHING about vettes! What a JERK he must be!" Then just saunter away with a superior grin on your face.
If everyone on this forum will practice this new educating procedure I am confident not only we, but also the public and Corvette owners the world over can benefit from this experience.
Greg

hunt4cleanair

So for C3...we have gills, grills and coves! Gills featured with the 68-69 models, grills with the 70-72 models and then coves through 82...or is that 81?

pzcg7l

:iagree: :thumbs:

C5MILLYELL02

Thanks Everybody for all your help. :cheers:

Gregg, have a question about your answer. Unfortunately, I don't have one in the garage to go check and say "oh yeah." The gills are the 4 vents on the side right? If the other three are painted body color(color of car), how is the other painted flat black to match the other three, if the other three are painted body color, let's say red....whew, sorry I don't understand that portion.

Also, what are the "grills" that a few people have mentioned?

Thanks


[Modified by C5MILLYELL02, 8:15 AM 9/26/2003]

Paul Borowski

The last "gill" on '68/'69s is actually "not an opening" since it is at the bulkead of where the front fenders attaches to the inner body. There are only three actual openings, the fourth opening just ahead of the doors of the car is phony. The outline of a hole is there, it's just not open all the way through. This "recess" area is what is "painted black". There also is some debate as to whether the dark colored cars ever received this treatment. My original paint Silver '68 does have this "blackout" done to the fourth vent, but it was poorly and sloppily done with some sort of "mask" or template type covering.

C5MILLYELL02

Thanks Paul :cheers:

WA 2 FST

I would never practice this "educating procedure". The "superior grin" would just show how big of an **** I am. It's this type of pompous arrogance that get people turned off by the Vette community.

Mine are painted, but have the inserts, so I don't know if its right or wrong. It makes no difference b/c my car isn't equipped with the original sidepipes (which were gone when I bought it, but nevertheless are very restrictive). It has an engine combo that is far superior to the original L71, a 5-speed transmission which is better than the Muncie, and has upgraded suspension and braking components.

I won't demean an NCRS, concours owner so I would expect the same treatment from him even if my Vette isn't perfectly correct. :mad:

However, I honestly have no idea if my '69 should or should not have the metal inserts. The 4th gill is blocked off, so that is correct. So go ahead...rip it to shreds and tell me mine is wrong. :lol:



[Modified by WA 2 FST, 1:33 PM 9/26/2003]

ettev

The "eggcrate" grills on the early 70's cars had different factory paint applications as well. All grills were painted off the car, so the screws that attach them to the vehicle are chrome-headed phillips screws. The grills in 1970 and EARLY 1971 have chrome edges showing on the HORIZONTAL edges only. They didn't have the chrome exposed on the vertical edges (except the the most forward vertical that is part of the perimeter). Later 1971's and all 1972's and 73's had both the vertical and horizontal fin edges taped during painting so they'd appear as chrome. I've heard tales of certain color cars not having any edges exposed chrome from the factory, specifically the gray or silver cars.

The casting differences are also on these vertical fin edges. The later 71's-up have a raised bar on the fin edges, as opposed to the earlier style that had a beveled (almost knife-like) edge.

C5MILLYELL02

WA 2 Fast,

That is one gorgeous car you have there. I hope to get one with side pipes or add them like yours......ahhh...someday.

jrzvette

The "gills" on the fenders of 68 and 69 Corvettes were body colored. In 1969 only, RPO TJ2 (front fender Louver Trim) was offered as a $21.00 option (that was for all 8 pieces). This trim was stainless steel and was bright on the edges and matte on the interior. I believe now they can be purchased from some repro dealers for about $20,00 each.

WA 2 FST

Cool. So mine _is_ correct...at least this much of the car is. Mine had the TJ2 option. Originally it was a $21.10 option per the spec sheet I have on my car.

C5MILLYELLO2... thanks for the compliments on the car. Much appreciated.

Songman

Coves went through 79 as far as I know... 80 started with black plastic grilles again...

pws69

The gills were painted body color. The rearmost gill on each side has a plate where the others are open - this plate was painted with "black out" so it looked like it was open.

The Chrome/Painted "louver" options (as mentioned above in another post) were then installed in all 8 gills.

Greg

I would never practice this "educating procedure". The "superior grin" would just show how big of an **** I am. It's this type of pompous arrogance that get people turned off by the Vette community.

Wes, Wes, Wes,
You can't POSSIBLY have read my post and taken it seriously could've you? Turn on Comedy Central once in a while. :lol:

WA 2 FST

Greg,

If I hadn't actually witnessed with my own eyes behavior like you described...then no, I wouldn't have taken it seriously. But I have, FWIW.

Trust me, I can laugh with the best of them :), and if I'd seen a smiley or wink I would have known _for sure_ it was a joke.

My bad.