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Paint Shop crayon ID mark inside front bumper

Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2018 11:06 pm
by Daryl Bertram
Looking at the front bumper of cab 60441 after 25 years overhead I noticed the paintshop crayon marking inside. Is there also a stamping (41) inside the bumper somewhere? Still have to sand/paint the bottom portion of the door inner panels but plan to keep the crayon ID.

Re: Paint Shop crayon ID mark inside front bumper

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2018 12:19 pm
by Victor Ingram
Hello Daryl,
I believe your car is a 54.
I have a friend that had a 51/52, and the last 3 digits were "stamped" into the usual places, Door panels, hood, deck lid. But
they were also stamped into the back of the bumper deco, backs of the wood frames under the windows etc.
The "chalk" numbers were also on the bottom of the seats and back of the dash.
It is interesting the chalk numbers inside the bumper and the door panels as opposed to being stamped,
did the factory or body builders use both methods?

Re: Paint Shop crayon ID mark inside front bumper

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2018 12:28 pm
by James Davies
Very cool Daryl! I have not found that on my bumpers on the inside yet. I'll have to look.

As the bumpers were fitted to the car, they got marked.

As Reutter improved their stampings over the course of pre-A production, some things didn't get stamped or chalked anymore. I had chalk marks on the inside rear quarter panel. Most of the upholstery is marked too.

Cool that your window winder panels are marked with "C41" for cabriolet. Mine are just the last 2 digits. Do you notice that your panels on the back side are sort of a purple primer color? Or are they black like the exterior paint?

Re: Paint Shop crayon ID mark inside front bumper

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2018 12:29 pm
by James Davies
Another example - if the little aluminum inserts that go between the body and the ends of the dashboard needed to be custom fitted, then they were marked with the chassis number. If not (as on my car and several others), they didn't get marked.

Re: Paint Shop crayon ID mark inside front bumper

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2018 4:21 pm
by Mark Cohn
I'm thinking it would be really hard to mark the Aluminum dash to body inserts on a Cab! :wink:

Re: Paint Shop crayon ID mark inside front bumper

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2018 5:33 pm
by Rob DuBerry
As James suggested, here are chalk marks on the seat bases and the inside of the rear seat base of my 54.

Also of interest is that it is an original RHD UK AFN supplied car, on the rear of the dashboard you can see where it was converted at the factory from the left hand drive dash.

Re: Paint Shop crayon ID mark inside front bumper

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2018 6:28 pm
by Daryl Bertram
Victor yes the cab was built Feb '54 but with a '53 body. The inner door panels do have a '41' stamped towards the top of each panel. I'm curious about the markings themselves; I think of them as crayon instead of chalk because I was able to clean the surface grime carefully with a wet soft cloth on the inner door panel, seat and front bumper. The crayons were used at a stamping plant (Budd Wheel) I worked at in Detroit; they marked panel imperfections with them in Quality Control. James, now I'm really curious about the inner panel spray when you ask about primer vs black. It appears to be black covered with a lighter green overspray both sides. I've included the Reutter stats that show the interior dash green but it's much darker. What's the light green paint? Rob, cool pics! The chalk or crayon markings on your seats are the same color as this cab. Did they use orange in upholstery, white assembly etc?

Re: Paint Shop crayon ID mark inside front bumper

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2018 7:59 pm
by Vincent Gillespie
I also found crayon of the last 3 digits of the Chassis number on various bits of our car, the oddest was those on the doors which are upside down with the doors were on the car!
V

Re: Paint Shop crayon ID mark inside front bumper

Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2018 9:42 pm
by Spencer Harris
Daryl Bertram wrote:The chalk or crayon markings on your seats are the same color as this cab. Did they use orange in upholstery, white assembly etc?
The seat frames on my '53 were marked with the complete 5-digit chassis number in a similar color red/orange crayon. (The reddish blob is residue from an aftermarket re-spray job as the original color was black.)
25DSC_0432.jpg

Re: Paint Shop crayon ID mark inside front bumper

Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2018 9:52 pm
by Spencer Harris
Mark Cohn wrote:I'm thinking it would be really hard to mark the Aluminum dash to body inserts on a Cab! :wink:
Ha, good catch Mark! Unlike coupes, the Cab dash to body spacer is an aluminum wire.
Cab Dash Wire Spacer.jpg