Are door hinge pins painted?

[thomas kirkpatrick]

I am about to have my 60 cab painted. It had been repainted before I bought it. I am not certain if the factory originally painted the hinge pins or not. On an early 911 they are not painted and when you see paint on the hinge pin it is the first tell of a repaint and lack of attention to detail. Your assistance would be appreciated.

Tom

[Sebastian Gaeta]

Hi Tom,

For 1958 coupe #103526, an all original unmolested one owner car, the answer is yes, and for a one owner original paint '64 coupe the answer is also yes.

[Bruce Baker]

900-series cars had a different finish on the hinge pins. 356 pins were not protected by anything other than oil or paint, to the best of my knowledge.

I will need to view "Made by Hand" again and try to stay awake during the painting section this time.

I would 'never say never or always' to the pins being painted, but I don't remember noticing that on all 'original' cars I've had the privilege to disassemble, but I remember no obvious orange rust on those, either.

(It's like the rare 356 that got all 16 split washers under the door hinge bolt heads, even though that number is in the parts book, it was not always followed.)

It would be my guess that painting of door pins could not have been done with the doors on the car and that if the doors were nearby, the pins would not have been.

If the doors were not hinged during painting and the pins were painted another way, the hammer installing same would have certainly destroyed the paint.

My guess is that the visible parts of the pins, especially the domed ends, if painted originally, were done with a brush AFTER assembly, like the screws on the door ends and the hardware for the lids, etc.